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Title: The Cherry Orchard: A Comedy in Four Acts by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, Peter Gill, Anton Chakhov ISBN: 1-870259-75-0 Publisher: Theatre Communications Group Pub. Date: January, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95

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Average Customer Rating: 3.83 (18 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: The winds of change are blowing through this orchard
Comment: Anton Chekhov's play "The Cherry Orchard" has been published as part of the Dover Thrift Edition series (that's the version I read before writing this review). No translator is credited for this edition. According to the note at the start of the book, the play was initially presented by the Moscow Art Theatre in 1904.

The play takes place on the estate of Madame Ranevsky, the matriarch of an aristocratic Russian family that has fallen on financial hard times. She faces the possible loss of her family's magnificent cherry orchard.

The play is populated with interesting characters: Lopakhin, a wealthy neighbor whose father was the serf of Madame Ranevsky's father; Firs, an aged servant who longs for the "old days"; Trophimof, a student with lofty ideas; and more. There is a great deal of conflict among the characters.

"The Cherry Orchard" is about people dealing with very personal conflicts and crises while larger socioeconomic changes are going on around them. The orchard of the title is a memorable image that is well handled by Chekhov. The play contains some really effective dialogue, such as old Firs' reflection on the apparently lost art of making dried cherries. This is definitely one classic play that remains compelling.

Rating: 5
Summary: Timeless
Comment: The Cherry Orchard was me first experience with Chekhov, and I was surprised at the depth in this 49 page play. By no means would I considered myself a "literary expert," but this was very readable and you can pull a lot of the deeper meanings and its context in Russian history by yourself. I was confused at a couple people who write that the simply couldn't understand it and it put them to sleep! It's not THAT tough! If I could understand and appreciate it, almost anyone can!

What I like most about Chekhov is that he doesn't simplify his characters. He's a realist in this sense. Lopahkin and Trophimof each have admirable and detestable characteristics, just like you and I. While it may be set in the tumultuous period prior to the Russian revolution, the ideas and the discussions this play provokes are timeless.

Highly recommended!

Rating: 1
Summary: A dreadful play.
Comment: "The Cherry Orchard" is an atrocious play. If we hold this play in high regard, then we dramatist's need to reevaluate our standards. Chekhov wrote a play that will make you not care an inch about the character's or their situation(s). For him to think that this is a comedy makes you wonder if he understood the point he himself was trying to make. The characters are pathetic and they'll make you pity them - not because of their predicaments, but because of whom they are. I do not recommend.