Details
- By
- Genre: Drama
- Breakdown: 1M+1W, 2M, 2W
Synopsis
The play revolves around an aristocratic Russian landowner who returns to her family estate (which includes a large and well-known cherry orchard) just before it is auctioned to pay the mortgage. Unresponsive to offers to save the estate, she allows its sale to the son of a former serf; the family leaves to the sound of the cherry orchard being cut down. The story presents themes of cultural futility – both the futile attempts of the aristocracy to maintain its status and of the bourgeoisie to find meaning in its new-found materialism.[citation needed] It dramatizes the socioeconomic forces in Russia at the turn of the 20th century, including the rise of the middle class after the abolition of serfdom in the mid-19th century and the decline of the power of the aristocracy.[
Character Breakdown
Madame Renevsky, Yermolai Alexeyitch Lopakhin, Leonid Andreyitch Gayef, Barbara, Anya, Peter Trophimof, Firs Nikolayevitch, Dunyasha, Yasha, Simeon, Charlotte, Simeonof