The Cherry Orchard

On 7/19/2011 we are going to see Anton Chekhov's play The Cherry Orchard.


The Cherry Orchard was Anton chekhov's last play. It was also written over several years. I get to see this play at the National Theater in London, but it Originally premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre in January of 1904. The actor and director Constantin Stanislavski (yes, that's the one who invented 'the method') was the director of the cherry orchard and he was probably the person to start the debate of whether the show is a comedy, or a dramatic piece of work. Chekhov wrote the play as a comedy, but Stanislavski directed the play as a drama.

There were things in chekhovs life that may have inspired him to write this play. He had his own cherry orchard out in the country of Moscow, but had to sell the orchard due to health problems. Afterward he learned that the new owner had cut the whole orchard down. Then, later in life he returned to places he went during childhood, and found that industrial deforestation had devastated the land.

I found it really interesting, but not really surprising that this play was directly affect by the things that happened in his life. Also, it makes sense that the genre is confusing since he wrote the play while experiencing different things in his life.

Here are some interesting things about this play:
The play opened on his birthday January 17th.
Some believe that this play was a tribute to himself.
Anton was confused and basically upset about the direction Stanislavsky took the play with.

I'm excited to see the play and will update this post with a response when Tuesday comes.