Archives - The Cherry Orchard

by Anton Chekhov
An English version by Trevor Griffiths
From a translation by Helen Rappaport

Directed by Keith Bridgeman

Saturday 27th November – Saturday 4th December 1993 in the Auditorium

Chekov’s last play was written as a comedy but it is truly comic only in its portrayal of the attitudes of the characters to their own futures.

The demolition of the Cherry Orchard of the title can be seen as the passing of the old order and the play shows the complexities and ambiguities of both the old and the new. The Gayev family are too feckless to understand the absurdity of their future and the play is a comedy of inertia and helplessness in the face of devastating loss.