Frame from the film "Garden" (2008)

The estate of the landowner Lyubov Andreevna Ranevskaya. Spring, cherry blossoms. But the beautiful garden is soon to be sold for debts. For the past five years, Ranevskaya and her seventeen-year-old daughter Anya have lived abroad. Ranevskaya's brother Leonid Andreevich Gaev and her adopted daughter, twenty-four-year-old Varya, remained on the estate. Ranevskaya's affairs are bad, there are almost no funds left. Lyubov Andreevna always littered with money. Six years ago, her husband died of alcoholism. Ranevskaya fell in love with another person, got along with him. But soon her little son Grisha died tragically by drowning in the river. Lyubov Andreevna, unable to bear her grief, fled abroad. The lover followed her. When he fell ill, Ranevskaya had to settle him in her dacha near Menton and take care of him for three years. And then, when he had to sell the dacha for debts and move to Paris, he robbed and abandoned Ranevskaya.

Gaev and Varya meet Lyubov Andreevna and Anya at the station. At home, the maid Dunyasha and the familiar merchant Yermolai Alekseevich Lopakhin are waiting for them. Lopakhin's father was a serf of the Ranevskys, he himself became rich, but he says about himself that he remained "a man a man." The clerk Epikhodov arrives, a man with whom something constantly happens and who is called "twenty-two misfortunes."

Finally, the carriages arrive. The house is filled with people, all in a pleasant excitement. Everyone talks about their own. Lyubov Andreevna looks around the rooms and through tears of joy recalls the past. Maid Dunyasha can't wait to tell the young lady that Epikhodov proposed to her. Anya herself advises Varya to marry Lopakhin, and Varya dreams of marrying Anya to a rich man. The governess Charlotte Ivanovna, a strange and eccentric person, boasts of her amazing dog, the neighbor landowner Simeonov-Pishchik asks for a loan. He hears almost nothing and all the time mutters something old faithful servant Firs.

Lopakhin reminds Ranevskaya that the estate should soon be sold at auction, the only way out is to break the land into plots and lease them to summer residents. Lopakhin’s proposal surprises Ranevskaya: how can you cut down her favorite wonderful cherry orchard! Lopakhin wants to stay longer with Ranevskaya, whom he loves "more than his own," but it's time for him to leave. Gaev delivers a welcoming speech to the hundred-year-old "respected" closet, but then, embarrassed, again begins to senselessly pronounce his favorite billiard words.

Ranevskaya did not immediately recognize Petya Trofimov: so he changed, became uglier, the “dear student” turned into an “eternal student”. Lyubov Andreevna cries, remembering her little drowned son Grisha, whose teacher was Trofimov.

Gaev, left alone with Varya, tries to talk about business. There is a rich aunt in Yaroslavl, who, however, does not love them: after all, Lyubov Andreevna did not marry a nobleman, and she did not behave “very virtuously”. Gaev loves his sister, but still calls her "vicious", which causes Ani's displeasure. Gaev continues to build projects: his sister will ask Lopakhin for money, Anya will go to Yaroslavl - in a word, they will not allow the estate to be sold, Gaev even swears it. Grumpy Firs finally takes the master, like a child, to sleep. Anya is calm and happy: her uncle will arrange everything.

Lopakhin does not cease to persuade Ranevskaya and Gaev to accept his plan. The three of them had lunch in the city and, returning, stopped in a field near the chapel. Just here, on the same bench, Epikhodov tried to explain himself to Dunyasha, but she had already preferred the young cynical footman Yasha to him. Ranevskaya and Gaev do not seem to hear Lopakhin and talk about completely different things. So without convincing “frivolous, unbusinesslike, strange” people of anything, Lopakhin wants to leave. Ranevskaya asks him to stay: with him "it's still more fun."

Anya, Varya and Petya Trofimov arrive. Ranevskaya starts talking about a "proud man." According to Trofimov, there is no point in pride: a rude, unhappy person should not admire himself, but work. Petya condemns the intelligentsia, who are incapable of work, those people who philosophize importantly, and treat peasants like animals. Lopakhin enters the conversation: he just works “from morning to evening”, dealing with big capital, but he is becoming more and more convinced of how few decent people are around. Lopakhin does not finish, Ranevskaya interrupts him. In general, everyone here does not want and does not know how to listen to each other. There is silence, in which the distant sad sound of a broken string is heard.

Soon everyone disperses. Left alone, Anya and Trofimov are glad to have the opportunity to talk together, without Varya. Trofimov convinces Anya that one must be “above love”, that the main thing is freedom: “all of Russia is our garden”, but in order to live in the present, one must first redeem the past with suffering and labor. Happiness is near: if not they, then others will definitely see it.

Comes the twenty-second of August, the day of trading. It is on this evening, quite inopportunely, that a ball is being held in the estate, a Jewish orchestra is invited. Once, generals and barons danced here, and now, as Firs complains, both the postal official and the head of the station "do not go willingly." Charlotte Ivanovna entertains guests with her tricks. Ranevskaya anxiously awaits the return of her brother. The Yaroslavl aunt nevertheless sent fifteen thousand, but they are not enough to buy the estate.

Petya Trofimov “reassures” Ranevskaya: it’s not about the garden, it’s been over for a long time, we need to face the truth. Lyubov Andreevna asks not to condemn her, to feel sorry for her: after all, without a cherry orchard, her life loses its meaning. Every day Ranevskaya receives telegrams from Paris. At first, she tore them up immediately, then - after reading them first, now she doesn't vomit. "That wild man", whom she still loves, begs her to come. Petya condemns Ranevskaya for her love for "a petty scoundrel, a nonentity." Angry Ranevskaya, unable to restrain herself, takes revenge on Trofimov, calling him a “funny eccentric”, “freak”, “clean”: “You must love yourself ... you must fall in love!” Petya tries to leave in horror, but then stays, dancing with Ranevskaya, who asked for his forgiveness.

Finally, the embarrassed, joyful Lopakhin and the tired Gaev appear, who, without saying anything, immediately goes to his room. The Cherry Orchard was sold and Lopakhin bought it. The "new landowner" is happy: he managed to beat the rich Deriganov at the auction, giving ninety thousand in excess of the debt. Lopakhin picks up the keys thrown on the floor by the proud Varya. Let the music play, let everyone see how Yermolai Lopakhin “suffices with an ax in the cherry orchard”!

Anya comforts her crying mother: the garden has been sold, but there is a whole life ahead. There will be a new garden, more luxurious than this, "quiet deep joy" awaits them ...

The house is empty. Its inhabitants, having said goodbye to each other, disperse. Lopakhin is going to Kharkov for the winter, Trofimov returns to Moscow, to the university. Lopakhin and Petya exchange barbs. Although Trofimov calls Lopakhin a "predatory beast", necessary "in the sense of metabolism", he still loves in him "a tender, subtle soul." Lopakhin offers Trofimov money for the journey. He refuses: over " a free man"," in the forefront of going "to the" highest happiness ", no one should have power.

Ranevskaya and Gaev even cheered up after the sale of the cherry orchard. Previously, they were worried, suffering, but now they have calmed down. Ranevskaya is going to live in Paris for the time being on the money sent by her aunt. Anya is inspired: it starts new life- she will finish the gymnasium, will work, read books, "a new wonderful world" will open before her. Suddenly, out of breath, Simeonov-Pishchik appears and, instead of asking for money, on the contrary, distributes debts. It turned out that the British found white clay on his land.

Everyone settled down differently. Gaev says that now he is a bank servant. Lopakhin promises to find a new place for Charlotte, Varya got a job as a housekeeper to the Ragulins, Epikhodov, hired by Lopakhin, remains on the estate, Firs should be sent to the hospital. But still, Gaev sadly says: "Everyone is leaving us ... we suddenly became unnecessary."

Between Varya and Lopakhin, an explanation must finally occur. For a long time, Varya has been teased by "Madame Lopakhina." Varya likes Yermolai Alekseevich, but she herself cannot propose. Lopakhin, who also speaks well of Vara, agrees to "put an end immediately" to this matter. But when Ranevskaya arranges their meeting, Lopakhin, without deciding, leaves Varia, using the very first pretext.

“Time to go! On the road! - with these words, they leave the house, locking all the doors. All that remains is old Firs, who, it would seem, everyone took care of, but whom they forgot to send to the hospital. Firs, sighing that Leonid Andreevich went in a coat, and not in a fur coat, lies down to rest and lies motionless. The same sound of a broken string is heard. "There is silence, and only one can hear how far in the garden they knock on wood with an ax."

retold

Sharp disputes about the genre of The Cherry Orchard, disagreements between the author and the theater arose already during the preparation first performance at the Moscow Art Theater. The perception of the play by the theater alerted the author - as can be seen from the correspondence with O.L. Knipper, who noted, among other things, that Stanislavsky "roared all over" over the play. Stanislavsky, as follows from his letter to Chekhov dated October 22, 1903, insisted that "this is not a comedy, not a farce, as you wrote, this is a tragedy ...". Chekhov did not like the rehearsals that he attended in December 1903. Not only the genre shift of the play towards the “heavy drama of Russian life”, but also unbearable lengths irritate Chekhov. Nemirovich-Danchenko in his memoirs about the first production of The Cherry Orchard, which took place January 17, 1904, admitted that there was a "misunderstanding of Chekhov" - the delicate fabric of the work "the theater took with too rough hands."

The dissatisfaction of the author, his own dissatisfaction forced the theater to continue working on the play. According to Nemirovich, over time, the performance got rid of precisely those shortcomings that Chekhov pointed out, but still a complete transfer of the "author's worldview" did not happen. The growing success of the performance was evidenced by press reviews of the tour in St. Petersburg, as well as the growing popularity of the play with the provincial theater.

In 1928 Moscow Art Theater resumed" The Cherry Orchard”, wanting to prove that Chekhov is close to the new time. In accordance with the requirements of the moment, the satirical features in the image of Gaev were strengthened, but the desire to saturate the performance with historical optimism is evidence of this intention in the well-known lines from My Life in Art, where Stanislavsky wants to give Lopakhin "the scope of Chaliapin", and Anya - "temperament Ermolova" and shout to the whole world "Hello, new life!" - had no practical implementation. Meanwhile, the Moscow Art Theater tradition of elegiac performances of The Cherry Orchard was firmly established, and therefore could not but cause rejection at the height of Chekhov's "sociological reassessment" in the thirties.

The production of The Cherry Orchard by A.M. Lobanov at the Studio Theater under the direction of R.N. Simonov in 1934. The director said: "I am for Chekhov, but against the Moscow Art Theater." Lobanov did not see any fundamental difference between the characters of the play: everyone was absorbed by the vaudeville petty-bourgeois environment anyway, Trofimov in the performance forced to recall Gorky's characterization of a "cheesy student" who "speaks red": he recited to the gymnasiums in the bathhouse (this is how the remark "Sexual talk about decadents!"). Anya, first of all, according to Chekhov, the “child” turned into a girl who “condemned her mother and gossiped rather evilly about her”, the “attraction of the aging Ranevskaya to the young footman” was emphasized (Yasha turned out to be Ranevskaya’s lover, sang chansonnets and danced the cancan) . And Firs was dying, "performing some complex physical exercises." The performance, as one would expect, caused a heated controversy - the critic Yu. Yuzovsky came out to defend the director, but he also recognized the influence of vulgar sociological concepts on the director.

The theme of the death of culture was seen in the play by A. V. Efros in a vivid interpretation of the play staged at the Taganka Theater in 1975. Set design by V.Ya. Leventhal, this reading was expressed in the transfer of the action to the cemetery. Everyone in the play yearned for beauty, and especially the unusual Lopakhin - V.S. Vysotsky, but they could not comprehend it to the end and save it. The actor, as it were, reminded the viewer of Chekhov's words about intelligent person, about Lopakhin's "thin, like an artist's" fingers, who painfully wants to join the inaccessible world of culture and cannot. The words at the end of Act III "Who bought?" - “I bought” at the performance sounded like: “Who killed?” - "I killed". In his "drunken dance" Lopakhin - Vysotsky sought to drown the feeling to the end and not conscious guilt.

Unusual for Theater of Satire, elegiac was "The Cherry Orchard" by V.N. Pluchek (1984) with unconventional, enlightened images of Gaev (A.D. Papanov) and Lopakhin (A.A. Mironov). The garden in the performance forked - ugly cherry trees fell to Lopakhin, but over the stage in the play of light there was an elusive ghost garden, a memory garden, a dream garden. Such readings were undoubtedly influenced by the emerging studies on the semantics of Chekhov's image of a garden. Tragic tonality prevailed in the production of I. V. Ilyinsky on the stage of the Maly Theater (1982). Productions by G.B. Volchek at the Sovremennik Theater(1976 and 1997) differed in tone - the latter raised the tone of the performance, made Chekhov "energetic". Ranevskaya M.M. became broken, nervous, suddenly turning from laughter to tears in the new production. Neelova.

In the post-war foreign theater "The Cherry Orchard" becomes one of Chekhov's most popular plays. Chekhov's director after Pitoev in France is Jean-Louis Barrault, who directed The Cherry Orchard, at the Odeon Theater translated by Jacques Neve in 1954. It is from this performance that the tradition of perceiving the play as a parable about the relationship between man and time originates. About his "motto" the director said: "About a man. Through a person. In the name of man." The performance became an event in the cultural life of France not only due to the excellent performance of Madeleine Renaud - Ranevskaya and other performers, but also due to the serious philosophical approach to the Russian author, who rejected abstract cliché ideas about "Slavic melancholy" and "Russian soul".

However, the most famous innovative interpretation of the play in modern Western theater was the production of Giorgio Strehler. at the Teatro Piccolo di Milano. The director concludes that the time has come to present The Cherry Orchard as "more universal, more symbolic, more open fantasy". Strehler put forward an original concept for the play, calling it "the problem of three caskets". Three caskets, nested one inside the other, reflect the relationship of the three temporal dimensions of the play: real time - the life of Ranevskaya and Gaev, historical time, where events are seen as if from the outside, and philosophical time. The third box - the box of Life - gives the action a generalized symbolic sound. In Strehler's performance, the main character was the Cherry Orchard, solved conditionally and metaphorically, in the form of a dome hovering over the stage (the performance was designed by Josef Svoboda). Since then, the direction of the Chekhov theater has been extremely interested in the semantics of white color. The hagiographic plan of the production was also emphasized by separate mise-en-scenes and symbolic objects. So, Ranevskaya, according to Strehler, returns not just home, but to childhood - children's toys fell out of the "respected cabinets" here.

The theme of the loss of culture, seen in the loss of the cherry orchard, came to the fore in another famous play Directed by Peter Brook at the Bouffe du Nord Theater in Paris in 1980. Narrative, philosophical, lasting every minute of the stage life was "The Cherry Orchard" by Peter Stein, shown in Moscow in 1991. Criticism noted that for the director “nobody died. Everyone is alive - Chekhov, Stanislavsky, and centenary Firs."

Why did the fresh "Cherry Orchard" staged by the famous director outrage me?
The reason is simple: text! The text spoken by the Lenkom stars is not Chekhov. This is Chekhov in a mediocre translation (retelling, exposition of a troechnik). This is Chekhov, abundantly diluted by Mark Zakharov. And a kind spectator, eager to look at the living Armored (Zbruev, Shagin's "dandy", Olesya Zheleznyak), a spectator who has not read the original source or who does not remember the play well from school, may think that Anton Pavlovich is the author of bad dialogues and slurred storylines.
Not only is the piece greatly reduced, in the end, you can leave a glass from a bottle of wine, but it will be a full-fledged glass of wine - with all the nuances, notes and aroma. And you can dilute the wine - whether with water, alcohol, donkey urine, this is a matter of taste. And nothing will remain of the wine but the label. This is roughly what happened in Lenkom with the Cherry Orchard.
The play, "better than which there is in the world," a play-poem, where every line, every word is important, is hopelessly spoiled by inserted Zacharisms.
Well, if you, Mr. Director, want to speak out on some topical issue and give a signal to society, well, then compose your own original text. Or order Dmitry Bykov. But why so brazenly tear someone else's artistic fabric? From helplessness? From impunity? From a sick big mind? From cynicism?
If Chekhov is long dead and cannot knock on the head, as Edward Radzinsky would have done in such a case, this is not a reason to violate his copyrights. You can not write on the poster of this disgrace: Chekhov. Write: Mark Zakharov based on Chekhov's play. How good it is for Brecht (the last example is with the production of The Threepenny Opera by Kirill Semyonovich Serebrennikov) that the heirs monitor the inviolability of his texts! Not a word, not a note!.. Don't touch!..
Pity the actors. They carry some kind of blizzard, nonsense and nonsense instead of Chekhov's music, it is not clear why they repeat the same lines. The feeling that all the actors after the New Year's Eve, with a big hangover, did not learn or forgot the text and speak "in their own words", missing whole fragments.
You can not retell the poem in your own words! It is forbidden!
After this premiere, for the first time, I regretted that Ekaterina Alekseevna Furtseva was no longer in our power.
And one more simple consideration: when Mark Zakharov dies, we are all mortal, and someone smart who will be appointed in his place will suddenly want to restore the old Zakharov performances, say, "Three Girls in Blue" or "Memorial Prayer", and will contribute There's a lot of directorial gag in there. He decides that it will be more relevant, sharper. And he will say that this surrogate is the real Zakharov. Interestingly, Mark Zakharovich will not turn in his grave in this case?

Speaking about the work of A.P. Chekhov, his small humorous stories immediately pop up in my memory, filled with deep meaning and often tragedy, and for theatergoers, he is, first of all, one of the most prominent playwrights. late XIX- the beginning of the 20th century. Chekhov's play "The Cherry Orchard" was the last in his work. Written in 1903, it was staged on the stage of his beloved Moscow art theater in 1904 and became the result of reflections on the fate of Russia. For those who do not have time to read A.P. Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" a summary of the actions will help you get acquainted with this work.

Critics called the play "The Cherry Orchard" by Chekhov Anton Pavlovich a drama, and the writer himself believed that there was nothing dramatic in it, and, first of all, it was a comedy.

main characters

Ranevskaya Lyubov Andreevna- a landowner who left her estate after the tragic death of her son. A lonely middle-aged woman, prone to rash and frivolous actions, living in an ideal world, unwilling to accept reality that could hurt her.

Anya- the seventeen-year-old daughter of Ranevskaya. A young, sane girl who understands that reality has changed, and one must adapt to a new life that cannot be started without breaking with the past.

Gaev Leonid Andreevich- brother of Ranevskaya. Likes to talk about everything in the world. Very often he speaks out of place, which is why he is perceived as a jester and asked to be silent. The outlook on life is the same as that of my sister.

Lopakhin Ermolai Alekseevich- a merchant, a very wealthy person, a typical representative of bourgeois Russia. The son of a village shopkeeper with the business acumen and flair with which he made his fortune. At the same time, he cannot boast of education.

Varya- the adopted daughter of Ranevskaya, who dreams of making a pilgrimage to holy places. During her mother's absence, she acted as the mistress of the house.

Trofimov Petr Sergeevich- a student, a former teacher of Grisha (Ranevskaya's son), who died in childhood. An eternal student who loves to think about the fate of Russia, about what is right and wrong. Very progressive ideas, but no action is taken to implement them.

Other characters

Simeonov-Pishchik Boris Borisovich- the landowner, a neighbor of Ranevskaya, like her, is all in debt.

Charlotte Ivanovna- a governess, she spent her childhood in the circus, where her parents worked. He knows many tricks and tricks, loves to demonstrate them, does not understand why he lives and constantly complains about the lack of a soul mate.

Epikhodov Semyon Panteleevich- a clerk, very clumsy, "22 misfortunes", as those around him call him, in love with Dunyasha.

Dunyasha- housemaid. A young girl, longing for love, tries to behave like a young lady, "a gentle creature, accustomed to a gallant attitude."

Firs- lackey, an old man of 87 years old, who served the family of Ranevskaya and Gaev all his life, refused to create his own hearth and acquire freedom.

Yasha- a young lackey who imagines himself a very important person after a trip abroad. An impudent, dissolute young man.

Early May dawn. It is still cold, but the cherry orchard has already blossomed, filling everything around with aroma. Lopakhin (who overslept the exit to the railway station) and Dunyasha are waiting for the arrival of Ranevskaya, who has spent the last 5 years abroad with her daughter Anya, a governess, and footman Yasha. Lopakhin recalls Lyubov Andreevna as human lung and simple. He immediately tells about his fate, saying that his father was a simple peasant, and he was already "in a white vest, yellow shoes." Without embarrassment, he mentions that, despite his wealth, he did not receive an education. But at the same time, she reproaches Dunyasha with the fact that she dresses like a young lady and behaves inappropriately as a maid. Dunyasha is very excited about the arrival of the hosts. Epikhodov suddenly enters with a bouquet. Dunyasha tells Lopakhin that earlier Epikhodov proposed to her.

Finally, the crews arrive. In addition to those who arrived, other heroes of the play "The Cherry Orchard" appear on the stage, who met them at the station - Gaev, Varya, Semeonov-Pishchik and Firs.

Anya and Lyubov Andreevna are happy to return. We are glad that nothing has changed around, the situation is so unchanged that there is a feeling that they did not leave. A lively bustle begins in the house. Dunyasha happily tries to tell Anya what happened in their absence, but Anya shows no interest in the maid's chatter. The only thing that interested her was the news that Petya Trofimov was visiting them.

From the conversations in the first act, it becomes clear that Ranevskaya is now in an extremely distressed situation. She has already been forced to sell foreign property, and in August her estate with a cherry orchard is to be sold for debts. Anya and Varya discuss this and understand how deplorable their situation is, while Lyubov Andreevna, not used to saving money, only sighs and listens to Firs' memories of how they used to sell cherries and what they cooked from them. Lopakhin proposes to cut down the cherry orchard, and divide the territory into plots and rent it out to the townspeople as dachas. Lopakhin promises "at least twenty-five thousand a year income." However, Lyubov Andreevna and her brother are categorically against such a decision, they value their garden: “If there is anything interesting, even wonderful, in the whole province, it is only our cherry orchard.” And yet Lopakhin invites them to think and leaves. Gaev hopes that there will be an opportunity to borrow money to pay off debts, and during this time he will be able to establish relations with the rich aunt countess and, with her help, finally resolve financial problems.

In the same action, Petya Trofimov appears, ardently in love with Anya.

Action 2

The second action of The Cherry Orchard takes place in nature, near the old church, from where a view of the cherry orchard and the city visible on the horizon opens up. A lot of time has passed since the arrival of Ranevskaya, and only a few days remain before the auction for the sale of the garden. During this time, Dunyasha's heart was conquered by Yasha, who is in no hurry to advertise the relationship and is even shy about them.

Epikhodov, Charlotte Ivanovna, Dunyasha and Yasha are walking. Charlotte talks about her loneliness, that there is no person with whom she could talk heart to heart. Epikhodov feels that Dunyasha prefers Yasha and is very upset by this. It hints that he is ready to commit suicide. Dunyasha is passionately in love with Yasha, but his behavior shows that for him this is just a passing hobby.

Ranevskaya, Gaev, Lopakhin appear near the church. Gaev talks about the benefits railway which allowed them to easily get to the city and have breakfast. Lopakhin asks Lyubov Andreevna to give an answer about the lease of the estate's lands, but she does not seem to hear him, talking about the lack of money, and scolding herself for their unreasonable spending. At the same time, a little later, after these arguments, he gives the golden ruble to a random passerby.

Ranevskaya and Gaev are waiting for a money transfer from the countess's aunt, but the amount is not enough to pay off their debts, and it is not acceptable for them to rent land to summer residents, it’s even vulgar. Lopakhin is surprised at the frivolity and shortsightedness of their behavior, it even angers him, because the estate is for sale, and if you start leasing it, then this will be the best guarantee for any bank. But the landlords do not hear and do not understand what Lopakhin is trying to convey to them. Lyubov Andreevna reproaches the merchant for his lack of education and earthly judgments. And then he tries to woo Varya to him. Gaev, as always at the wrong time, reports that he was offered a job in a bank, but his sister besieges him, saying that he has nothing to do there. Old Firs comes, recalls his youth and how well life was under serfdom, everything was clear and understandable: who was the master and who was the servant.

Then Varya, Anya and Petya join the walkers. And yesterday's conversation continues about pride, about intellectuals, who, despite external education, are in fact small and uninteresting creatures. It becomes clear how different people come together.

When everyone went home, Anya and Petya were left alone, and then Anya admitted that the cherry orchard was not so important to her, and that she was ready for a new life.

Action 3

The third act of The Cherry Orchard takes place in the living room in the evening.

An orchestra is playing in the house, couples are dancing around. Everything characters here, except for Lopakhin and Gaev. August 22 - the day on which the auction for the sale of the estate was scheduled.

Pishchik and Trofimov are talking, they are interrupted by Lyubov Andreevna, she is extremely excited, waiting for her brother to return from the auction, he is delayed. Ranevskaya wonders if the auction took place, and what is their result.

Was there enough money sent by her aunt to buy the estate, although she understands that 15 thousand is not enough, which is not even enough to pay off interest on debts. Charlotte Ivanovna entertains those present with her tricks. Yasha asks her hostess to go to Paris, as he is burdened by the surrounding rudeness and lack of education. The atmosphere in the room is tense. Ranevskaya, anticipating her imminent departure to France and meeting with her lover, is trying to sort out the lives of her daughters. She also prophesies Lopakhin to Varya, and she would not mind marrying Anya to Petya, but she fears his incomprehensible position of an “eternal student”.

At this moment, a dispute arises that for the sake of love you can lose your head. Lyubov Andreevna reproaches Petya for being “above love,” and Petya reminds her that she is striving for an unworthy person who has already robbed and abandoned her once. Although there is still no exact news about the sale of the house and garden, it seems that everyone present has decided what they will do if the garden is sold.

Epikhodov tries to talk to Dunyasha, who has completely lost interest in him; Varya, who is just as much agitated as her adoptive mother, drives him away, reproaching him for acting too freely for a servant. Firs bustles around serving treats to the guests, everyone notices that he is not feeling well.

Enter Lopakhin, barely hiding his joy. He arrived with Gaev, who was supposed to bring news from the auction. Leonid Andreevich is crying. The news about the sale is reported by Ermolai Alekseevich. He is the new owner! And after that, he gives vent to his feelings. He is delighted that the most beautiful estate, in which his grandfather and father were slaves, now belongs to him, and he can allow himself to do whatever he wants in it, the owner of not only the estate, but also life: “I can pay for everything !" He can't wait to start cutting down the garden in order to build dachas in its place, and this is the new life he sees.

Varya throws the keys and leaves, Lyubov Andreevna sobs, Anya tries to console her, saying that there is still a lot of good ahead, and life goes on.

Action 4

Act four begins in the nursery, but it is empty, only in the corner there is luggage and things prepared for removal. From the street comes the sound of trees being cut down. Lopakhin and Yasha are waiting for the former owners to appear, with whom their former peasants have come to say goodbye. Lopakhin escorts the Ranevskaya family with champagne, but no one wants to drink it. Every character's mood is different. Lyubov Andreevna and Gaev are sad, Anya and Petya are in anticipation of the beginning of a new stage in their lives, Yasha is glad that he is leaving his homeland and mother that bothered him, Lopakhin can not wait to close the house as soon as possible and start the project that he conceived. The former owner holds back her tears, but when Anya says that after the sale of the estate, it only became easier for everyone, since they all were able to understand where to move on, everyone agrees with her. Now everyone is going to Kharkov together, and there the paths of the heroes will diverge. Raevskaya and Yasha leave for Paris, Anya to study, Petya to Moscow, Gaev agreed to serve in a bank, Varya found a job as a housekeeper in a nearby town. Only Charlotte Ivanovna is not attached, but Lopakhin promises to help her settle down. He also took Epikhodov to him to help in resolving issues with the estate. Of the former inhabitants of this house, only the ill Firs does not fuss, who was supposed to be taken to the hospital in the morning, but because of the turmoil they cannot figure out whether he was taken there or not.

Pishchik runs in for a minute, to the surprise of everyone, he repays the debt to Lopakhin and Ranevskaya, and says that he leased his land to the British for the extraction of rare white clay. And he admits that handing over the land of the estate for him was like jumping from the roof, but after handing over, nothing terrible happened.

Lyubov Andreevna undertakes one last try arrange the marriage of Lopakhin and Varya, but left alone, Lopakhin does not propose, and Varya is very upset. The carriages arrived and the loading began. Everyone leaves, only the brother and sister are left to say goodbye to the house in which childhood and youth passed, they sob, hugging, saying goodbye to the past, dreams and memories, with each other, realizing that their life has changed irrevocably.

The house is closed. And then Firs appears, who was simply forgotten in this turmoil. He sees that the house is closed and forgotten, but he has no anger at the owners. He just lays down on the couch and soon dies.
The sound of a broken string and the blows of an ax on wood. The curtain.

Conclusion

Such is the retelling of the content of the play "The Cherry Orchard". Having read The Cherry Orchard in abbreviated form, you will, of course, save time, but for a better acquaintance with the characters, to understand the idea and problems of this work, it is desirable to read it in full.

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Konstantin Stanislavsky as Gaev. Production of The Cherry Orchard at the Moscow Art Theatre. 1904

Leonid Leonidov as Lopakhin. Production of The Cherry Orchard at the Moscow Art Theatre. 1904© Album "Plays by A.P. Chekhov". Supplement to the magazine "The Sun of Russia", No. 7, 1914

Alexander Artyom as Firs. Production of The Cherry Orchard at the Moscow Art Theatre. 1904© Album "Plays by A.P. Chekhov". Supplement to the magazine "The Sun of Russia", No. 7, 1914

Vasily Kachalov as Petya Trofimov and Maria Lilina as Anya. Production of The Cherry Orchard at the Moscow Art Theatre, act II. 1904 © Album "Plays by A.P. Chekhov". Supplement to the magazine "The Sun of Russia", No. 7, 1914

Firs: "Let's go... They forgot about me." Production of The Cherry Orchard at the Moscow Art Theatre, act IV. 1904© Album "Plays by A.P. Chekhov". Supplement to the magazine "The Sun of Russia", No. 7, 1914

Cotillion. Production of The Cherry Orchard at the Moscow Art Theatre, act III. 1904© Album "Plays by A.P. Chekhov". Supplement to the magazine "The Sun of Russia", No. 7, 1914

In this very first production of The Cherry Orchard, Chekhov did not like much. The author's disagreements with Konstantin Stanislavsky, who staged a play written especially for the Moscow Art Theater, concerned the distribution of roles between the performers, mood and genre (Stanislavsky was convinced that he was staging a tragedy), even staged means that reflected the naturalistic aesthetics of the early Moscow Art Theater. “I will write a new play, and it will begin like this: “How wonderful, how quiet! No birds, no dogs, no cuckoos, no owls, no nightingales, no clocks, no bells, and not a single cricket are heard,” Stanislavsky quoted Chekhov’s sarcastic joke about the sound score recreating the estate life. Today, not a single Chekhov biography or history of the Moscow Art Theater bypasses this conflict between the writer and the theater. But the oppressive atmosphere, streams of tears, and everything that frightened Chekhov is at odds with those few surviving fragments of later versions of The Cherry Orchard, a performance that remained in the theater repertoire until the second half of the 1930s and was constantly changing, including thanks to Stanislavsky. For example, with the short final scene recorded on film with Firs: the voice of the lackey performed by Mikhail Tarkhanov sounds in it - despite the situation of the servant forgotten in the house, how hard every movement is given to this decrepit old man, contrary to everything in general - suddenly unusually young. Just sobbing, Ranevskaya said goodbye to her youth on stage, and miraculously she returned to Firs in these very last minutes.


1954 Renault-Barro Company, Paris. Directed by Jean Louis Barraud

A scene from Jean Louis Barrault's The Cherry Orchard. Paris, 1954© Manuel Litran / Paris Match Archive / Getty Images

A scene from Jean Louis Barrault's The Cherry Orchard. Paris, 1954© Manuel Litran / Paris Match Archive / Getty Images

A scene from Jean Louis Barrault's The Cherry Orchard. Paris, 1954© Manuel Litran / Paris Match Archive / Getty Images

Prominent European productions of The Cherry Orchard only began to appear after the war. Theater historians explain this by the extremely strong impression Western directors had of the performance of the Moscow Art Theater, which took Chekhov's play on tour more than once. The Cherry Orchard, staged by Jean Louis Barrault, did not become a breakthrough, but it is a very interesting example of how the European theater, in search of its own Chekhov, slowly emerged from the influence of the Moscow Art Theatre. From the director Barro, who during these years discovered Camus and Kafka for himself and the audience of his theater, and continued to stage his main author, Claudel, one could expect to read Chekhov through the prism the newest theater. But there is nothing of this in Barro's The Cherry Orchard: listening to the surviving recording of his radio broadcast, you remember about absurdism only when Gaev, in response to Lopakhin's business proposal about arranging dachas on the site of the estate, is indignant: “Absurde!” The Cherry Orchard staged by Renault-Barro Company is first of all (and strictly according to Chekhov) a comedy in which a huge place was given to music. Pierre Boulez, with whom the theater collaborated during these years, was responsible for her in the performance. The role of Ranevskaya was played by Barrot's wife, co-founder of the theater, who earned fame for herself precisely as a comic actress of the Comédie Francaise, Madeleine Renaud. And Barro himself unexpectedly chose the role of Petya Trofimov for himself: perhaps the hero was close to the great mime, who guessed the character of the merchant Lopakhin by his hands - “tender fingers, like those of an artist.”


1974 Teatro Piccolo, Milan. Directed by Giorgio Strehler

Rehearsal of the play "The Cherry Orchard" by Giorgio Strehler. Milan, 1974© Mondadori Portfolio / Getty Images

Tino Carraro in Giorgio Strehler's The Cherry Orchard

Tino Carraro and Enzo Tarascio in Giorgio Strehler's The Cherry Orchard© Mario De Biasi / Mondadori Portfolio / Getty Images

“Craig wants the set to be as mobile as music and to help refine certain passages in a play, just as music can follow and emphasize turns in an action. He wants the scenery to change with the play,” the artist René Pio wrote in 1910 after meeting with the English director and set designer Gordon Craig. Luciano Damiani's set design in The Cherry Orchard directed by Giorgio Strehler, thanks to its amazing simplicity, has become perhaps the best example of this way of working with space in the modern theater. A wide, translucent curtain stretched across the entire depth of the stage over the snow-white stage, which at different moments either calmly swayed over the heroes, then fell dangerously low above them, then sprinkled them with dry leaves. The scenery turned into a partner for the actors, and they themselves were reflected in their own way in very few objects on the stage, like children's toys taken from a hundred-year-old cupboard. Ranevskaya's plastic score, played by Strehler's actress Valentina Cortese, was based on rotation, and Gaev's top, launched by Gaev, rhymed with this movement, rotating for a minute and then somehow suddenly flying off its axis.


1981 Bouffe du Nord Theatre, Paris. Directed by Peter Brook

The Cherry Orchard by Peter Brook at the Bouffe du Nord Theatre. 1981© Nicolas Treatt / archivesnicolastreatt.net

In his lectures on the history of literature, Naum Berkovsky called subtext the language of enemies, and associated its appearance in drama with the changing relationships of people in the early 19th century. In The Cherry Orchard by Peter Brook, the characters have no enemies among each other. The director did not have them in the play either. And the subtext in Chekhov's work suddenly radically changed its quality, ceased to be a method of concealment, but, on the contrary, turned into a means of revealing to each other what cannot be conveyed with the help of words. Played out with little to no scenery (the walls and floor of the old Paris theater Bouffe du Nord were covered with carpets), this performance was closely associated with post-war literature: “Chekhov writes extremely concisely, using a minimum of words, and his writing style is reminiscent of Pinter or Beckett Brook said in an interview. “For Chekhov, like for them, composition, rhythm, purely theatrical poetry of the only exact word, pronounced then and in the right way, plays a role.” Among the innumerable interpretations of The Cherry Orchard as a drama of the absurd that have arisen to this day, perhaps the most unusual thing about Brook's performance was precisely that, read through Beckett and Pinter, his Chekhov sounded in a new way, but remained himself.


2003 K. S. Stanislavsky International Foundation and Meno Fortas Theatre, Vilnius. Directed by Eymuntas Nyakroshus

The play "The Cherry Orchard" by Eymuntas Nyakroshyus. Festival " golden mask". Moscow, 2004

Yevgeny Mironov as Lopakhin in the play "The Cherry Orchard" by Eymuntas Nyakroshyus. Golden Mask Festival. Moscow, 2004 © Dmitry Korobeinikov / RIA Novosti

The first thing that the audience saw on the stage was the clothes of the inhabitants of the house thrown at each other, low columns standing behind, two hoops coming from nowhere: it seemed to be a manor, but as if reassembled from almost random objects. In this "Cherry Orchard" there were references to Strehler, but there was no trace of the poetry of the Italian Chekhov performance. However, the Nyakroshyus performance itself was built more according to the laws poetic text. The six hours that he walked, the connections between things, gestures (as always with Nyakroshus, an unusually rich plastic score), sounds (like the unbearably loud cry of swallows) and music, unexpected animal parallels of the characters - these connections multiplied at an extraordinary speed, penetrating all levels . "A gloomy and magnificent bulk," wrote the theater critic Pavel Markov about Meyerhold's "The Government Inspector", and this is exactly the impression left by the performance of the Lithuanian director, staged together with Moscow artists on the centenary of the Chekhov
plays.