The Cherry Orchard: Chekhov's comedy Stanislavski's tragedy
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Abstract
When Anton Chekhov began his play The Cherry Orchard in December 1902, he intended it to be a farce in four acts. Having written it during a particularly awful bout with emphysema, it took almost a year for him to send it out to Stanislavski and the Moscow Art Theatre, where it had been eagerly anticipated. Stanislavski, in Chekhov's opinion, took the play too far. He had dashed off a telegram to Chekhov saying, “Just read play...shaken...cannot come to senses in unprecedented ecstasy...sincerely congratulate author genius.” This disgusted Chekhov – why should a farce evoke such a visceral reaction? (Hingley, New Life, 300) The answer soon became clear. Stanislavski was determined to stage the play as a realistic and tragic ode to the dying upper class, when in fact; this was not even close to what Chekhov had intended.
Contents
Introduction.
Chekhov's irritation: The impatience of a dying man.
Chekhov's assertion that the work must be taken as a whole.
The Cherry Orchard: Not a comedy.
Deciding between comedy and pathos.
The relative sinking into oblivion and publications like The Daily Express.
To Soviet audiences in the 1930's.
The characters in The Cherry Orchard.
Where do we see the comic elements in the characters?
The character of Ranevsky.
Seeing Charlotta in a comic light.
The smaller characters: Rife with comedy.
Firs: The one discordant character.
Conclusion.
Works cited.
Introduction.
Chekhov's irritation: The impatience of a dying man.
Chekhov's assertion that the work must be taken as a whole.
The Cherry Orchard: Not a comedy.
Deciding between comedy and pathos.
The relative sinking into oblivion and publications like The Daily Express.
To Soviet audiences in the 1930's.
The characters in The Cherry Orchard.
Where do we see the comic elements in the characters?
