Act I Part I

The play opens in the early hours of a May morning in the old nursery on the estate of Lyubov Andreyevna Ranevskaya, where her maid Dunyasha and neighbour Lopakhin are awaiting Madame Ranevskaya and her daughter Anya’s return from France, where they have been living for five years. At this point, Yepikhodov the clumsy clerk enters the room with a bouquet of flowers for Dunyasha, who leaves to get drinks, leaving the two men alone to talk about the weather. As Yepikhodov leaves, Dunyasha reveals to Lopakhin that the clerk has proposed to her but that she does not love him.

Madame Ranevskaya and her entourage finally return and enter the nursery. Filled with emotion, she bursts into tears of joy at being back on her estate. After greetings everyone exits, leaving Anya and the maid Dunyasha alone. They discuss the fact that Trofimov, who used to tutor Madame Ranevskaya’s dead son Grisha, has remained on the estate.