Welcome

Welcome to the REP Insight for The Cherry Orchard.

By Anton Chekhov
In an English version by Tom Stoppard

Russia at the turn of the 20th century. Madame Ranevskaya, a once wealthy landowner, returns home almost impoverished after five years abroad. Her vast and beautiful cherry orchard is to be sold off against her crippling debts. Struggling with the uncomfortable reality of the present, Ranevskaya ignores the insistent warnings and advice of Lopakhin, a peasant’s son turned wealthy businessman, and instead seeks solace in the past.

But more than the family estate is at risk in the shifting world Ranevskaya finds at home. In the words of Trofimov, the eternal student who hopes to inherit the future, “the whole of Russia is our orchard”.

This new production stars Josie Lawrence as Madame Ranevskaya in Tom Stoppard’s brilliant version of Chekhov’s last work – a play that provides a glimpse into the slow rolling change that culminated in the Russian Revolution of 1917.

All of the The Cherry Orchard resources on these pages have been sourced and written by The REP’s Learning & Participation team.