The Cherry Orchard

On a frosty May morning, Madame Ranevskaya returns to her family’s decaying Russian estate with her daughter, Anya. Still grieving the death of her young son and overwhelmed by debt, she learns that the property—including its beloved cherry orchard—must be auctioned.

Businessman Yermolai Lopakhin offers a practical plan to save the estate, but the family remains unable to accept the changes facing them. When the property is sold, Lopakhin reveals that he is its new owner and plans to cut down the orchard. As the family prepares to leave, the sound of axes signals the end of their former way of life.

Anton Chekhov’s, The Cherry Orchard, explores grief, memory, social change, and the decline of Russia’s aristocracy amid the rise of a new middle class.