The Cherry Orchard

Anton Chekhov, Richard Nelson, Richard Pevear, Larissa Volokhonsky

• Publisher: Theatre Communications Group
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781559367936
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Drama
• Index: Literature

- The third of a major translations series of important Russian plays to be published over the next ten years.
- Previously announced: The Inspector and A Month in the Country.
- A major Broadway production of this translation of The Cherry Orchard is in the works.
- The series of covers will be designed by John Gall, Art Director of Abrams Books.- Pevear and Volokhonsky are (Oprah-approved) pre-eminent Russian translators
- Their awards include: Pen/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prizes for Anna Karenina and The Brothers Karamazov
- Pevear is from Boston; Volokhonsky is from Paris
- Their Anna Karenina has sold over 1,000,000 copies- Nelson is a Tony Award-winning playwright who is currently receiving critical acclaim for his The Apple Family plays at NYC's Public Theater

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THE CHERRY ORCHARD

1903 Script

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CHARACTERS

LYUBÓV ANDRÉEVNA RANÉVSKAYA (Lyúba), a landowner

ÁNYA (Ánechka), her daughter, seventeen years old

VÁRYA (Varvára Mikháilovna), her adopted daughter, twenty-four years old

LEONÍD ANDRÉEVICH GÁEV (Lyónya), Ranevskaya’s brother

ERMOLÁI ALEXÉEVICH LOPÁKHIN (Alexéich), a merchant

PYÓTR SERGÉEVICH TROFÍMOV (Pétya), a student

BORÍS BORÍSOVICH SIMEÓNOV-PÍSHCHIK, a landowner

CHARLÓTTA IVÁNOVNA [no last name], a governess

SEMYÓN PANTELÉEVICH EPIKHÓDOV, a clerk

DUNYÁSHA (Avdótya Fyódorvna Kozoédova), a maid

FIRS (Nikolaevich), a servant, eighty-seven years old

YÁSHA, a young servant

A PASSERBY

THE STATIONMASTER

A POSTAL CLERK

GUESTS, SERVANTS

The action takes place on L. A. Ranevskaya’s estate.

ACT ONE

A room which is still called the nursery. One of the doors leads to Anya’s room. Daybreak, the sun will rise soon. It is already May, the cherry trees are in bloom, but it is chilly. There is a morning frost in the orchard. The windows in the room are shut.

Dunyasha enters with a candle and Lopakhin with a book in his hand.

LOPAKHIN

The train’s come, thank God. What time is it?

DUNYASHA

Going on two. (Blows out the candle) It’s already light.

LOPAKHIN

How late does that make the train? A couple of hours at least. (Yawns and stretches) I’m a fine one, too! Made a fool of myself! Came here on purpose to meet them at the station, and slept right through it . . . Sat down and fell asleep. A shame . . . You might have waked me up.

DUNYASHA

I thought you left. (Listens) There, I think it’s them.

LOPAKHIN

(Listens) No . . . They’ve got to pick up the luggage and all that . . .

Pause.

Lyubov Andreevna’s been living abroad for five years. I don’t know what she’s like now . . . She’s a good person. Easy, simple. I remember when I was a kid of about five or six, my late father—he kept a shop then, here in the village—punched me in the face with his fist. My nose bled . . . We had come here to the yard together for some reason, and he was a bit drunk. Lyubov Andreevna, I remember it like today, still a young thing, so slender, she led me to the washstand, here, in this same room, in the nursery. “Don’t cry, peasant-boy,” she says, “it’ll go away by your wedding day . . .”

Pause.

Peasant-boy . . . True, my father was a peasant, but here I am in a white waistcoat and yellow shoes. A pig in the parlor. Oh, I’m rich all right, I’ve got lots of money, but if you really look into it, I’m as peasant as a peasant can be . . . (Leafs through the book) I’m reading this book and don’t understand a thing. I fell asleep reading it.

Pause.

DUNYASHA

And the dogs didn’t sleep all night. They can sense the masters are coming.

LOPAKHIN

Dunyasha, why are you so—

DUNYASHA

My hands are trembling.

LOPAKHIN

You’re much too pampered, Dunyasha. You dress like a young lady, and do your hair up, too. It’s not right. Remember who you are.

Epikhodov enters with a bouquet. He wears a jacket and brightly polished boots that creak loudly. He drops the bouquet as he enters.

EPIKHODOV

(Picking up the bouquet) The gardener sent it. He says to put it in the dining room. (He hands the bouquet to Dunyasha)

LOPAKHIN

And bring me some kvass.

DUNYASHA

Yes, sir. (Exits)

EPIKHODOV

There’s a morning frost, three below, and the cherry trees are all in bloom. I cannot appro...