I’ve seen Chekhov’s Cherry Orchard 20 times — it suits the British stage

What kind of play is The Cherry Orchard? As a new production starring Helen Hunt and Kenneth Branagh beckons in Stratford, that question feels as old as the play itself. Chekhov wrote that what had emerged was “not a drama but a comedy, in places almost a farce”.

Stanislavski, who directed the Moscow premiere in 1904, violently disagreed: “It is a tragedy,” he told Chekhov, “whatever prospect of a better life you hold out in the last act.” There is a critical cliché that the British sentimentalise the play and treat it as a lament for the decline of a pseudo‑Edwardian aristocracy.

Having seen about 20 productions, I have found that claim untrue.

United Kingdom, Stratford

cherry orchard, chekhov, helen hunt, kenneth branagh, stratford, stanislavski, moscow premiere, 1904, comedy, tragedy