The Cherry Orchard is the last play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Chekhov described the play as a comedy, with some elements of farce, though Stanislavski treated it as a tragedy.
The play revolves around an aristocratic Russian landowner who returns to her family estate, which includes a large and well-known cherry orchard; she returns just before the estate is auctioned to pay the mortgage. Unresponsive to offers to save the estate, she allows its sale to the son of a former serf, and the family departs to the sound of the cherry orchard being cut down. The story presents themes of cultural futility – the attempts of the aristocracy to maintain its status, and the attempts of the bourgeoisie to find meaning in its newfound materialism. The play dramatizes the socioeconomic forces in Russia at the turn of the 20th century; these forces include the rise of the middle class after the abolition of serfdom in the mid-19th century, in addition to the decline in power of the aristocracy.
