The Cherry Orchard

Super Short Summary

Written in 1903 and first performed in 1904, The Cherry Orchard is the final work by acclaimed Russian playwright and author Anton Chekhov. Considered a classic of modern theater, the play tells the story of Lubov Andreyevna Ranevsky, an aristocratic Russian landowner who returns home after spending five years in Paris. She discovers that her family’s estate and renowned cherry orchard must be sold to cover debts. The enterprising merchant Lopakhin offers Lubov a plan to save the estate by parceling the land and building villas that can be sold to the newly emerging middle class. However, she ignores his advice, and eventually, Lopakhin buys the estate during an auction, coming to own the land where his father and grandfather once labored as enslaved serfs. Filled with both comedy and tragedy, the play offers a portrait of the shifting social class structure in late 19th-century Russia while exploring themes of loss, social change, and the power of nostalgia. The source text mentions death by suicide.