ABSTRACT
. . .Chekhov's play is at once an elegy on the passing of the old, feudal Russia, a criticism of that Russia's footling helplessness and decadence, and a satire on the nouveau riche, newly derived from peasant origins, and symbolised in Lopahin, who is so anxious to build a row of bungalows on the site of the orchard. One is accustomed to have the first of these themes emphasised, so that Madame Ranevsky's lament for her cherry trees is like a wind moaning yearningly and hopelessly through the frame of the play. But no such nostalgic languishments here! Tyrone Guthrie, the producer, has rather gone flat out to squeeze all the comedy and humour he can from the goings-on of this queer collection of people.
