Anton Chekhov was a master whose daring work revolutionized theatre.
Robert Burstein declared that "there are none who bring the drama to a
higher realization of its human role." In The Cherry Orchard, his last
full-length play, an impoverished landowning family is unable to face
the fact that their estate is about to be auctioned off. Lopakhin, a
local merchant, presents numerous options to save it, including cutting
down their prized cherry orchard. But the family is stricken with
denial. The Cherry Orchard charts the precipitous descent of a wealthy
family and in the process creates a bold meditation on social change and
bourgeois materialism.