Seemingly in denial of the fate that awaits them, Lyubov and Gayev do absolutely nothing about the situation. This will involve cutting down the cherry orchard, which constitutes a large part of the estate.įor Lyubov and her brother Gayev, the orchard holds fond childhood memories and Lopakhin’s suggestion–sensible and unavoidable as it is–essentially means, for them, cutting down art, heritage and culture, to make room for commerce. Lopakhin tries to help them save their estate by suggesting that they divide the land into little parcels and lease these to developers in the emerging tourism industry. He is a successful merchant–what we would now call (in Kenya) a hustler–and has known, since his childhood, the aristocratic family of Lyubov Andreyevna, whose estate is about to be auctioned to offset the mortgage. Lopakhin (also called Yermolay), one of the central characters in his 1903 play, The Cherry Orchard, typifies this sprouting middle-class. It was, therefore, a time of a diminishing aristocracy and a rising a middle-class–a middle-class growing in wealth but lacking in the taste and refinement that art cultivates. Chekhov’s grandfather himself was a serf and had managed to buy his family’s freedom in 1840. “Medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress,” said Anton Chekhov (1860-1904), “when I get tired of one, I go to the other.”Ĭhekhov’s words, I suppose, make sense to East Africans, because even here, generally, one is expected to pursue a “serious” profession whereas art is seen as something that one does “on the side.” The Russia that Chekhov lived in is very similar to our time in this sense.Ĭhekhov was born just a year before serfdom was abolished in Russia. “Young Barbarians”: Non-serious Seriousness and Hungarian Drive 1st May 2023.“Theatre Is King”: The 2023 Kenya Theatre Awards 17th March 2023.

With Faith and Trust into the Future: The 10th International Theatre Olympics in Hungary 24th March 2023.

IOTF 2023: INTERNATIONAL ONLINE THEATRE FESTIVAL – “Theatre and Its Others” – Launches April 17-30 10th April 2023.The Theatre We Want In 2040? We Used “Strategic Foresight” To Plan On The Prairies 28th April 2023.“TRACES:” An Interview With Co-Creators James Clements and Sam Hood Adrain of What Will the Neighbors Say? 29th March 2023.A Question of Diversity: In Conversation with Paulien Geerlings 22nd April 2023.Romanian Experiences During the Pandemic 17th February 2023 Touching the Azerbaijani Theatre: From Ritual to Spontaneity 18th March 2023.Theater, A Major Job Sector 2nd April 2023.Vinnie Heaven’s “Faun” at Theatre 503: queer show is both joyful and thought-provoking 1st May 2023.“Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead” at the Barbican Theatre 3rd May 2023.

Drag Queens in Musical Theatre 8th May 2023.

“The Arabian Nights” in Taiwan: Deserted in the Oriental Dream 12th May 2023.

The orchard chekhov