The Cherry Orchard

By Anton Chekhov.

Translated by Constance Garnett.

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Characters in the Play

Madame Ranevsky (Lyubov Andreyevna) (the owner of the Cherry Orchard)
Anya (her daughter, aged 17)
Varya (her adopted daughter, aged 24)
Gaev (Leonid Andreyevitch) (brother of Madame Ranevsky)
Lopahin (Yermolay Alexeyevitch) (a Merchant)
Trofimov (Pyotr Sergeyevitch) (a Student)
Semyonov-Pishtchik (a Landowner)
Charlotta Ivanovna (a Governess)
Epihodov (Semyon Pantaleyevitch) (a Clerk)
Dunyasha (a Maid)
Firs (an old Valet, aged 87)
Yasha (a young Valet)
A Vagrant
The Station Master
A Post-Office Clerk
Visitors, Servants

The action takes place on the estate of Madame Ranevsky.

The Cherry Orchard

A Comedy in Four Acts

Act I

A room, which has always been called the nursery. One of the doors leads into Anya’s room. Dawn, sun rises during the scene. May, the cherry trees in flower, but it is cold in the garden with the frost of early morning. Windows closed.

	Enter Dunyasha with a candle and Lopahin with a book in his hand.
Lopahin	The train’s in, thank God. What time is it?
Dunyasha	Nearly two o’clock puts out the candle. It’s daylight already.
Lopahin	The train’s late! Two hours, at least yawns and stretches. I’m a pretty one; what a fool I’ve been. Came here on purpose to meet them at the station and dropped asleep.⁠ ⁠… Dozed off as I sat in the chair. It’s annoying.⁠ ⁠… You might have waked me.
Dunyasha	I thought you had gone listens. There, I do believe they’re coming!
Lopahin	Listens. No, what with the luggage and one thing and another a pause. Lyubov Andreyevna has been abroad five years; I don’t know what she is like now.⁠ ⁠… She’s a splendid woman. A good-natured, kindhearted woman. I remember when I was a lad of fifteen, my poor father⁠—he used to keep a little shop here in the village in those days⁠—gave me a punch in the face with his fist and made my nose bleed. We were in the yard here, I forget what we’d come about⁠—he had had a drop. Lyubov Andreyevna⁠—I can see her now⁠—she was a slim young girl then⁠—took me to wash my face, and then brought me into this very room, into the nursery. “Don’t cry, little peasant,” says she, “it will be well in time for your wedding day”⁠ ⁠… a pause. Little peasant.⁠ ⁠… My father was a peasant, it’s true, but here am I in a white waistcoat and brown shoes, like a pig in a bun shop. Yes, I’m a rich man, but for all my money, come to think, a peasant I was, and a peasant I am turns over the pages of the book. I’ve been reading this book and I can’t make head or tail of it. I fell asleep over it a pause.
Dunyasha	The dogs have been awake all night, they feel that the mistress is coming.
Lopahin	Why, what’s the matter with you, Dunyasha?
Dunyasha	My hands are all of a tremble. I feel as though I should faint.
Lopahin	You’re a spoilt soft creature, Dunyasha. And dressed like a lady too, and your hair done up. That’s not the thing. One must know one’s place.
	Enter Epihodov with a nosegay; he wears a pea-jacket and highly polished creaking top-boots; he drops the nosegay as he comes in.
Epihodov	Picking up the nosegay. Here! the gardener’s sent this, says you’re to put it in the dining-room gives Dunyasha* the nosegay*.
Lopahin	And bring me some kvass.
Dunyasha	I will goes out.
Epihodov	It’s chilly this morning, three degrees of frost, though the cherries are all in flower. I can’t say much for our climate sighs. I can’t. Our climate is not often propitious to the occasion. Yermolay Alexeyevitch, permit me to call your attention to the fact that I purchased myself a pair of boots the day before yesterday, and they creak, I venture to assure you, so that there’s no tolerating them. What ought I to grease them with?
Lopahin	Oh, shut up! Don’t bother me.
Epihodov	Every day some misfortune befalls me. I don’t complain, I’m used to it, and I wear a smiling face.
	Dunyasha comes in, hands Lopahin the kvass.
Epihodov	I am going stumbles against a chair, which falls over. There! As though triumphant. There you see now, excuse the expression, an accident like that among others.⁠ ⁠… It’s positively remarkable goes out.
Dunyasha	Do you know, Yermolay Alexeyevitch, I must confess, Epihodov has made me a proposal.
Lopahin	Ah!
Dunyasha	I’m sure I don’t know.⁠ ⁠… He’s a harmless fellow, but sometimes when he begins talking, there’s no making anything of it.