Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" portrays the social climate of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, when the aristocrats and landowning gentry were losing their wealth and revealing themselves to be incapable of coping with their change in status. 

The National Theatre's version, set for 7 p.m. July 8 at the Newport Performing Arts Center, is directed by NT Associate Director Howard Davies, whose recent productions of Russian plays (including Philistines, Burnt by the Sun and The White Guard) have earned huge critical acclaim. Zoë Wanamaker will play Madame Ranevskaya.

The tragedy of the situation in which Mrs. Ranevsky and her family find themselves is derived primarily from their inability to adapt to their new social and personal responsibilities. No longer able to live on the labor provided by the serfs (slaves) who worked the land, many wealthy landowners, like Ranevsky, lost their fortunes and their estates.

Though he intended the play to be a comedy, when it was first produced by the Moscow Art Theater on January 17, 1904, producer Konstantin Stanislavsky insisted it should be played as a tragedy. Chekhov fought against this portrayal. 

Many Socialist Soviet critics in Russia after the Revolution of 1917 tried to interpret this as an indictment of Russian society at the turn of the century; however, it is unlikely that Chekhov meant this play as an attack on the society of which he was so much a part. 

Buy tickets
Get tickets at the Newport Performing Arts Center, located at 777 W. Olive Street in Newport, open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and one hour prior to performance times, or call 541-265-2787. Ticket prices for National Theatre events are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and $10 for students.