'In Chekhov''s tragi-comedy - perhaps his most popular play - the Gayev family is torn by powerful forces deeply rooted in history and the society in which they live. Their estate is hopelessly in debt and when urged to cut down their beautiful cherry orchard and sell the land for holiday cottages, they are confronted by an impossible decision. At the time when The Cherry Orchard was written, the years before the revolution of 1905, Chekhov considered revolution in Russia irreversible and desirable. This volume contains a chronology of the playwright''s life and work, an introduction giving the background to the play; a discussion of the various interpretations; notes on individual words and phrases and photographs from stage productions.'