Der Kirschgarten

For years and years Madame Ranevskaya has poured money down the drain and piled on debts. Now the family estate must be sold – including the beloved cherry orchard. Lopakhin, an enterprising merchant from the lower class, suggests the property could be saved if they cut down the orchard and build vacation rentals. But the aristocratic family will have none of it until the day of reckoning is upon them, and their home is about to slip through their fingers.
»It isn’t a drama, but a comedy, in places even a farce.« This is how Anton Chekhov always defended The Cherry Orchard against those who saw it as a melancholy farewell to the fine old traditions. And it’s true: he uses a cheerful irony to describe a society in transition, as all that is familiar dissolves and the outlines of a new world begin to emerge. Its characters stumble around like clowns in an absurd endgame. They stand on crumbling foundations and waver between longing and loneliness, subtle anticipation and a fear of loss. 
Nurkan Erpulat directs Chekhov’s comedy as the final soiree of an anxious society on the edge of selling out.

With English surtitles, excluding the premiere

Premiere: 5. November 2013


Photo: Esra Rotthoff

Stage Photos: Ute Langkafel