 This lecture is devoted to understanding drama in the classroom and we have given a subtitle experience and writing. While we are talking about experience, let me place before you a quotation from Rilke that we had shared with you earlier, where he had pointed out in his diary, for the sake of a single poem, you must see many cities, many people and things. You must understand animals, must feel how birds fly, and know the gesture which small flowers make when they open in the morning. And it is not yet enough to have memories, only when they have changed into our very blood, into glance and gesture and are nameless, no longer to be distinguished from ourselves, only then can it happen that in some very rare hour, the first word of a poem arises in their midst and goes forth from them. I like to say that reading actually also becomes a part of a writer's bloodstream and therefore, when we place this material before you, it is with this sense that you not only need to experience great writing, but some of the forms also help you bring back to your own experience of life. We have titled this subsection as experiencing the play and the focus is on performance of the cherry orchard by our elective students based on extensive discussion of the play, close reading of the play, discussion of content and form, reading of the play within the writer's historical context. We have tried to share that historical context earlier with you, but I think we will have to explain this textually in greater detail when we read cherry orchard. This is not to suggest that Jacob should be read purely in terms of his own historical context, there are many ways of reading and we would really not like to be restrictive about it. However, the reading of a writer in his or her own historical context is an extremely powerful way of trying to understand different locations, historical periods and the way the creative impulse emerged for the writer. It is really not possible to claim that one understands that whole process fully, but I think it gives a greater degree of concreteness to our understanding. However, there are multiple interpretations by great directors, actors of Chekhov's cherry orchard. You can have a look at those after you have really developed some personal relationship with this text. So, this performance by the elective students actually was a marvelous activity primarily because it brought all of them together in the act of creating something together. They were not only interpreting a text, but they were also bonding and interpreting the text. So, I think at multiple levels this activity enhanced their experience of each other and of others of the given text. The translation that we used for this cherry orchard performance and reading is by Kathleen Cook and I am really very fond of this translation because this particular edition contains a foreword by Stanislavisky, the great theatre director who went on to interpret most of Chekhov's plays and in fact of course Chekhov and he disagreed vehemently about the way cherry orchard ought to be interpreted for performance. But nonetheless, I think Stanislavisky's grand contribution to theory of acting emerged because of his deep interaction with Chekhov and Chekhovian text. So, you will find a foreword by Stanislavisky in this edition. Another fascinating feature of this edition is the inclusion of photographs of the Moscow Art Theatre productions and also number of very evocative sketches of the stage design. Those of you who are interested in these aspects and in fact there are lots of technical aspects that also are artistic in their orientation such as stage design, lighting, etc. I think if you are interested in these areas, you can look at the drama review back issues and really see how different kinds of great artists have interpreted these great plays. But this particular edition really personally relate to very much. This play will pose problems for many of you because initially you would have to remember the names of each character. Remember from you know our own earlier reference to the author, six characters in search of an author, characters in a play or in a literary work have their own autonomous existence. So, it is very important to remember the names of characters. So, I will try and help you out right now. The characters in Cheriyochet are Ranevaskaya, the owner of the Cheriyochet. She has two daughters, Anya is her young daughter of 17, Varya is the adopted daughter and she is also the housekeeper, Gai is her brother. So, this is the family that owns the Cheriyochet technically and all the other characters are also part of their sense of the extended family because the play is placed in a community oriented setup where everyone knows everybody else and they feel part of each other's lives. Up to Gai, this is the family and then you have Lopakhin, a merchant who actually comes from a family of serfs. Then you have Trophimov, a student who was also a tutor in the family earlier. Simon Tyschik is a landowner, but he really is in pretty bad shape. The play deals with feudal times and the last phase of the feudal era in Russia. The other characters are Sharlota, the governess who has been hired by this family. Obviously, the Raneveskaya family is rich enough or is sort of perceived to be rich and they also can afford to hire a governess. This governess accompanies Anya most of the time if Anya is traveling. Then you have Yepikhodov, a clerk who is again part of the Raneveskaya household. He is a man given to philosophical thought processes. He is very idealistic, romantic and yet the gap between his philosophical thought and his common ailments like the clicking boots or other such injuries. You can see that it is obviously meant to be a comic character. The notion of comedy as you look at these characters, I think you will have to try and assess the comic element in the play. But I mention Yash Yepikhodov primarily because he is out and out a comic character. But the content of that comic element which has a tinge of sadness, I think if you are able to discern it as we read the play and the students perform it, then you will really begin to understand the power of the Chikovian world view. Dunyasha is a maid in the household, fears is also an old servant of 87, none of the servants are caricatures, they are all fully developed characters. Each one has an individuality and identity which may be anchored in their role as servants but they really are not fully defined by that. Yasha is yet another young servant, then there is a wayfarer, a station master, post office official guest servants. I think the list of guests and servants is given because in one scene all of them come together to celebrate the reunion of the family with the villagers. The scene is set in the Ranevaskaya estate where the cherry orchard is located. Now, if we were to try and understand the play and I am giving you this preamble so that when the students perform this play, you are able to connect to it. You would have read the play in advance. If you have not read the play in advance, you can see the performance, begin to connect to the play and the performance only deals with segments we have selected. The reason they have been selected is because they do give you a sense of the flavor of this very rich portrayal of life in transitional Russia. Remember, this is a period when the October revolution is in the air. The feudal system is being questioned vigorously at different levels and yet you will notice that Chekhov maintains a somewhat dispassionate view of all the characters. At the same time, I think there is a kind of plot structure that helps us understand how they are connected to each other. So, I will give you that sense of the plot structure in terms of the Greek notion of plot or the Aristotelian notion of plot, but surely it is not really adequate way of looking at Chekhov because it does not cover the powerful aspects of the play fully. So, in terms of the Greek notion, exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, these are five facets of the highs and lows of a plot. Now, if we were to try and understand the cherry orchard based on this kind of pattern, then we can say that by way of exposition or the initial moment where the play begins, this consists of the reunion of the estate's inhabitants. Raneviskaya has come back from Paris where she leads a very unhappy life with a person she is not married to, her husband had already died and so she has come back with her daughter Anya and everybody is there to receive her. As I said, the sense of community and warmth is very strong, at the same time paradoxically there is deep sense of loneliness in each character. The rising action consists of the cherry orchard and the need to sell the cherry orchard because the family cannot afford to keep it anymore, it is in debt, heavy debt. So, there is a lot of action around this in terms of the need to sell and the inability of Raneviskaya and Gai to really take this very seriously. Finally, despite all his efforts, Lopak in the merchant who is also an admirer of Raneviskaya's warmth and goodness of heart, he buys this estate. So from a family of serves, he becomes a land owner, an entrepreneur who would turn that feudal land into new enterprise. So that consists of the climax that is sort of it revolves down the climax of the play and then the falling action consists of the grief that the family feels because a very very strong emotional bond of the family has been severed because soon the cherry orchard would be you know I think basically it would be axed and new enterprise would develop there. So the family is in grief and so that is falling action and the resolution consists of the forced new beginning for the servants, for the feudal owners in some strange way even for Lopakhin because he does not have the strident ambition that one would associate with an entrepreneur. He is very happy that he has changed his destiny and in that sense there is an element of triumph in Lopakhin but he continues to feel plagued by a kind of emptiness that he cannot quite fathom and assess. Earlier while talking about the Shemelion I had pointed out the checker very often deals with what seems like a very comfortable surface level of existence where everything can be understood through you know acceptance of a way of life. And at the same time it is this exactly this way of life that he critiques sometimes gently sometimes not so very gently. So Lopakhin again also is forced to start life anew two people who seem really very happy in this whole situation or see you know try to be happy are Trafimo and Anya the young daughter who is very open minded full of youthful optimism. Basically I would just say this before you begin to see the play that the plot structure although it gives you a sense of movement and progression but it does not really fully capture the you know the angst that the characters experience. So the causality of the plot is embedded in the economic order and the changes that were to occur or that occurred during the play in that economic order. And also along with the economic order the consciousness of each character is affected because after all they have been shaped largely by their way of life and I think the most touching element of this whole portrayal for me is the portrayal of fears who actually totally believes in the old world order but gradually you begin to notice that he finally comes to a moment of self-realization and that is the last part and I like you to see it and then think about it. So one would say that you know there are lots of questions that the play evokes. Is Chekhov being dispassionate in the midst of this turbulence that had really really changed Russia in such a drastic way through discussion, political action and very you know you know struggle between mighty forces of feudalism and the new world order at that time. So how do you see or was it lurking very sharply behind the play? In order to interpret the play therefore I think you can think about these issues and also if Chekhov was being dispassionate what did he sort of what is he trying to bring out in terms of the comic nature of the characters? Are they totally unable to deal with their own reality? Why is there no sense of transformation, internal transformation in the characters? They remain what they are and by and large their self-view does not match with their view by other people. So there is always a mismatch and at the same time they are very you know expressive. They express their sense of the self. Each one of them expresses his or her sense of the self and at the same time nobody listens to that. Nobody is there to fulfill that sense of dialogue in them. They remain monologic. So all the dialogues have this air of a combination of monologue plus dialogic in the sense of you know some connection with the other characters. So that makes for a lot of you know I think reflection in terms of how you relate to the Chekhovian text. So therefore now I think the best thing is to let you see the performance and arrive at your own decision. I really strongly feel that it will not be sufficient for you to just see the performance because these are excerpts that the students have performed and also because the rest of the play one is not trying to suggest is redundant. In fact all of these things build up slowly in the play. It is difficult to fathom Chekhov immediately that is what Stanislaw Peski also has said in the foreword that takes certain amount of you know relationship with the text before it blossoms for you. In terms of the characters let me just read out who's played what. Ranevaskaya has been played by Neha, Neha Chaudhary, Annya by Chandralekha Singh, Varya by Reenal Sheda, Gai by Sushil Reddy, Lopakhin by Bharat Prabhakar, Trofimov by Arvin Singh. Arvin Singh played the part of Shalota also. We discovered this uncanny ability in Arvin Singh to move in and out of characters. Yappichodov has been played by Venkatesh Dosa, Dunyasha has been played by Reenal Sheda. Again she has also played two parts. Fears has been played by Alankar Jain, Yasha by Tarun Reddy, Wayfarer by Shivashish Bhutya. So now we will place this first act before you. Each scene description has been read by Bharat Prabhakar who has also played the part of Lopakhin. Now this reading is extremely important because it also enables better understanding of the Chekhovian style where the scene descriptions add to the mood of the play. Every playwright of course gives scene descriptions and Chekhov has his own distinctive way of capturing the mood through different kinds of issues that he raises or the landscape that he has chosen for the play. I think Bharat has read it very clearly and I think that will also help you connect each segment to the scene. So we will start with act one, segment one where Lopakhin, the merchant, Dunyasha the maid and Yappichodov the clerk. These three are waiting for Ranevaskaya. You will notice two or three things and I want to mention this clearly. The conversation seems disjointed that is Chekhovian style. So part of the conversation gives you the feeling that fine they are sitting together and talking about something which is commonly shared and suddenly the character goes on to talk about himself or herself. Wherever it is self directed the other person does not seem to listen. So there is a disjointed quality which is Chekhovian and the other thing is that when the students perform it, please take note of the fact that it is a difficult act to read and perform. We did not really reach the level of full flesh performance. We would have done that if we had time. But I think this reading and remaining true to the text and then at the same time performing it by becoming the other, I think they were able to combine it really well. In my opinion it is really a laudable effort. So now let us see act one, segment one. A room which is still called the nursery. One of the doors leads to Anya's room, dawn, the sun will soon rise. It is already May, the cherry trees are in blossom but it is cold in the garden with the frost of early morning. The windows are closed, the Nyasha with a candle and Lopakhin with a book in his hand come in. So the train is in, hi Kevin, what time is it? It is daylight already. How late is the train? A couple of hours at least. I am certainly a fine, I am certainly a fine one, to have come on purpose to meet them at the station and then to go and doze off sitting in a chair, what a shame, why did you wake me? I thought you had gone, it must be them driving up. No, no, no, they got to get the luggage out and all that. I wonder what Madam Raneveskaya has become, like after all those five years abroad, she is a splendid woman, so easy and simple in her ways. I remember when I was a youngster of a team, my late father hit me so hard in the nose, it bled. We were in the yard here, I forget what we had come about and he had been drinking. I remember it like yesterday. Madam Raneveskaya, quite a young girl then, and oh, so slender, brought me to this very room. It was a nursery then, to wash my face, don't cry little music, it will get well in time for your wedding, little music. My father was a music, sure enough, but here I am, in a white base coat and brown boots, a silk purse out of a sore's ear, as you might say, I am just rich, but for all my money, come to think of it, I am still a regular music, and I have been reading this book here and I didn't understand a word, I fell asleep over it. The dogs didn't sleep at all last night, they felt their masters were coming. What is the matter with you, Dunyasha? My hands are shaking, I am going to fade. You are too delicate, Dunyasha, that's what's wrong with you, you dress up like a young lady, and look at the way your hair is done up, that won't do, one must remember one's standing. This is from the gardener, he says it is to go in the vineyard. And bring me some course. Yes sir. There is some frost in the morning, three degrees below, but the cherries are all in blossom. I can't say I think much of our climate, no, I can't, and our climate is not adopted to contribute. And I should like to add with your permission that only two days ago I bought myself a new pair of shoes, and I went there to assure you they speak harder than I can stand. What am I to preach them with? Leave me alone, fed up with you, every day some misfortune happens to me. But I don't complain, no, I am used to it, and I keep smiling, I must be leaving, there you are. If you say, you will excuse me the expression, the sort of accident by the way, it is simply remarkable. Mr. Lopakhan, you have proposed to me. Oh. I hardly know what to do, he is a well behaved man alright, but sometimes when he talks, you can't make out anything, it's all so nice and moving, but you just can't get other meaning of it. I am fancy, I am rather fond of him, he loves me to distract him, he is a most unfortunate man, every day something unpleasant happens to him, so they have nicknamed him, 22 Miss Fortunes. Let's move to Act 1, segment 2, where Ranebaskaya, her brother Gaiib fears the old servant and Lopakhan, the merchant, who is also as I said earlier, very emotionally connected to Ranebaskaya. He can see that she is a very, very good hearted woman and very transparent. So, this particular seed, you will notice that you know, Lopakhan is really, really very keen on helping Ranebaskaya solve this problem of Cherry Orchard and the debt she has to pay by helping her sell Cherry Orchard. She is totally unfocused, she is deeply involved in her own internal thought processes, emotional life, torn between her lost life in the Cherry Orchard and the state and her new life in Paris. Her brother is equally ineffective because he just has never taken any responsibility. So, both are I think caged within their own feudal background and at the same time, you know, they are not dehumanized or they are not, Chakrabi is not watching them in a very strong judgmental manner, so they remain human. The old servant fears is again lost in his own world of associations. So, now let us see this unfold. I would like to tell you something pleasant and cheering. I must be off, there is no time to talk. Anyway, I will put it in two or three words. You know that Cherry Orchard is going to be sold to pay the mortgage. The sale is fixed for the 22nd of August. But do not you worry my dear lady. Let nothing disturb your sleep. You have a way out of it. Here is my plan. Please listen. Your estate is 15 miles from town. The railway runs close by it and if you agree to cut up the Cherry Orchard and land along the river into building lots and lease them off for summer cottages, you will get at least 25,000 rubles a year out of it. That's nonsense. Excuse me. I don't quite understand what you mean, Admiral Hyde. You get at least 25 rubles a year for every acre from the tenants. And if you advertise a thing at once and bet whatever you like, by the autumn you won't have a clod of the earth left on your hands. It will be all snapped up. In a word, I congratulate you. You are saved. It's a first class side to the good deep river. Only of course you'll have to be cleared and put in order to be exact. You'll have to pull down all the old buildings. This house, here, which is no longer fit for anything. And you'll have to cut down the old Cherry Orchard. Cut down the Cherry Orchard? I'm sorry, my dear, but you don't know what you're talking about. If there's one thing that's interesting, indeed remarkable in the whole province, it is our Cherry Orchard. There's nothing remarkable about the orchard except that it's a very big one. It only bears once in two years and then you don't know what to do with the fruit. Nobody wants to buy it. The orchard is mentioned in the Encyclopedia. If you don't think of a way and don't decide on anything on the 22nd of August, the Cherry Orchard and the whole property will be sold by auction. So please, make up your mind, there is no other way out. I swear, none at all. In the old days, 40 to 50 years ago, they used to dry the cherries and soak them and pickle them and make jam of them. And the dried cherries used to be sent to Karko and Moscow. The money that brought in. The dried cherries were sweet and soft and juicy and good smelling then. They knew how to do it in those days. They have forgotten. Nobody remembers how to do it. Let's shift to Act II, Segment I. I'd really like you to once again notice the evocative quality of the seen description, which Paratha will read first before the roles are performed. Shalota, the governess, really gives voice to her sense of loss. So on the one hand, she's full of tricks and fun, but on the other hand, there is this deep sense of loss that she experiences all the time. And she, for example, says, but I have no idea who I am or where I come from. In Chekhov or in any other great playwright, it is very important to notice the life or portrayal of each character. Please don't develop a hierarchy of roles. So Shalota is very important because she adds up to the same sense of loss that different characters express in different ways. Yepikhodov the clerk is also at his best as a romantic. And Yasha the man's servant is a really sharp, materialistic, cunning servant waiting for an opportunity to exploit Raneviskaya and the household. So let's see this part. Act II, the open country, an old chapel, long abandoned and ramshakri. Near it a well, big slabs, apparently old tombstones and an old bench, road to the estate beyond, on one side rise dark poplars, beyond them begins the cherry orchard. In the distance a row of telegraph poles and far away on the horizon, the dim outlines of a big town only visible in fine, clear weather. It is near sunset. Shalota, Yasha and Dhonyasha sit on the bench. Yepikhodov stands by them and plays a guitar. All seem to be plunged in thought. Shalota wears an old peak cap, she's taken a rifle off her shoulder and is adjusting the buckle of the strap. I have no proper passport. I don't know how old I am. I fancy I'm still young. When I was a little girl, my father and mother used to go from one country pair to another, acting in side shows and very good ones too. I used to do the Salto Morale and all sorts of tricks. When papa and mama died, an old German lady adopted me and taught me. That was alright. When I grew up I became a governess. But I have no idea who I am, where I come from, who my parents were. I don't know. Very likely they weren't married at all. I don't know a thing. I long to talk so. But there's no one to talk to. No friends or relatives. What is the noise we were to me? For what are friends and foes? How sweet it is to play a mandolin. That's a guitar, not a mandolin. To one man with love it's a mandolin. In Act 2, the second segment deals with Rana Baskaya, the owner of the Cherry Orchard, Havrada Gaiib, Yasha and Lupakhin. Again, Rana Baskaya is unfocused so far as the materiality and the economic aspect of the Cherry Orchard is concerned. She only feels an emotional connection, a deeply emotional connection with the Cherry Orchard, which almost borders on the spiritual in some ways because this also represents her old lifestyle. The brother is busy playing billiards all the time. Whenever he's in doubt, he plays imaginary billiards. Yasha is his grabby, acquisitive self. And Lupakhin again is urging Rana Baskaya to take action to save the Cherry Orchard. So let's see this segment. Yasha remains sitting by the chapel. Rana Baskaya, Gaiib and Lupakhin come in. You must make up your mind once and for all. Time waits for no man. The question is perfectly simple. Are you going to lease the land for the cottages or not? Answer in one word, yes or no? Only one word. Who's smoking horrible cigars here? Now they have built the railways. It's made things very convenient. They have been over and lunched in town. Care of the white. I would like to go in and have a game. There is no hurry. Only one word, yes or no? Come, give me the answer. What's the start? I had a lot of money here yesterday. Hardly any left now. Poor Varya, she tries to save money by feeding us all on milk soup. And the old people in the kitchen, they get nothing but peas. And yet here I am, squandering money. I'll pick it up. Yes, please do, Yasha. Let's move to the third segment of Act 2, in which now, in addition to Ananya, the young daughter, Varya, the adopted daughter. And by the way, a lot of people, a lot of critics have speculated about Varya's origin. Why did Rana Viskaya adopt her? I won't go into those speculative thoughts, but Varya is a complex character, because although she is the daughter, she kind of knows her place as an adopted daughter. She keeps herself preoccupied with the household affairs and I think her character is also very, very interesting and deeply etched out. Varya here is played by Rinal. So, wherever Rinal wears a shawl, that's because she is acting as Varya. And otherwise, without the shawl, she is Dunyasha. Then there is Rana Viskaya, Gai, Lopakhin. And as I said, there is a new edition here and that is Throphimo. The tutor comes student, played by Irvin Singh. And we mentioned Irvin Singh because he's also played Charlotte earlier. Throphimo is a very, very important character. All of them are very important, but I suspect some special connection between Chekhov and Throphimo. It's for us to sometimes speculate and see these positions, but later on in the next lecture, you will see how many of my students interpreted Throphimo as a distinctive character. And the reason he seems closer to Chekhov's own thought processes is because Throphimo is deeply connected to changing Russia. He speaks the language of new Russia and at the same time, he's not shown as an idealist. It would be very interesting to contrast him with Yabekhov who's through and through a comic character, but Throphimo seems like a tragic character because he talks about the way Russia in the past has been defined by feudal tendencies which were based on exploitation of serfs, etc. And at the same time, when he talks about the future and the need for work, you begin to see the paradoxes in Throphimo's character. You begin to feel that there is an element of satire that Chekhov intended. So, I think this long speech of Throphimo which can also be described as a monologue because we don't really know if except Anya, anybody was paying heed to Throphimo. Anya listens to him avidly and she is an ardent admirer. She loves him and she also is full of this optimism and also this sense that change is always for the better. Here come our girls. Here's Mama. Come along, come along, my little ones. If only you knew how much I love you. Come, sit with me, come. The perpetual students always with the girls mind your own business. He's nearly 50 and still a student. Stop your idiotic jokes, okay? What are you losing your temper for? Why can't you just leave me alone? I should like to know what you think of me. This is what I think of you here, right? You're a rich man. You soon be a millionaire. Just as for the conversion of matter, a beast of prey is necessary which devours everything that comes its way. So you too are necessary. Tell us something about the planets, Pitya. No, no, let's pick up the talk we were having yesterday. What about? About pride. Right. We had a long talk yesterday but it didn't get us anywhere. Pride, as you use the word, has an element of the mystical about it. You may be right from your own point of view but if you look at it simple-mindedly what room is there for pride? Is there any sense in it when man is so poorly constructed in terms of physiology when the vast majority of us are so gross and stupid and profoundly unhappy? We must give up admiring ourselves. The only thing to do is to work. We should die all the same. Who knows? And what does it mean to die? Perhaps man is a hundred senses and when he dies, only the five senses that we know perish with him and the other 95 remain. How clever you are, Pitya. Extraordinary. Mankind marches forward perfecting itself. All that we find annotatable now will someday be near and clear but we must work. We must do our utmost to help those who seek after the truth. At present, very few work in Russia. The vast majority of the educated people that I know seek after nothing, do nothing and as yet are incapable of work. They call themselves the intelligentsia but they speak rudely to their servants. They treat the peasants like animals, learn nothing, read nothing serious, do absolutely nothing. We need to talk about science and know little or nothing about art. They are all serious and always wear their solemn faces. They discuss important subjects and air the theories but meanwhile, workers eat abominably and sleep in filth and stuffiness without pillows. There are as many as 40 of them sleeping in one room but everywhere the stench, the dam, the moral impurity is plain that all our clever talk is only meant to distract our attention and other people's. Show me those sketches where they are always talking about all those reading rooms. There are only things people write about in novels. They don't really exist at all. There is nothing but dirt, vulgarity and asiatic ways. I am afraid of serious faces. I dislike them. I am afraid of serious conversation. We had better hold our tongues. You will notice that from Act 2 we have chosen four segments. The fourth segment has all the above characters and fears the old servant and as the family all these people are sitting out and talking to each other there is a wayfarer who comes there and he sings a song where he talks about suffering that binds him to all those who are there. So this note of suffering I think this sort of if in terms of the scene descriptions also the air of melancholy and the air of suffering is evoked persistently by checkup and again it leaves you wondering as to what this suffering is all about what is the nature of suffering that checkup is talking about because nowhere does he clearly define it either through dialogue or through the scene description there is only a suggestive quality which has been often described by critics as checkup's negative capability so there is much that you can again sense here. All said, plunged in thought perfect silence broken only by the mumblings of old fears suddenly a distant sound is heard as if from the sky the sound of a string snapping dying away melancholy What was that? I don't know probably a lifting top is given away somewhere far in the mines only it must be a long way off Perhaps it's some sort of a bird or an owl There is something uncanny about it The same thing happened before the great Miss Fortune The owls creached and the Samovar get humming What get Miss Fortune? The Liberation Come Let us all go in It's getting late You've tears in your eyes What is it little one? There is someone coming Excuse me sir Can I get to the station this way? Yes, take this road I'm uncommonly obliged to you sir You're having lovely weather today Brother of my suffering brother Come forth to the whole girl who groans Could you be kind enough to spare a few copets for this hungry fellow countryman? There is a decent way for every outrageous thing Oh here Take this I don't have any silver never mind Here is a gold ruben I'm uncommonly obliged to you madame Let's shift to act 3 The last part of this act The cherry orchard has been sold and Ranebaskaya Anya and Trofimov are present on stage Trofimov is silent Anya empathizes with her mother as I said she's been shown as a very warm hearted loving woman and I think Neha has brought out that quality in her quite effortlessly Anya empathizes with her mother's suffering and she's able to give her solace because she herself is full of optimism she feels the strength to sort of carry on and build a new life a new garden as she calls it So then this is the last part of act 3 Act 3 Ranebaskaya sets her love weeping bitterly The band plays softly Anya and Trofimov come in quickly Anya goes to her mother and kneels before her Trofimov stands at the entrance to the drawing room Is everyone here? No one left behind? There are things stand in here must lock them up Good bye house Good bye old life Welcome New life Tell the spring then Go on everybody So long My sister My sister My sister My sister My dear daughter My sweet lovely daughter My life, my youth My happiness Good bye Mother Hello One last look at the halls and the windows Our dear mother used to walk in this room My sister Mother Hello Finally Act 4 The last part of this act again and it shows that the old way of life has changed You will see Ranebaskaya, Gaib Lopakhin, Anya Varya, Trofimov talking to each other about leaving and then finally fears who is left behind Personally I really have felt profoundly touched by fears because at this point in the play he sort of reaches a moment of what can be described as a self view. He sees himself as an individual and not as a servant human being and what he has to say is really very moving because he feels as if he had never lived his life ever The time for change has come or has it for fears See this performance and decide for yourself In the next lecture we will pool some of these ideas together also share the student responses by way of creative or some analytical exercises enjoy the concluding part of this performance The stage is empty There is the sound of the doors being locked up and the carriages driving away It grows quiet Through the silence one can hear the sad and lonely thud of an axe on a tree Footsteps are heard Fears appears in the doorway right He is dressed as always in his long coat and white waist coat with slippers on his feet He is ill They have forgotten me Never mind I'll sit here a minute Master is sure to have put on his cloth overcoat instead of his fur He had me to see Young word green word Life has gone by As if I'd never lived Let me lie down a bit There is no strength left in you None at all Ah you Good for nothing A distant sound is heard that seems to come from the sky like that of a string snapping Dying away Melancholy All is still again saved the sound of the axe