The Cherry Orchard

"Finding a decent Cherry Orchard which is not part of an anthology is valuable. Prof. Carnicke's introduction materials are highly helpful for teaching this in a theatre history or play analysis course." —Erith Jaffe-Berg, University of California, Riverside

SKU
26977g

Anton Chekhov
Translated, with an Introduction and Notes, by Sharon Marie Carnicke

2010 - 108 pp.

Grouped product items
Format ISBN Price Qty
Cloth (no dust jacket) 978-1-60384-310-2
$25.00
Paper 978-1-60384-309-6
$10.00
Instructor Examination (Review) Copy 978-1-60384-309-6
$2.00

eBook available for $6.95. Click HERE for more information.

Drawn from Sharon Marie Carnicke’s volume of Chekhov, Four Plays and Three Jokes (Hackett), this edition of The Cherry Orchard features Carnicke's groundbreaking translation of a play that has been called "Chekhov's ultimate theatrical coup d'état."*

 

Reviews:

"Finding a decent Cherry Orchard which is not part of an anthology is valuable. Prof. Carnicke's introduction materials are highly helpful for teaching this in a theatre history or play analysis course."
     —Erith Jaffe-Berg, Department of Theatre, University of California, Riverside

 

Acclaim for Chekhov, Four Plays and Three Jokes:

"Carnicke treats Chekhov as a riddle that is solvable only if we understand his career as a humorist. Her decision to juxtapose Chekhov's great dramas with his earlier light farces is purposeful, as the thrust behind her translations and excellent introduction is not only to introduce the reader to Chekhov's early humorous works, but to bring out crucial comic elements in his later ones.
    "Her introduction functions as an essential primer for any student on the works of Chekhov. Its thorough exploration of Chekhov's idiosyncratic use of language is a godsend for directors and performers of English-language productions of these plays.
    "A theatre director and performer herself, Carnicke pays close attention to the details of Chekhov's language, and her translations are geared toward live performance with speech ready-made for the stage. She retains the sense of the originals but adapts them in a colloquial English that is utterly performable.
    "Carnicke's collection is the quintessential starting point for any serious performer of Chekhov, not only because of the playable translations, most of which have already been tested on stage, but for its engaging and enlightening introduction. The volume represents a momentous step toward ridding the American stage of stodgy and dour productions of Chekhov's masterpieces."
     —Brian Johnson, Swarthmore College, condensed from Translation Review 82

"Chekhov doesn't emerge as ‘the voice of Twilight Russia,' or anything mawkish at all, as he sometimes does, but as a sharp-eyed watcher of some very silly people. Carnicke understands Chekhov and understands Russia."
     —Robert L. Belknap, Professor Emeritus of Slavic Languages, Columbia University

"Carnicke has aimed to find a middle path between versions that are too colloquial and versions that sound stilted or too formal to the American ear and has succeeded."
     —Julian W. Connolly, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Virginia

"[B]eautifully captures the world of Chekhov that continually teeters between human folly and dignified but poignant heartbreak. I cannot imagine a better compilation to introduce actors to Chekhov."
     —Mary-Joan Negro, Assistant Professor of Theatre Practice, University of Southern California 

"Carnicke's Cherry Orchard is direct, easily accessible to young American students, and mercifully free of all that blather that mucks up so much of the other versions that I know."
     —James Parker, Late Professor of Theatre, Virginia Commonwealth University


About the Author:

Sharon Marie Carnicke is Professor of Theatre and Slavic Literatures, University of Southern California. She is the author of Stanislavsky in Focus (Routledge) and, with Cynthia Baron, of Reframing Stage Performance (University of Michigan Press).

 *Donald Rayfield, The Cherry Orchard: Catastrophe and Comedy