Anton Chekhov as a Modern Dramatist. Or

The Cherry Orchard is an Epitome of Modern Theatrical Technicalities

Chekhov is one of Russia's many important literary figures, and one of the greatest playwrights of modern times. He won the Pushkin Prize and he is known for his short stories and his plays, works that often combine elements of both comedy and tragedy. While works reflect the frequently turbulent developments specific to his homeland, their lasting appeal lies in Chekhov's talent for exploring universally human situations with such grace and dexterity. Many foreign readers and viewers admired his works as Bernard Shaw said that “hearing Chekhov’s plays makes me want to tear up my own”.

Chekhov’s virtuosity has been interpreted as psychological but his psychology turns a blind eye to individual. Chekhov’s dramatic oeuvre possesses the very element as his narrative work. His opus comprises of multitudinous one act play, which were awfully admired by the Russians as they were on an elevated artistic level. Chekhov became wondrously Flabbergast prolific. He got plaudits ahead of schedule and eminent demand for his account stimulated him to see it through. His fabulous artistic mental giant was glutted with contrivance. In this way, we find a top-notch variety of themes and characters in his stories and plays. Some of his treasured themes are communication problems, situation verses desire, Conflict and tensions born of changing social, economic and political ins and outs, humour arising out of situation or oddity of character.

Traditionally, humour and tragedy have been kept separate in dramatic works. Although Chekhov is certainly not the first playwright to mix comic and tragic elements onstage, he develops this tendency by creating a play that defies classification as either one of these two dramatic genres. Works such as The Cherry Orchard, which cannot be subjected to the traditional standards of classification, have helped build new modern literary traditions through their innovation in genre.

Chekhov changed the theatrical world with his plays. He was often disappointed when his plays were performed as tragedies; although each work has sad elements in it, Chekhov believed that this darker side of the plays should in no way undercut the immensely funny comic elements, which pervade even in the seemingly darkest moments. This confusion of the comic and tragic genres is one of Chekhov's important contributions not only to theatre, but also to literature in general.

Indirect Action is a technique Chekhov was most famous for. It involves action important to the play's plot occurring off-stage, not on. Instead of seeing such action happens, the audience learns about it by watching characters react to it onstage. Lopakhin's speech at the end of Act III, recounting the sale of the cherry orchard, is the most important example of indirect action in the play: although the audience does not see the sale, the entire play revolves around this unseen action.

Anya's criticism of her mother's overspending in France is one of The Cherry Orchard's many examples of indirect action. The action described in the speech has not taken place on the stage, and is therefore indirect; the play revolves around the character's on-stage reactions to such off-stage action, for although this sort of action is not seen, it actually drives the plot. Lopakhin's opening speech is another example of indirect action, which both informs the audience of the past and manoeuvres the development of the action.

Irony appears in many instances throughout the play, and when it is not used for purely comic effect, it is tightly bound to the theme of blindness. On the one hand, the positions of the character's themselves are ironic. For example, the opposite circumstances of Lopakhin, Firs, and Dunyasha point out the irony in the now supposedly free-moving class system; characters talk about and praise a system of economic mobility. Still, they cannot see the contradiction in the situations of those around them that have no opportunity to improve their standing or are criticized for attempting to do so. In other cases, the play erects ironic moments, where the power in a given scene comes from a combination of two different images. For example, in Act II, Madame Ranevsky complains loudly about how she cannot control her money, while in the same breath she allows Yasha, the most untrustworthy character, to pick up her spilled purse. The fact that she is able to talk about her weakness and neglect the safety of her money in the same breath indicates that, despite her complaints, she is still blind to much of her problem.

Symbolism is also a major tool in the hands of the playwright. In “The Cherry Orchard” many symbols are employed for thematic clarification. The keys at Barbara's waist symbolize her practicality and her power. Gay's imaginary billiards game symbolizes his desire to escape. The cherry orchard symbolizes the old social order, the aristocratic home, and its destruction symbolizes change. Firs himself is a figure of time; Anya is a figure of hope. The symbols in this play are too numerous to count, but many of them hinge on the idea of the changing social order or the specific circumstance of a given character.

Chekhov is also known for the emphasis he places on dialogue and off-stage action, otherwise known as "indirect action." The most important events in Chekhov's plays do not necessarily occur on Chekhov's stage; often, the audience experiences some of the most pivotal and dramatic action not by seeing it, but by hearing about it from the characters. In this concept of indirect action is an innovation on the part of Chekhov, whose impact on theatre and literature continues even today.