"Not where... when" is an over used line in movies about time travel, but in the play, "The Cherry Orchard", events from the past, present and future always seems to be the topic of the characters conversations.
In act one we already have several jumps back into the past. One of the first rooms just so happens to be a nursery, childhood. We have two characters who recall thier childhood, Ranevsky and Lopakhin. The nursery belonged to Ranevsky and Gayev when they were children, yet it brough back Lopakhins childhood memories aswell. Lopakhim uses his past to look at his future. He compares his past "peasant" status to a now "rich" man. The story about Ranevsky's kindess is used not only to show what influenced him whie growing up, but also how he feels about status. This may be one reason why he tells Dunyasha to remember her place.
Meanwhile Ranevsky wants to leave her present and go back to her past. She is happy when she sees the nursery and appears to want to be a child again , "Oh! My childhood, my innocence! It was in this nursery...". She holds on to her past, as if it were running away, meanwhile Lopakhin has just been using it to state why he's the man he is today.
The Cherry orchard is very much in this situation. Lopakhin sees a great future for it, by building cottages on the land. That way they are able to keep thier land, and also make a profit. Ranevsky wants the Cherry Orchard to remain the same as she always has known it, showing she still has her head in the past. But the present situation is that the Cherry Orchard is going to be auctioned off.
These are only examples taken out of the first act, but I am sure the importance of the past present and future are sure to come up throughout the rest of the play.
This blog does not want a picture.
To be continued. [edited]
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