Funny paraphrasing of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard by Russian writer Lyudmila Ulitskaya.
The author included the description “Afterchekhov” into the title so as to convey heavy leanings towards her great predecessor. That said her heroes are actually more like Chekhov caricatures, recast in a new light.
The story takes us to an academic village close to Moscow where descendants of Chekhov’s Cherry Orchard live in a dilapidated dacha. We are in 2002 however the mentality of the characters hasn’t changed much since Chekhov’s time. Everyone knows you have to work but after philosophising all day, there simply isn’t time. They eventually try to earn a living from fruit jam, however even this venture appears doomed to fail. From their days of aristocratic grandeur only an inordinate penchant for consuming coffee remains, of their entrepreneurial skills only dodgy dealer practices and of the village where the original orchard was situated, there is mere decay soon to be recycled into a Disneyland style amusement park. Staging from 2013 according to the Divadelní noviny sympozium.