Вишневый сад

ANTON CHEKHOV

THE CHERRY 
ORCHARD

Translated by Julius West

УДК 372.8
ББК  81.2 Англ 
Б44

ISBN 978-5-9925-1376-9

Чехов, Антон Павлович.
Б44  
Вишневый сад: книга для чтения на английском 
языке / А. П. Чехов. — [пер. с русск. яз. Дж. Вест] — 
Санкт-Петербург : КАРО, 2019. — 288 с. — (Русская 
классическая литература на иностранных языках).

ISBN  978-5-9925-1376-9.

В книгу вошли знаменитые и полюбившиеся читателю пьесы 
А. П. Чехова «Вишневый сад», «Чайка» и «Дядя Ваня» в переводе на 
английский язык.
УДК 372.8 
ББК 81.2 Англ

© КАРО, 2019 
Все права защищены

The Cherry Orchard

A Play in Four Acts

CHARACTERS

Lubov Andreyevna Ranevsky (Mme. Ranevsky), 
a landowner
Anya, her daughter, aged seventeen
Varya (Barbara), her adopted daughter, aged 
twenty-seven
Leonid Andreyevitch Gaev, Mme. Ranevsky’s brother
Ermolai Alexeyevitch Lopakhin, a merchant
Peter Sergeyevitch Trofimov, a student
Boris Borisovitch Simeonov-Pischin, a landowner
Charlotta Ivanovna, a governess
Simeon Panteleyevitch Epikhodov, a clerk
Dunyasha (Avdotya Fedorovna), a maidservant
Fiers, an old footman, aged eighty-seven
Yasha, a young footman
A Tramp
A station-master
Post-office clerk
Guests
A servant
The action takes place on Mme. Ranevsky’s estate

ACT I

A room which is still called the nursery. One of the 
doors leads into Anya’s room. It is close on sunrise. 
It is May. The cherry-trees are in flower but it is chilly 
in the garden. There is an early frost. The windows 
of the room are shut. Dunyasha comes in with 
a  candle, and Lopakhin with a book in his hand.

Lopakhin. The train’s arrived, thank God. What’s the 
time?

Dunyasha. It will soon be two. [Blows out candle] It is 
light already.

Lopakhin. How much was the train late? Two hours 
at least. [Yawns and stretches himself] I have 
made a rotten mess of it! I came here on purpose to meet them at the station, and then overslept myself... in my chair. It’s a pity. I wish you’d 
wakened me.

Dunyasha. I thought you’d gone away. [Listening] 
I think I hear them coming.

Lopakhin. [Listens] No... They’ve got to collect their 
luggage and so on... [Pause] Lubov Andreyevna 
has been living abroad for five years; I don’t 
know what she’ll be like now... She’s a good 
sort — an easy, simple person. I remember 

when I was a boy of fifteen, my father, who is 
dead — he used to keep a shop in the village 
here — hit me on the face with his fist, and my 
nose bled... We had gone into the yard to gether 
for something or other, and he was a little drunk. 
Lubov Andreyevna, as I remember her now, was 
still young, and very thin, and she took me to the 
washstand here in this very room, the nursery. 
She said, “Don’t cry, little man, it’ll be all right 
in time for your wedding.” [Pause] “Little man”... 
My father was a peasant, it’s true, but here I am 
in a white waistcoat and yellow shoes... a pearl 
out of an oyster. I’m rich now, with lots of money, but just think about it and examine me, 
and you’ll find I’m still a peasant down to the 
marrow of my bones. [Turns over the pages of 
his book] Here I’ve been reading this book, but 
I understood nothing. I read and fell asleep. 

Pause.
Dunyasha. The dogs didn’t sleep all night; they know 
that they’re coming.

Lopakhin. What’s up with you, Dunyasha?..

Dunyasha. My hands are shaking. I shall faint.

Lopakhin. You’re too sensitive, Dunyasha. You dress 
just like a lady, and you do your hair like one 
too. You oughtn’t.You should know your place.

Epikhodov. [Enters with a bouquet. He wears a short 
jacket and brilliantly polished boots which 
squeak audibly. He drops the bouquet as he enters, then picks it up] The gardener sent these; 
says they’re to go into the dining-room. [Gives 
the bouquet to Dunyasha.]

Lopakhin. And you’ll bring me some kvass.

Dunyasha. Very well. [Exit.]

Epikhodov. There’s a frost this morning — three degrees, and the cherry-trees are all in flower. 
I can’t approve of our climate. [Sighs] I can’t. 
Our climate is indisposed to favour us even 
this once. And, Ermolai Alexeyevitch, allow me 
to say to you, in addition, that I bought myself 
some boots two days ago, and I beg to assure 
you that they squeak in a perfectly unbearable 
manner. What shall I put on them?

Lopakhin. Go away. You bore me.

Epikhodov. Some misfortune happens to me every 
day. But I don’t complain; I’m used to it, and 
I can smile. [Dunyasha comes in and brings 
Lopakhin some kvass] I shall go. [Knocks over 
a chair] There... [Triumphantly] There, you see, if 
I may use the word, what circumstances I am in, 
so to speak. It is even simply marvellous. [Exit.]

Dunyasha. I may confess to you, Ermolai Alexeyevitch, that Epikhodov has proposed to me.

Lopakhin. Ah!

Dunyasha. I don’t know what to do about it. He’s 
a nice young man, but every now and again, 
when he begins talking, you can’t understand 
a word he’s saying. I think I like him. He’s madly in love with me. He’s an unlucky man; every 
day something happens. We tease him about it. 
They call him “Two-and-twenty troubles.”

Lopakhin. [Listens] There they come, I think.

Dunyasha. They’re coming! What’s the matter with 
me? I’m cold all over.

Lopakhin. There they are, right enough. Let’s go and 
meet them. Will she know me? We haven’t seen 
each other for five years.

Dunyasha. [Excited] I shall faint in a minute... Oh, I’m 
fainting!

Two carriages are heard driving up to the house. 
Lopakhin and Dunyasha quickly go out. The stage is 
empty. A noise begins in the next room. Fiers, leaning 
on a stick, walks quickly across the stage; he has just 
been to meet Lubov Andreyevna. He wears an oldfashioned livery and a tall hat. He is saying something 
to himself, but not a word of it can be made out. The 

noise behind the stage gets louder and louder. A voice 
is heard: “Let’s go in there.” Enter Lubov Andreyevna, Anya, and Charlotta Ivanovna with a little dog 
on a chain, and all dressed in travelling clothes, Varya 
in a long coat and with a kerchief on her head. Gaev, 
Simeonov-Pischin, Lopakhin, Dunyasha with 
a parcel and an umbrella, and a servant with luggage — all cross the room.

Anya. Let’s come through here. Do you remember 
what this room is, mother?

Lubov. [Joyfully, through her tears] The nursery!

Varya. How cold it is! My hands are quite numb. 
[To Lubov Andreyevna] Your rooms, the white 
one and the violet one, are just as they used to 
be, mother.

Lubov. My dear nursery, oh, you beautiful room... 
I used to sleep here when I was a baby. [Weeps] 
And here I am like a little girl again. [Kisses her 
brother, Varya, then her brother again] And 
Varya is just as she used to be, just like a nun. 
And I knew Dunyasha. [Kisses her.]

Gaev. The train was two hours late. There now; how’s 
that for punctuality?

Charlotta. [To Pischin] My dog eats nuts too.

Pischin. [Astonished] To think of that, now!

All go out except Anya and Dunyasha.

Dunyasha. We did have to wait for you!

Takes off Anya’s cloak and hat.

Anya. I didn’t get any sleep for four nights on the journey... I’m awfully cold.

Dunyasha. You went away during Lent, when it was 
snowing and frosty, but now? Darling! [Laughs 
and kisses her] We did have to wait for you, my 
joy, my pet... I must tell you at once, I can’t bear 
to wait a minute.

Anya. [Tired] Something else now?..

Dunyasha. The clerk, Epikhodov, proposed to me after Easter.

Anya. Always the same... [Puts her hair straight] I’ve 
lost all my hairpins...

She is very tired, and even staggers as she walks.

Dunyasha. I don’t know what to think about it. 
He loves me, he loves me so much!

Anya. [Looks into her room; in a gentle voice] My room, 
my windows, as if I’d never gone away. I’m at 
home! Tomorrow morning I’ll get up and have 
a run in the garden...Oh, if I could only get to 

sleep! I didn’t sleep the whole journey, I was so 
bothered.

Dunyasha. Peter Sergeyevitch came two days ago.

Anya. [Joyfully] Peter!

Dunyasha. He sleeps in the bath-house, he lives there. 
He said he was afraid he’d be in the way. [Looks 
at her pocket-watch] I ought to wake him, but 
Barbara Mihailovna told me not to. “Don’t wake 
him,” she said.

Enter Varya, a bunch of keys on her belt.

Varya. Dunyasha, some coffee, quick. Mother wants 
some.

Dunyasha. This minute. [Exit.]

Varya. Well, you’ve come, glory be to God. Home 
again. [Caressing her] My darling is back again! 
My pretty one is back again!

Anya. I did have an awful time, I tell you.

Varya. I can just imagine it!

Anya. I went away in Holy Week; it was very cold 
then. Charlotta talked the whole way and would 
go on performing her tricks. Why did you tie 
Charlotta on to me?

Varya. You couldn’t go alone, darling, at seventeen!