To really appreciate the subtlety of Michael Cristofer's Pulitzer Prize winning play "The Shadow Box," you need to be familiar with Dr. Elizabeth Kubler Ross's five stages of dealing with grief: (1) Denial and Isolation, (2) Anger, (3) Bargaining, (4) Depression, and (5) Acceptance. This is important because the characters in "The Shadow Box" are surely moving from one stage to the next throughout the course of the play. The setting is a California hospital for the terminally ill, what we are all now familiar with as a hospice. In the three cottages we meet three sets of people. In Cottage One there is Joe, a workingman, who is being joined by his wife and son. Cottage Two is being shared by Brian, a failed intellectual who is caught between his homosexual lover, Mark, and his flamboyant ex-wife, Beverly. Finally, in Cottage Three there is Felicity, an ornery old lady with a foul mouth, who suffers the help of her one daughter, Agnes, while waiting for the arrival of her other daughter, Claire.

The conceit of "The Shadow Box" is that not only do we watch everyone interact in their own cottages, but periodically each character is questioned, although all we hear of the interviewer is his voice. Each character goes down to the front of the stage and talks about what they are thinking and doing, a nice way of turning psychological turmoil into a dialogue. However, I think the reason this play always manages to touch an audience is not only because of the universality of the theme of the inevitability of death, and how we choose to deal with it, but also because one of the three stories being played out will ring truer than the other for everyone. For me it is the ironic secret behind Felicity's iron determination not to die until Claire arrives. My great aunt lived by pure force of will until her 100th birthday, so the idea of making a contract with your fate clearly speaks to me. Ultimately, "The Shadow Box" is not about dying. As one of the characters says at the end: "They tell you you're dying, and you say all right. But if I AM dying . . . I must still be alive." This is an extremely thoughtful play, but the perceptions are skillfully crafted into the dramatic action. "The Shadow Box" is useful both in terms of drama but also in terms of dealing with the issues of death and dying.

As I read this play, my family is in the process of moving a thousand miles away from the farm where I grew up. Though I am so far away from the Russian culture and time of this play, the themes of place, tradition, and inevitable change resonated inside of me, and I am grateful to Chekhov for the way he has handled them.

The Cherry Orchard is a play about change, and the symbolism is pretty easy to recognize. What makes it stand apart, I think, from a thousand other plays on the same theme is its wonderful sense of comedy, of smiling sadness. Chekhov all his life insisted it was a comedy. As the Cherry Orchard slips away from the Ranevskys, they seem to smile at its going. As they are unable to change their habits -- still lending money they don't have, still spending extravagantly -- they quietly laugh at their own foolishness. The change comes, and they leave, heartbroken -- but embracing the change at the same time, only feebling struggling against it. One feels saddest, in the end, for Lopakhin, the new owner of the Cherry Orchard. He seems to believe he has bought happiness and friends, but is quickly discovering the emptiness of money and possessions, as no one wants to borrow from him, and no one seems to pay him much heed at all.

Chekhov paints with a fine brush, and I appreciate that. There is no thunderstorming, no ranting and raving in this work. There is a fine and subtle, sad and comedic portrayal of a family and a place encountering change. It is a heartbreak with a smile.

The translation, though the only one I've read, seems good. It is easy to follow and rich in simple feeling.

if you'd like to discuss this play with me, or recommend something i might enjoy, or just chat, e-mail me at williekrischke@hotmail.com.

Anton Chekhov's play "The Cherry Orchard" has been published as part of the Dover Thrift Edition series (that's the version I read before writing this review). No translator is credited for this edition. According to the note at the start of the book, the play was initially presented by the Moscow Art Theatre in 1904.

The play takes place on the estate of Madame Ranevsky, the matriarch of an aristocratic Russian family that has fallen on financial hard times. She faces the possible loss of her family's magnificent cherry orchard.

The play is populated with interesting characters: Lopakhin, a wealthy neighbor whose father was the serf of Madame Ranevsky's father; Firs, an aged servant who longs for the "old days"; Trophimof, a student with lofty ideas; and more. There is a great deal of conflict among the characters.

"The Cherry Orchard" is about people dealing with very personal conflicts and crises while larger socioeconomic changes are going on around them. The orchard of the title is a memorable image that is well handled by Chekhov. The play contains some really effective dialogue, such as old Firs' reflection on the apparently lost art of making dried cherries. This is definitely one classic play that remains compelling.

The Cherry Orchard was me first experience with Chekhov, and I was surprised at the depth in this 49 page play. By no means would I considered myself a "literary expert," but this was very readable and you can pull a lot of the deeper meanings and its context in Russian history by yourself. I was confused at a couple people who write that the simply couldn't understand it and it put them to sleep! It's not THAT tough! If I could understand and appreciate it, almost anyone can!

What I like most about Chekhov is that he doesn't simplify his characters. He's a realist in this sense. Lopahkin and Trophimof each have admirable and detestable characteristics, just like you and I. While it may be set in the tumultuous period prior to the Russian revolution, the ideas and the discussions this play provokes are timeless.

Highly recommended!