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The Cherry Orchard

Tragedy or comedy?

John Hudson considers Chekhov’s play in relation to Aristotelian ideas of tragedy and asks whether it might, in the end, be more of a comedy than a tragedy

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AQA (B) Literature: ‘Dramatic genres’

What experience an audience might expect from a play by Anton Chekhov is a matter of some contention. In British and American theatre, tradition dictates that we should anticipate gloomy, melancholy characters bemoaning their miserable, tragic fates, as referred to in the Gershwin song ‘But Not for Me’:

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The busiest man in Denmark

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Good belle gone bad

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