Cedra WilsonRobyn NoltingTHEA 16124 March 2014Response Paper The Cherry OrchardThe Cherry Orchard describes the life of a group of Russians, in the aftermath of the liberation of the slaves. The action takes place over the course of five or six months, but the characters' stories are so complex that, in many ways, the play begins years before. The actor I chose to write about was Yermolai Alexseyevich (played by Erin Despanie), the other main character in The Cherry Orchard. In my opinion his character was dramatic and effortless and caught my attention the moment he appeared on the scene. He is awakened to memories, in his first moments on stage, he tells of a time when his ancestors exhausted him, "His father and grandfather were servants who drank on the cherry orchard estate all his life and abused him" but the His brief response was also linked to Madame Ranevskaya's continued affection towards him who managed to use the liberation from slavery to her maximum advantage and is now a wealthy landowner and an astute businessman. Erin was the most animated and passionate character. The ambiguity of his character is precisely what makes him and all the other characters in the play so fascinating to me. Yermolai, a childhood friend of Madame Ranevsky, who becomes a Savoyard businessman trying to save "The Cherry Orchard", designs an unknown business plan what will happen. Although he was born into a slave family, the class change Yermolai experienced during his lifetime is striking; at the end of the payday he is not only a rich man, but he is the owner of the estate where he was born. He is a symbolic character as he illuminates the success possible for the newly freed. However, while his bank account makes him… a paper medium… a dynamic talent, his portrayal of a self-described distinguished businessman, money savvy and his trademark in finance, which completely overcomes the poverty into which he was born was excellent. While his betrayal of Yermolai was great, there were a few moments in the show where I thought he overacted, but was his overall performance wonderful? It was almost unrecognizable. The cast of the play was so prepared that there were almost no obvious mistakes. For a while it wasn't clear to me what exactly was happening in the second act. The passage while they were talking in the orchard seems to be a little confusing and a little rambling. I think it didn't have much to do with the direction of the show. The ending, however, brought everything together to allow me to better understand every act of this entire comedy, which was entertaining and one I could watch again..