* * * * *
In spite of the antipathy which is aroused, "The Cherry Orchard" is quite
inoffensive. For example, there is nothing in it to which the Censor could
possibly object. It does not deal specially with sex. It presents an
average picture of Russian society. But it presents the picture with such
exact, uncompromising truthfulness that the members of the Stage Society
mistook nearly all the portraits for caricatures, and tedious
caricatures. In naturalism the play is assuredly an advance on any other
play that I have seen or that has been seen in England. Its naturalism is
positively daring. The author never hesitates to make his personages as
ridiculous as in life they would be. In this he differs from every other
playwright that I know of. Ibsen, for instance; and Henri Becque. He has
carried an artistic convention much nearer to reality, and achieved
another step in the evolution of the drama. The consequence is that he is
accused of untruth and exaggeration, as Becque was, as Ibsen was. His
truthfulness frightens, and causes resentment.
* * * * *
People say: "No such persons exist, or at any rate such persons are too
exceptional to form proper material for a work of art.
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