Cherry Orchard (1962 / 1981), The

Last Minute Sales & Specials

Dame Judi Dench is one of the most celebrated stars of stage and screen. She is the winner of and Academy Award(R), two Golden Globes, an unprecedented seven Olivier Awards, and numerous BAFTAs. In 1961, however, she was a young actress just making a name for herself when she was cast by the Royal Shakespeare Company as the spoiled daughter Anya in Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard," alongside theater legends John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft, Dorothy Tutin and Ian Holm. The production was broadcast by the BBC in 1962 but has never before been seen in North America. In1981, director Richard Eyre cast her as Madame Ranevsky in "The Cherry Orchard," a performance which earned her a BAFTA award. This two-disc set presents both productions along with a conversation between Richard Eyre and Judi Dench filmed in 2002. Set in fin-de-siecle Russia, these adaptations of Anton Chekhov's famous play chronicles a noblewoman's return to her family estate after a five-year absence. She finds that the family fortune has dwindled to practically nothing, and that she and her brother are faced with the difficult choice of selling the family's treasured cherry orchard or losing everything.