Der Apfelgarten

»The sun is shining, darkness in my heart.« (Anton Chekhov)

With the ripening of apples in autumn, the heirs of a splendid grange return to the Alte Land, bankrupt after celebrating for five years in the capital of pleasure. The once profitable apple harvest no longer yields any winnings. What now? A business-oriented merchant neighbor offers a bundle of ideas: Instead of rounds of debauchery followed by abjection, apple sponsoring or the felling of trees might lead to new prosperity. A new start or a clean break? One thing is certain, there’s no way back to where we never were anyway. Life at a distance from the Alte Land was actually a secret relief, coming home yields nothing more than self-indulgent pathos.

»Chekhov said that an author’s job does not consist in writing about global issues, politics or the meaning of life. All he has to do is document who talked about such things, under what circumstances, and when. Many productions have shown that Chekhov shines most brightly when his work is transferred into our present times. Because that’s what he did, he wrote about his present times.« (Antú Romero Nunes)