Speeches By President Of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins

"To have the opportunity of seeing Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, the final play of the great Russian writer will always be a guaranteed pleasure. To see this enduring classic in a version by Tom Murphy, directed by Garry Hynes with the Druid ensemble, is a special experience. Chekhov’s great work was written in conditions of great change where the life-world of those who enjoyed a privileged existence on estates and in great houses, on which, and within which, serfs owned in body and soul lived out their lives, was being challenged by a new modernity, the rise of Nouveau Riche. Emancipated serfs are familiar with the sentiment of such a class, but positioned for their replacement. Irish playwrights saw the parallels between these Chronicles of Chekhov and the incumbents of the big houses of the 19th Century landlord class in Ireland. Of these playwrights, the great wordsmith of dialogue and poetic feeling is Tom Murphy. The partnership between Druid’s Garry Hynes, the entire company, and Tom M