Preparing for The Cherry Orchard - Petya Trofimov
As a class we had two whole weeks to prepare and perform Anton Chekov's "The Cherry Orchard" and in that time Rob had assigned all the actors and actresses to certain groups as well as giving out the select characters in the play. My group consisted of: Leonie, Lauren and Laura, and within that group I was chosen to portray Petya Trofimov and in order to properly get to grips with the character mentally I had to undergo deep research into him, starting off with reading through the entire script at home and the reason for this was to identify the motives/objectives behind the character. During the read through I had with me a notepad to jot down a few ideas I had gained from reading into the character.
From my understanding Trofimov was a scholar within Russia at the time, the student was seen as quite analytical and one of his goals was to acquire great amounts of knowledge on a plethora of subjects in and out of university. This is evident when arguing with Varya she says "What've you got to be so so proud of? All the universities you've been thrown out of?" This further shows the lengths of which he is going to go on his thirst for knowledge.
Ruling deeper into the character I had realised that he was an idealist of sorts, getting straight to the point when expressing his views or other. For example when conversing with Anya, Trofimov says "Mankind is advancing, perfecting its powers. All the things that are beyond it are beyond it's reach now will one day be brought close and made plain. All we have to do is work, to bend all our strength to help those who are seeking truth. Here in Russia very few as yet are working..."
Another point which I made on my character was the fact that he didn't think highly of love, this is noted throughout many instances in the play however one bit really stands out to state the obvious. The scene in which Trofimov, Ranevskya and Varya are all talking about the orchard, Varya leaves the two after a heated argument and then Trofimov brings her up when bringing up his and Anya's relationship to Ranevskya he said to her "She's way too earnest. And a busybody. I've had her all summer poking her nose in between Anya and I. It's her dull mind. She can't see that Anya and I aren't interested in love. We are higher than that. Our calling is. Far. Far greater. Higher"
Coming to the finale on his opinions towards the cherry orchard, Trofimov due to him thinking in such an ideological way believes the orchard to be a representation of Russia's hardship and way on serfdom. In this scene with Ranevskya he expresses his views truthfully and is confused with her "Gaev" way of thinking. "Whether the estate is sold or not is not the point. The point is more profound: you are at a crossroads. There is no turning back. The past is done. There is no turning back, you must move on. Dear, dear. Lovely. The lies are the confusing thing. Look it in the eye. The truth"
From my understanding Trofimov was a scholar within Russia at the time, the student was seen as quite analytical and one of his goals was to acquire great amounts of knowledge on a plethora of subjects in and out of university. This is evident when arguing with Varya she says "What've you got to be so so proud of? All the universities you've been thrown out of?" This further shows the lengths of which he is going to go on his thirst for knowledge.
Ruling deeper into the character I had realised that he was an idealist of sorts, getting straight to the point when expressing his views or other. For example when conversing with Anya, Trofimov says "Mankind is advancing, perfecting its powers. All the things that are beyond it are beyond it's reach now will one day be brought close and made plain. All we have to do is work, to bend all our strength to help those who are seeking truth. Here in Russia very few as yet are working..."
Another point which I made on my character was the fact that he didn't think highly of love, this is noted throughout many instances in the play however one bit really stands out to state the obvious. The scene in which Trofimov, Ranevskya and Varya are all talking about the orchard, Varya leaves the two after a heated argument and then Trofimov brings her up when bringing up his and Anya's relationship to Ranevskya he said to her "She's way too earnest. And a busybody. I've had her all summer poking her nose in between Anya and I. It's her dull mind. She can't see that Anya and I aren't interested in love. We are higher than that. Our calling is. Far. Far greater. Higher"
Coming to the finale on his opinions towards the cherry orchard, Trofimov due to him thinking in such an ideological way believes the orchard to be a representation of Russia's hardship and way on serfdom. In this scene with Ranevskya he expresses his views truthfully and is confused with her "Gaev" way of thinking. "Whether the estate is sold or not is not the point. The point is more profound: you are at a crossroads. There is no turning back. The past is done. There is no turning back, you must move on. Dear, dear. Lovely. The lies are the confusing thing. Look it in the eye. The truth"
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