The Cherry Orchard Ranevskaya, Ian Holm as Trofimov, John Gielgud as Gayev, Judi Dench as Anya, Dorothy Tutin as and Patsy Byrne as Dunyasha. This version has been released on DVD by BBC Worldwide. The Stratford Festival of Canada mounted productions in 1965, 1987 and 1998. The 1965 production was in fact the first time that a Chekhov play had been performed there. Furthermore, "The Cherry Orchard" marked the Stratford directorial debut of John Hirsch. Three of the original Stratford company members were in the cast: William Hutt, playing Gaev; Douglas Campbell, as Lopahin; and William Needles, in the role of Yepihodov; and
Plays of Three Decades "The threat of war began to overshadow the reality of want." It was in response to this threat, motivated especially by the exigency of the Munich Agreement, that Ardrey wrote "Thunder Rock." In his introduction to "Plays of Three Decades" Ardrey writes that he conceived of the play in New York following a long vacation to Nantucket. He wrote the play in New Orleans during the winter and spring of 1939. "Thunder Rock" concerns a journalist, Charleston, who, distraught at the state of the world, withdraws into isolation as a lighthouse attendant. Amid the solitude he conjures in his imagination