Petr Shelokhonov created leading roles in several new productions of such classic plays by Anton Chekhov as Uncle Vanya in "Uncle Vanya" (), Ivanov in "Ivanov" (), Tuzenbach in "Three Sisters" (), and Treplev in "The Seagull" (). In "The Cherry Orchard", which he co-directed, he also played two opposing characters on different nights, alternating between the roles as Gayev, and as Lopakhin. Shelokhonov also appeared as Satin in "The Lower Depths" () by Maxim Gorky and as Derzhavin in "Friends and Years" by Leonid Zorin. His favorite role of that period was Platonov in the eponymous play by Anton Chekhov. In
The Cherry Orchard In the darkness, Firs wanders into the room and discovers that they have left without him and boarded him inside the abandoned house to die. He lies down on the couch and resigns himself to this fate (apparently dying on the spot). Offstage we hear the axes as they cut down the cherry orchard. One of the main themes of the play is the effect social change has on people. The emancipation of the serfs on 19 February 1861 by Alexander II allowed former serfs to gain wealth and status while some aristocrats were becoming impoverished, unable to tend their