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 Varya, whom he refers to as "Madame Lopakhin". She then urges Varya to marry Lopakhin, but Varya demurs, reminding her that it is Lopakhin's duty to ask for her hand in marriage, not the other way around. She says that if she had money she would move as far away from him as possible. Left alone with Ranevskaya, Trofimov insists that she finally face the truth that the house and the cherry orchard will be sold at auction. Ranevskaya shows him a telegram she has received from Paris and reveals that her former lover is ill again and has begged