Chekhov's final dramatic masterpiece displays a touching contrast between the tragic quality of its subject matter and the comic quality of the characters who act it out. The absence of action itself creates dramatic tension, with the doomed cherry orchard symbolises the decline of the Russian gentry. Memory, dreams and the dispossession of property are the main features of Chekhov's poignant 'vaudeville', now commonly regarded as one of the greatest plays in the Russian language.