Kopit's play [The Day The Whores Came Out To Play Tennis] is one act long, as opposed to the four acts of [Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard]. He utilizes only six characters, while the Russian uses sixteen. It necessarily follows that the brevity of the later work precludes the total development to be found in the longer play. The main idea, however, is exactly the same. In Kopit's play the pilot committee of the Cherry Valley Country Club is concerned because a group of whores have taken over the tennis courts. Throughout the play, they talk about the problem, yet do nothing to correct it. The play closes with the whores retaining possession of the courts and pelting the club house with tennis balls. At the same time the owners are sitting in the nursery of the club house bemoaning the loss of their establishment.
The country club serves the same purpose as Chekhov's estate, for it, too, is the home of what the playwright considers to be a degenerate aristocracy. The aristocratic characters of Cherry Valley are certainly depicted as having seen better days. The representative of the generation in line to inherit the establishment, Herbert, rocks on a hobbyhorse as his heritage crumbles about his ears. The hobbyhorse is symbolic of his monomania, for he is unwilling to acknowledge the threat to his way of life posed by the whores.
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