The Cherry Orchard

Review By: Carey Purcell
CareyPurcell@TheCinemaSource.com

It is said that The Cherry Orchard was intended to be a comedy. But after seeing the elegant, understated performance currently in production at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, I have to disagree.

It’s not that this performance, directed by Sam Mendes, doesn’t have its funny moments. The carefully scripted comedy is well played by a cast of extremely talented actors. But what they are acting – the actual story by Chekhov – is too relevant, too familiar, and hits much too close to home to be truly funny. The audience can laugh at the jokes, and laugh they did, but after the moment had passed, a feeling of uncertainty and uneasiness lingered in the air. And it hadn’t ended by the time the performance had.

The Cherry Orchard is about many things, but if it had be summed up in one word, it would be change, a word that has been used ceaselessly in American dialogue in the past few months. The word has been loved, savored, and most eagerly anticipated, but now that Barack Obama has taken office, the word is looked at a bit fearfully and with apprehension. It’s one thing to want change, but it’s another to experience it – and at what consequences and what cost?

The looming changes in The Cherry Orchard are the same that America is approaching: economic, political and social, and this performance, by The Bridge Project, a collaboration of British and American theater artists, skillfully addresses those anxieties, depicting how timeless they truly are.

Madame Ranevskaya (Sinead Cusack) is returning to her ancestral home after five years spent abroad. The estate, which includes a well-known cherry orchard, is about to be auctioned off to pay her family’s debts. Her brother, Gaev (Paul Jesson), is also aware of the financial problems, but the two brush them off lightly, saying they will work themselves out somehow. Lopakhin (brilliantly played by Simon Russell Beale), a family friend, informs them they can save their home by chopping down the cherry orchard and renting out summer homes, but Ranevskaya balks at the suggestion, horrified with the idea of destroying her favorite place from her childhood.

Ranevskaya’s two daughters are also caught up in the midst of the family trouble: Anya (Morven Christie), who is in love with the family tutor Trofimov (Ethan Hawke) and Varya (Rebecca Hall), who was adopted by Ranevskaya and whose obvious attraction to Lopakhin has become a matter of discussion in family conversations. Anya declares herself ready to leave her past behind and face the inevitable changes in the future with Trofimov, and Varya longs to escape from her family and travel far away.

The family speaks frankly of their financial troubles, which come up frequently in conversation, yet none except Lopakhin actually speak of the consequences of the troubles: unless they raise money, and quickly, they will be ruined. It is worth mentioning that Lopakhin, who is now a dear friend ...