The Cherry Orchard, directed by Anthony Skuse, was Chekhov’s last play. It dramatises social upheaval and the impact on one aristocratic family, landowners returning home from Paris to an estate that includes a large cherry orchard. There is a mortgage to be paid. The drama turns on decisions for and against selling the property, matriarch Lyubov Andreyevna Ranyevskaya’s emotional attachment to the place of her childhood, matters of the heart involving young men and women of the upper and lower classes, the old and the new Russia.
A tense and familial atmosphere is created by way of simple lighting and props, with deft use of floor carpets and luggage, a piano and rocking horse. The costumes are beautiful, and music plays a special part. Skuse notes that “singing has been an essential part of the process” in development and rehearsal. French and Russian folk songs evoke memories, hopes and wider connections. The singing is expressive and impressive.
In both works, prominent roles are played by alternate actors. Each brings something distinctive to the character in question – a comical touch, grave despair or inscrutability.
Ivanov, Chekhov’s first play, offers particular opportunity for experiments with comedy. Numerous scenes have the audience in fits of laughter. The play centres on Nikolai Alekseyevich Ivanov, an unhappily married melancholic, his business debts and social activities. The drama deals in questions of romantic and moral integrity, class, gender and religious identity. An underlying anti-Semitism is brought to the surface at certain points, with horrifying effects. Director Joseph Uchitel weaves a tragicomedy with particular attention to striking characterisations, dynamic staging and set design.
The Russian Theatre Double Bill represents the second year students’ first public engagement with dramatic texts. On the strength of these fine performances audiences have much to look forward to.
