In January 2000, while I was studying at the Russian Academy of Dramatic Arts in Moscow (former GITIS), I went to visit Melikhovo, the country estate Anton Chekhov had purchased in 1892 from Nikolai Sorokhtin, a set decorator for the Hermitage summer garden theatre in Moscow. Chekhov worked to improve the condition of the estate, and used his study as medical office where he visited patients from various villages, factories, and a monastery. In 1899, after the success of The Seagull at the Moscow Art Theatre, the author invited the lead actress, Olga Knipper, to visit him at the estate. She married him in 1901. As his tuberculosis worsened, Chekhov was forced to abandon Melikhovo and move south, to Yalta. He sold the estate to a timber merchant on August 18, 1899. These facts alone would suffice to trace several elements of The Cherry Orchard back to the playwright’s biography. The play premiered exactly 110 years ago at the Moscow Arts Theatre and is regarded as the Russian playwright’s masterpiece.
But The Cherry Orchard speaks even louder today. Its core theme, the relationship between beauty and money, is still a burning topic for any arts organization immersed in today’s society. How can beauty thrive without sensible business practices? Is beauty even possible without exploitation? What price are you ready to pay for a piece of that beauty?
An ensemble of thirteen actors boldly embodies the forces at play in this touching and funny story of redemption through awareness, friendship, tears and laughter that speaks to all ages. In the intimate performance space at Theaterlab the audience sits in close proximity to a richly textured world in which the characters’ relationships, connection with the past, and plans for the future hang in the balance because everything is on sale from the beginning. The auctioneer, a character only implied in Chekhov’s play, in this show becomes the tangible measure of the economic value of all things.
This production emphasizes Chekhov’s masterful mix of comic and tragic through an ensemble-based approach based on Stanislavsky’s latest and most organic rehearsal method, active analysis. You will not see traditional “blocking” in which actors repeat exactly what happened the night before. Every performance employs a degree of freedom that makes tonight’s show unique, just for you.
Enjoy the show!
Stebos
