Robert Tanitch reviews The Cherry Orchard at Young Vic, London SE1
As Lopakhin keeps telling her, the only way for Renevskaya to pay off the debts and save the estate would be to cut down her beloved orchard so that villas could be built on the land and let to holidaymakers. It’s a solution she and her brother cannot face.
Katie Mitchell says her updated production is not for people who have seen and love the play but for the young audiences at the Young Vic who do not know the play. The only trouble is that if you don’t already know the play you will have difficulty following her production.
Simon Stephens, who has done the adaptation, says their version “is not an accurate representation of what Chekhov intended, but an honest refraction of what his play means to us.”
I think most people going to The Cherry Orchard would prefer to see The Cherry Orchard Chekhov wrote.
Mitchell often directs the actors so that they speak with their backs to the audience and/or mask other actors who are speaking. Rarely can the play have been acted so quickly; it is performed within the same dilapidated set and it comes in under two hours. There is no interval.
Dominic Rowan is a very modern, business-like Lopakhin and perfect for this adaptation. So, too, is Hugh Skinner as the accident-prone clerk, though his role has been curtailed.
Yasha, Ranevskya’s valet, is so unpleasant that he not only kicks Firs, the old retainer, but to all intents and purposes practically murders him as well. Audiences, who know the play, will also be surprised to see Charlotte, the governess, walking across the stage in the nude.
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