Stunning adaptation of Chekhov classic
The Cherry Orchard, Sherman Cymru
THE artistic partnership between writer Gary Owen and director Rachel O’Riordan has produced another gem at Cardiff’s Sherman Cymru with a “re-imagining” of Chekhov’s famous comedy The Cherry Orchard.
Transporting the time and place of the drama from pre-revolutionary Russia to Owen’s home county of Pembrokeshire in the 1980s, change is in the air and one family’s inability to face the past results in the loss of the one thing that ties them together.
The estate of Bloumfield is facing bankruptcy with mortgage payments piling up but the farm and the orchards are just not producing the necessary income any more.
Despite the hard-working Valerie’s attempts to keep the estate going, she is fighting a losing battle and only the return of her alcoholic mother Rainey, who has been blowing her limited fortune at a stay in the Dorchester, can salvage her life’s work.
Valerie’s partner Alun Lewis, a selfmade construction manager and son of a ditch digger, has a plan to save the estate by taking advantage of Margaret Thatcher’s Right to Buy scheme.
The plan involves tearing down the orchard to build a housing development, the sale of which would save Bloumfield, but through her alcoholic stupor, Rainey cannot bring herself to let it go, leading to it to be ripped from her fingers.
The direction by Sherman artistic director O’Riordan allowed the comedy of the piece to shine through, a battle Chekhov did not win against the play’s original director and star Konstantin Stanislavski.
The stage design and costumes subtly suggested the ’80s timeframe, backed up by an ’80s pop soundtrack of The Human League, The Jam and Dexy’s Midnight Runners.
The haunting echoes of the waves crashing against the beach permeate the play and the final scene left shivers down the spine as ghosts came to rest.
A stunning adaptation by Owen and a captivating performance by the ensemble cast in a vital piece of theatre inspired by the greatest of Russian dramatists. Philip Dewey