Review: THE CHERRY ORCHARD at Riverside Studios

Fittingly the last play written by Anton Chekhov, The Cherry Orchard is a melancholy exploration of a world in transition and a society in its dying throes. The aristocrat Lyubov Ranevskaya returns home with her family to her beloved childhood estate with its attached cherry orchard. They soon find that their home is due to be sold, and with characteristic chaos and confusion, the rather out-of-touch family grapples for a way to salvage this last symbol of the Russia they once knew.

Chekhov described the play as a comedy, even a farce, while Konstantin Stanislavski, who directed the first production back in 1904, treated it as a tragedy. It’s a conundrum that directors have struggled with ever since, and you can see the same duality in Flywheel’s production, which doesn’t seem to know what to do with itself tonally. The adaptation, forced to condense the plot and trim the character list to fit with the eight-strong cast, gets rid of several of Chekhov’s comedic relief side characters, like Charlotta and Yepikhodov. As such, the cast leans heavily into comedy where possible, with over-the-top reactions and humorous line deliveries, in a way that often feels at odds with the play’s otherwise melancholy, depressing tone, but also makes the morose ending pack more of an emotional gut-punch.

The cast is undoubtedly talented, especially Maggie Bain as Lubov, whose enthusiastic line deliveries coupled with subtle microexpressions and pauses evoke a character very much at odds with the persona she projects. Elliot Pritchard comes a close second as Gaev, delivering his rambling digressions and abrupt non sequiturs with an earnestness that’s as endearing as it’s comedic. Rachel-Leah Hosker brings an interesting take on Lopakhin, possibly the most divisive character in the play, who can be played as sympathetic or repulsive. Hosker draws out the character’s complexities and symbolic role as a representation of the middle class encroaching on Russia’s aristocracy, with a simpering, sycophantic manner of speech which gradually peels away to reveal Lopakhin’s insecurities and disdain for the family. Stealing the show, however, is Paul Bentall as Fiers, playing the ageing, doddering, eccentric manservant with just the right balance of comedic timing and tragic dimension.

Interestingly, the casting is gender-blind but actively changes characters’ pronouns, so that Lopakhin is reimagined as a woman, which is an unusual take on a character so associated with capitalistic greed and money-wise shrewdness, and the melodramatic, attention-seeking maid Dunyasha is played as a man by Conor Dumbrell. Aside from playing with gender expectations, it reframes Lopakhin’s not-quite-romance with Varya (Jessica Temple) as a queer relationship, though the production doesn’t really do much with this aspect.

Rebecca Ward’s set and costume design is evocative of a 1970s setting, with radio broadcasts making references to Prime Minister James Callaghan and the Winter of Discontent, drawing a clear parallel between Russia at the turn of the 20th century and Britain during the upheaval of the seventies. The small, intimate set is otherwise pleasantly, cozily cluttered with toys, books, mismatched furniture, and odds and ends, painting a charming picture of a family home, so that by the end we feel just as nostalgic about it as the characters do.

The characters pace frenetically around the small stage, dashing in and out of the wings or calling to each other from offstage, setting a mood that’s both chaotic and tense, a feeling of impending dread as the play rushes towards its climax, like a clock counting down the end of an era for Russia’s aristocracy. Pacing wise, the production does feel rushed in its condensed form, making the ending feel as jarring for the audience as it does for the characters.

The truncated run time and reduced roster of characters ultimately works to the production's detriment, losing some of the nuance and flavour of Chekhov's writing and character building, as well as throwing the tragi-comical balance slightly out of joint. But for what it sets out to do, the play is enjoyable and refreshing, delivered energetically by a dynamic cast that clearly knows and loves these characters.