Chekov always maintained that The Cherry Orchard was a comedy. In Gary Owen’s Chekov inspired play, THE CHERRY ORCHARD, the comedy is there in spades, cutting through the calamities, easing the tragic trajectory.
Moving the setting from pre-revolution Russia to Wales on the eve of the Falklands War, THE CHERRY ORCHARD remains a play about a real family, capricious and irresponsible, privileged, absolutely, but essentially, ostensibly normal.
Rainey has returned to the rambling, ramshackle estate of Bloumfield, a house and orchard that has been in her family for generations. The heritage home is haemorrhaging money precipitating a forced reunion between mother and daughters, a brother and sister, on how to rescue their legacy.
Property and nostalgia, heritage and progress, capitalism and socialism are the conflicts and concerns of the play, carefully calibrated and crafted by Owen.
Characters on both sides of the class divide speak positively about craftsmanship, about the reward above remuneration of making something, the beauty in the utility, the utility in the beauty, an appreciation of the artisan.
Director Anthony Skuse and his cast and crew have emulated that sentiment, seconded that emotion, and crafted an absorbing, sweeping, affecting piece of theatre.
Deborah Galanos commands the stage as the dipso-matriarch, wine soaked serpent toothed, awash in the grief of the loss of her husband and son.
No less impressive are Jane Angharad and Amelia Parsonson as her daughters, Valerie and Anya, loyal and loving even in the face of their mother’s abandonment and destructive alcoholism.
Talia Benatar as the faithful retainer Dottie is compelling both as an observer and a player in the proceedings of her employer, cheeky, spiky, straight talking with blistering barbs and a body language that speaks volumes; serving but not subservient.
Charles Mayer as the guileless Gabriel injects an endearing avuncular goofiness, James Smithers is splendid as the earnest Socialist, Ceri, with an equally earnest ardour for Anya.
Dorje Swallow is superbly strong as Lewis, the epitome of Thatcher’s apostles with aspirations far and beyond those of his ditch digging dad.
James Smithers’ set design is also impressive and well crafted, a grand living area of piss elegance, a seen better days ambience beautifully augmented by Topaz Marley-Cole’s lighting.
With the current housing crisis, THE CHERRY ORCHARD has a conspicuous resonance, an added cherry on top. Highly, highly, highly recommended.
THE CHERRY ORCHARD is on now at the Old Fitz, 129 Dowling Street, Woolloomooloo
Times: 7pm Tues-Fri, 1pm & 7pm Sat 5pm Sun
