Synopsis The Cherry Orchard premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre 17 January 1904, on Chekhov's 44th birthday and only six months before his death. Overjoyed at being back at her large country house Madame Ranyevskaya is reassured to find the cherry orchard looking unchanged. But for how long? The family's wealth has gone and their only hope is to destroy the beloved orchard. The axes are ready to swing through the orchards of Russia .. Co-commissioned by and produced in association with Athens & Epidaurus Festival, THE EDGE, Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen, The Singapore Repertory Theatre, Teatro Espanol de Madrid. With thanks to CQS, Bank of America, American Airlines and other sponsors The Bridge Project. CQS Space at the Old Vic
Simon Russell Beale & Rebecca Hall in The Cherry Orchard
Date: 10 June 2009
Sam Mendes' long-awaited transatlantic Bridge Project made its UK premiere at the Old Vic yesterday (9 June 2009, previews from 23 May), with critics getting the opportunity to see both The Winter's Tale and The Cherry Orchard over the course of the day (only months after they gorged themselves on a full-day feast of Alan Ayckbourn's Norman Conquests trilogy at the same venue last autumn).
The project is a new venture forged between Mendes, the Old Vic and New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). The productions, which run in rep, premiered in New York from January to March before embarking on an international tour to Singapore, New Zealand, Spain and Germany (See News, 30 May 2008). The stellar international ensemble is led by Simon Russell Beale (Leontes/Lopakhin), Ethan Hawke (Autolycus/Trofimov), Sinead Cusack (Paulina/Madame Ranevskaya) and Rebecca Hall (Hermione/Varya).
Former Donmar supremo Mendes pretty much picked up where he left off with the UK critics, receiving a wealth of plaudits for both productions and a host of star ratings in the three to five bracket. Of the two productions, the majority preferred The Cherry Orchard, though not the Daily Telegraph's Charles Spencer, who awarded The Winter's Tale five stars, and like most of his contemporaries lauded Simon Russell Beale's “ wonderful performances” in both productions. There was plentiful praise too for Ethan Hawke - the “American stand-out” according to Benedict Nightingale in The Times - as well as the “outstanding support” of Sinead Cusack and Rebecca Hall. There were reservations from some quarters about the “Rubik's cube” logistics of the project dampening its creative merits, but overall more bridges were built than burnt.
Michael Coveney on Whatsonstage.com (three stars) - “The mix of British and American actors … leads to muddle and confusion in the accenting of the language. And the brilliant Russell Beale … is far too fallible as the jealous Leontes in The Winter's Tale and far too malleable as the brutish serf-turned-property-owner Lopakhin in The Cherry Orchard … You feel that he’d be more at home as Autolycus (although this snapper-up of unconsidered trifles is perfectly, indeed brilliantly, well played by Ethan Hawke) … The latter’s done very well by Sinead Cusack, stepping up a gear from her sedate Paulina in The Winter's Tale, and there’s nothing to complain about in the performances of Selina Cadell as the tricksy Carlotta, Josh Hamilton as Yasha and Polixenes, or Tobias Segal as the over-zealous young shepherd and the underwhelming, squeaky-booted Yepikhodov. Rebecca Hall is miscast as Chekhov’s Varya, too nice and homely, too willowy, in the role, just as the slightly ridiculous Richard Easton – who never stops grinning and jollying everyone else along all evening … The bohemian scenes in the Shakespeare are rife with coloured balloons, a not very exciting idea which makes Ethan Hawke sound like Benny Hill. The bear is a bear-like apparition, the thunder storm considerable and the tedious Antigonus of Dakin Matthews deservedly consumed by the looming bruin.”
Benedict Nightingale in The Times (The Winter’s Tale: four stars, The Cherry Orchard: three stars) - “The main American stand-out is Ethan Hawke, ebullient, sly and malicious as the conman Autolycus and, whether posing as a balladeer, a courtier or a snake-oil salesman, he’s a self-enraptured master of disguise … Braun makes an appealing Florizel for Perdita to love, Morven Christie doesn’t have the radiance the girl herself needs … Cusack is superb - and Russell Beale excellent as the peasant-turned-tycoon Lopakhin. Cusack is also wonderfully strong as Hermione’s protector, Paulina, and Paul Jesson impressive as Ranevskaya’s brother, the overage infant Gaev. But Russell Beale catches Lopakhin’s mix of self-admitted vulgarity, unconscious sensitivity, half-acknowledged love for Ranevskaya herself and, at one memorable moment, bewilderment at the folly of his world and life. I wouldn’t say yesterday was wholly his day. But he dominated it.”
Michael Billington in the Guardian (The Winter’s Tale: three stars, The Cherry Orchard: four stars) - “This Sam Mendes double bill that inaugurates the transatlantic Bridge Project is highly impressive: the two productions of these time-haunted plays are strikingly clear and unfussy … Mendes, who directed The Cherry Orchard at the start of his career, clearly understands the play thoroughly … Russell Beale also brings out excellently the character’s volatile insecurity … All this is well done. I was less taken with the festive scenes, which tale the form of a pastoral hoedown suggestive more of Oklahoma than Bohemia. There is good work from Morven Christie as a charming Perdita, and Ethan Hawke as a guitar-strumming, faintly Dylanesque Autolycus. It is, however, a relief when the action returns to Sicilia and the statuesque Hermione’s restoration … Together, these artfully twinned productions prove the whole Mendes project is definitely not a Bridge too far.”
Charles Spencer in the Daily Telegraph (The Winter's Tale: five stars, The Cherry Orchard: four stars) - “It's an enticing prospect, and as is almost always the case, Mendes and co deliver the goods … The shows will be best remembered for Simon Russell Beale's wonderful performances. He seems to be almost physically overcome by sexual jealousy in The Winter's Tale … He's almost as fine in The Cherry Orchard … Yet somehow Russell Beale endows even this vulgar, workaholic businessman with the soul of a poet. There is outstanding support from Sinead Cusack, who captures both the absurdity and the grief of Ranevskaya in The Cherry Orchard, and makes a fierce and moving Paulina in The Winter's Tale. And Rebecca Hall, who gets better with every performance, doubles as a haunting Hermione in the Shakespeare while finding a more everyday sadness in poor Varya. Paul Jesson, Richard Easton and Ethan Hawke also shine in productions that make one long for Mendes' permanent return to the British stage.”
Patrick Marmion in the Daily Mail - “Russell Beale weights his words so carefully you sometimes wonder if he’s forgotten them. But he’s tender and touching as the frazzled monarch who looks like he can’t decide if he’s hot a hangover or swine flu. Sadly, the play goes off the boil in the second half as Mendes turns the pastoral idyll of Shakespeare’s Bohemia into vulgar mid-Western hoedown with Ethan Hawke doing a turn as a Dylanesque busker and pickpocket. Hawke has oodles of stage presence and a rich classical voice, but his occasional pop at an Irish accent is phonetic carnage … Much more spellbinding is The Cherry Orchard … Helen Rappaport’s translation of the play has been buffed to a sheen by Tom Stoppard, but it’s the actors’ depth of characterisation that carries the emotionally agonising passage through love, loss and unrequited passion. Sinead Cusack … rescues her character with a wistful Celtic lilt rendering her softer and more sympathetic. Russell Beale … is perfectly impatient and yet in thrall to her whimsy. Meanwhile Hawke is moodily engaging as the eternal student who remains proudly broke and intellectually aloof. And Richard Easton is marvellously agile and resilient as the ancient butler who embodies the sweet but obsolescent spirit of the doomed house.”
Henry Hitchings in the Evening Standard (three stars) - “The juxtaposition of the two plays allows us to see the actors’ range, and Russell Beale, perhaps lacking a certain animal menace as Lopakhin, proves more completely suited to the Shakespeare. As Leontes, his intelligence illuminates every scene in which he is involved. [Rebecca Hall,] powerful as Chekhov’s Varya, makes a dignified Hermione, while Ethan Hawke, who plays the roguish troubadour Autolycus as a cross between David Blaine and Tom Waits, brings a Gothic mystery to the 'mangy' student Trofimov, and Sinead Cusack, a leonine Paulina in The Winter’s Tale, delivers a captivating performance as the extravagant matriarch Ranevskaya … Both plays, for instance, contain pastoral interludes, and neither really works. The festive opening of the second half of The Winter’s Tale is weak - an embarrassing foray into erotic balloon modelling. Anthony Ward’s sets, constrained by the demands of repertory, are spare but effective, and Paul Pyant’s lighting is excellent. Mark Bennett’s music, which makes haunting use of an aluminium harp in The Cherry Orchard, is atmospheric though far from euphonious. Sam Mendes’ direction displays imagination, but sometimes lacks rhythm … Without doubt this first chapter of The Bridge Project is a significant theatrical event. But its logistical complications, described by Mendes as 'a bit like a Rubik’s cube', have resulted in a pair of productions that do not fully satisfy.”
Simon Russell Beale and director Sam Mendes last collaborated on Chekhov and Shakespeare when they did unforgettable productions of Uncle Vanya and Twelfth Night, as part of Mendes’ farewell to the Donmar Warehouse in 2002.
This larger Bridge Project enterprise - involving the Old Vic, the Brooklyn Academy of Music (where those earlier plays transferred following the Donmar) and Mendes’ Neal Street Productions – is far less satisfactory. The mix of British and American actors – plus Sinead Cusack from Ireland – leads to muddle and confusion in the accenting of the language.
And the brilliant Russell Beale, an actor who can find sermons in stones and books in the running brooks, is far too fallible as the jealous Leontes in The Winter's Tale and far too malleable as the brutish serf-turned-property-owner Lopakhin in The Cherry Orchard.
It’s as though he’s finding sweet adjuncts to both characters and never quite finding the centre. In the Shakespeare, you feel that he’d be more at home as Autolycus (although this snapper-up of unconsidered trifles is perfectly, indeed brilliantly, well played by Ethan Hawke) and, in the Chekhov, as an obvious Gaev, the billiard-ball potting distracted brother – again, well played by Paul Jesson – of the overbearing Ranevskaya.
The latter’s done very well by Sinead Cusack, stepping up a gear from her sedate Paulina in The Winter's Tale, and there’s nothing to complain about in the performances of Selina Cadell as the tricksy Carlotta, Josh Hamilton as Yasha and Polixenes, or Tobias Segal as the over-zealous young shepherd and the underwhelming, squeaky-booted Yepikhodov.
Rebecca Hall is miscast as Chekhov’s Varya, too nice and homely, too willowy, in the role, just as the slightly ridiculous Richard Easton – who never stops grinning and jollying everyone else along all evening – is totally adrift as both the insufferable shepherd in Bohemia and the decrepit Firs – he looks more like a well-scrubbed dosser than a crumbling retainer – in the dacha.
Unusually, the interval is taken after Time’s speech in The Winter's Tale – allowing Easton to complete a clumsy transition from rustic to prophet – and we are delighted to get to know the lumpy Perdita and Florizel of Morven Christie (can she be princess of flowers?) and Michael Braun.
The bohemian scenes in the Shakespeare are rife with coloured balloons, a not very exciting idea which makes Ethan Hawke sound like Benny Hill. The bear is a bear-like apparition, the thunder storm considerable and the tedious Antigonus of Dakin Matthews deservedly consumed by the looming bruin.
Note this comment is for Winter's Tale alone. We enjoyed it very much and couldn't find fault with any of the performances. A wonderfully clear, gripping production. - Backdrifter
17 Aug 09
I saw The Winter’s Tale last night and The Cherry Orchard last week. In regard to the Shakespeare I was disappointed by several aspects of the production. Surely the essence of performing Shakespeare, even in one of the more unusual plays, is the glory of the words and to downgrade those in favour of an interpretation that was superficial and public is doing the words a huge disservice. What on earth was the idea of the balloon dance, outstanding in its vulgarity and totally pointless – yes, Shakespeare can be vulgar but the play is not an adult pantomime. Ethan Hawke’s pedlar/rogue Autolycus was Johnny Depp/Jack Sparrow, an interpretation of the role drawn virtually entirely from Pirates of the Caribbean. As usual, SRB was excellent but even an actor of his stature cannot carry a whole play, especially not three hours of Shakespeare.
In fairness, it appeared that quite a lot of the younger members of the audience enjoyed the play and perhaps this production is focussed on attracting the young rather than a rather more mature audience.
This experiment of mixing actors from both sides of the Atlantic has not been a huge success – in Cherry Orchard, a play that depends so much on nuance and what is not said with the voice but with the body, the Americans, even when managing their lines, do not have the right body language but perhaps they will learn. SRB’s rage when he threw over the circle of chairs was breathtaking in intensity and showed his complete mastery of stagecraft – most impressive. Sinead Cusack and Rebecca Hall are both fine stage actors and show the Americans how things should be done. Possibly a baptism of fire for the young American actors who one sensed felt they may not be quite up to the job, but they will be better for it. Once they learn that shouting is not always necessary to show emotion, things may improve.
I think the idea behind the collaboration is good but, at least at first, a better choice of play should be made so that the bar is not set too high so that inevitably audiences are left disappointed and feeling that their financial investment (in my case £60) could have been better spent elsewhere.
- Rebekkah
21 Jul 09
For the second time recently the interval left me feeling distinctly underwhelmed as Sam Mendes has directed a very dull first half of The Cherry Orchard. Fortunately in the second half some excellent acting shines through as the full impact of the changes in circumstances are felt. Frankly the actors from this side of the pond wipe the floor with the Americans, especially Sinead Cusack and Rebecca Hall. Sometimes it is taken for granted that Simon Russell Beale will be superb, but he is astonishing as an equally frustrated but ultimately dominant Lopakhin. I am old enough to remember when Richard Easton was British (I was made to watch The Brothers) and he appeared to be attempting a rather odd impersonation of Derek Jacobi's Malvolio. This is ultimately a very good production but perhaps not as great as might have been hoped given the star names involved. - David Baxter
01 Jul 09
This Cherry Orchard is disappointing given the pedigree of the cast and crew. The performances are uneven, and although the accents didn't bother me, the difference in acting styles did. American shouty shouty (think Tom Cruise) is not appropriate in a play about what is unsaid and unexpressed. There are some wonderful performances (especially Sinead Cusack, and her scenes with SRB are the highlight) but this is standard RSC romanticised fare, and nothing new is brought to light. If you haven't ever seen it, go - it's a faithful production, but no more. - dgr1
25 Jun 09
Why has Michael Coveney become Mr. Grumpy all of a sudden? Is he re-positioning himself as Nicholas de Jongh's successor as 'the official opposition' to other reviewers? A Winter's Tale isn't one of Shakespeare's best, but this is a cracking production which looks great and is beautifully played by a fine cast. It's hard to move from vengance and deep regret to high comedy but here the contrast heightens both. The sheep-shearing festival was a hoot (largely thanks to an impressive Ethan Hawke) and the final scene was profoundly moving. A treat! - Gareth James
12 Jun 09
The play has been relocated to Stoppardia: his jokes are witty and you feel you ought to laugh but they're not really funny. However it's an imaginative production with powerful performances, although not sure whether they thought about Brit/American accents clashing in the same Soviet town. Very entertaining. - kilburncat
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