The Cherry Orchard 2012

Eleanor Yates as Anya Julia Hills as Lyubov Ranevskaya and Dorothea Myer-Bennett as Varya
(Photo: Farrows Creative)

This production opened at the Tobacco Factory on 29th March and played there until 5th May 2012. It then immediately transferred for a one-week season to the Rose Theatre Kingston. 
Tobacco Factory Theatre 29 March - 5 May 2012 and Rose Theatre Kingston 15 - 19 May 2012

By Anton Chekhov - Translated by Stephen Mulrine

Directed by Andrew Hilton 

The Cherry Orchard in 2012 followed on from the widely admired productions of Three Sisters in 2005 and Uncle Vanya (Bristol Old Vic) in 2009.

The charming but feckless Madame Ranevskaya returns home to Russia after five years in Paris with her lover to face looming bankruptcy. Can she conceive of her magnificent cherry orchard being sold to save her whole estate, or will she ignore all advice and court disaster for herself and her whole family?

With undiminished comic touch and a robustly unsentimental eye Chekhov drew this classic portrait of an aristocratic family bewildered and impotent in the face of the huge social changes sweeping Russia a century ago.

The cast included Julia Hills (who joined the company last year as the Duchesses in Richard II) as the feckless matriarch, Ranevskaya; and Simon Armstrong (who starred as Uncle Vanya and as Alceste in the SATTF/Bristol Old Vic Misanthrope) as the brash entrepreneur, Lopakhin.

“A marvellously controlled production, and one that reinstates the real comedy in Chekhov” The Western Mail, on the company’s THREE SISTERS

“A marvellous blend of heartache and hilarity…This truly is the most wonderful production” The Times on Uncle Vanya 

On the Evils of Tobacco by Anton Chekhov, translated by Stephen Mulrine

A Chekhov bonus!  On Wednesday or a Friday evenings SATTF offered a late-night, bonus performance of On The Evils of Tobacco.  In this celebrated monologue, the hen-pecked Nyukhin tries to obey his wife's command to offer an improving lecture, but succeeds only in revealing the comic absurdities of his life. Paul Brendan performed this new translation by Stephen Mulrine.

Press Reviews

'This vivid, superlative production of Chekhov's last play, translated by Stephen Mulrine, embraces its comedy to underscore the tragedy and does so with an exquisite sense of balance.' (Elisabeth Mahoney)

The Independent (4 Stars) '...this production of The Cherry Orchard is not only moving and poignant but also very funny....Each point of view is presented as equally falliable, all the characters equally selfish, and the evening is made funny, clever and thought-provoking as a result.'

The Observer ' ..Andrew Hilton is also seeking to rescue Chekhov from decorative melancholy. Three years ago he directed a furious Uncle Vanya. Now he presents a cantankerous production of The Cherry Orchard that is driven not by wistfulness but by angry misery.... Hilton subtly rearticulates the play.' (Susannah Clapp)

The Sunday Times (4 Stars) 'Andrew Hilton's brisk staging doesn't overdose on elegy (often the default mood for Chekhov) It's full of darting perceptions ....this production captures the sense of a family and a country in flux, and our impossible yearning to stop time.' (Maxie Szalwinska)

'As always in a Hilton production, the tiny expressions that flash across the actors' faces reveal so much of what the characters cannot find the words to convey.' (Jeremy Kingston)

The Stage '..an intelligent, unsentimental and often moving reading of Chekhov’s last play.' (Jeremy Brien)

The British Theatre Guide review at the Rose Theatre Kingston ' ..few (productions) that have better captured the strange brew of humour, irony and sadness in Chekhov's play, or its sense of a world on the brink of momentous change. Recommended.' (Alex Ramon)

(4 Stars) 'Andrew Hilton’s excellent production of Chekhov’s final play for Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory confirms that he is as sensitive an interpreter of the great
Russian as of Shakespeare: this is one of the funniest and most moving productions of the play you are likely to see.' (John Campbell)

Venue (4 & half Stars) 'Hilarious, poignant, tender and harrowing by turns, this is a typically accomplished rendering of a brilliantly nuanced tragicomedy, by a company of whom Bristol can be as proud as ever.' (Steve Wright)

Exeunt (4 Stars) 'For anyone who thought Chekhov is the dry and boring stuff of academic papers and over-wrought method acting, SATTF’s The Cherry Orchard will be a revelation. For those who’ve always suspected that this is a play that somehow manages to range from broad sitcom to heart-wrenching tragedy, it will be an affirmation.' (Tom Phillips)

'Andrew Hilton’s clear, deeply-explored production ensures the audience doesn’t have a miserable time. The tragedy hits home, yet Hilton shows tragic moments often collapsing into laughter...This is a peach of a cherry orchard.' (Timothy Ramsden)

Gazette 'If you only go to see one play this year this should be it'. (Jayne Bennett)

Cast

Julia Hills                           Lyubov Ranevskaya
Eleanor Yates                     Anya
Dorothea Myer-Bennett       Varya 
Christopher Bianchi             Leonid Gaev
Simon Armstrong                Yermolai Lopakhin
Benjamin O’Mahony            Trofimov
Roland Oliver                      Simeonov-Pishchik
Saskia Portway                   Charlotta Ivanovna
Paul Brendan                      Yepikhodov
Gemma Lawrence               Dunyasha
Paul Nicholson                    Firs
Piers Wehner                      Yasha
Paul Currier                        Tramp

Production

Director                            Andrew Hilton
Assistant Director            Harriet Layhe
Designer                          Harriet de Winton
Composer                        Elizabeth Purnell
Lighting Designer             Matthew Graham