Movie Review: The Cherry Orchard

The performances in Cherry Orchard bring the production to life. Photo / Supplied

A confession: I've never really "got" Chekhov. I have seen productions of three of the four "great" plays - Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya and The Seagull - and all seemed remote and unapproachable. (Even the RSC production of The Seagull in Auckland in 2007 left me cold, though that may have been because I was still boiling with rage at the way McKellen had butchered Lear with his hammy travesty of the previous night).

I've always been happy to accept that the problem was mine and not Anton's, particularly since he is regularly described as the second-best playwright. But when I read that Michael Frayn (a respected translator and critic of Chekhov) called this, the last play, "the most elusive and difficult of all [the four]", I wasn't feeling optimistic.

Maybe the friend I took, who was kind enough to suggest that I had finally grown up, had a point, but I am happy to report to that it all came into focus. The characters seemed to shrug off the archetypes with which the first act loads them and take on a wonderful individuality and texture.

And, for the first time, the ineffable nuanced blend of comedy and tragedy worked perfectly.

The play, written in the first years of a new century, can easily be read allegorically: seismic forces of social change are threatening to bury some characters and elevate others and the looming shadow of 1917, perhaps only with hindsight, stretches over everything. As a result, it is succulent with ironies: the hard-up aristocrats are in thrall to a former serf; a pretentious valet, mangling French, styles himself a Parisian boulevardier; an ancient servant mourns for the days when everyone knew their place.

But it's also an intense and textured character piece and the performances in this marvellous production bring it all to life, as director Howard Davies keeps things moving with grace and precision.

There are quibbles: the stage seems much larger than it is because of the short lenses often used to widen shots and participants in intimate conversations sometimes seem marooned as a result. And the adaptation, by Andrew Upton (Cate Blanchett's other half) is often grating: "Listen up" and "Oh, Lord, don't let me be misunderstood" were the worst of quite a few glibly hip lines.

But this is another great addition to the NT Live canon. Make a point of it - especially if you don't like Chekhov.

Stars: 5/5
Cast: Zoe Wanamaker, James Laurenson, Charity Wakefield, Claudie Blakley, Conleth Hill, Mark Bonnar, Tim McMullan, Sarah Woodward, Pip Carter, Emily Taaffe, Gerald Kyd
Director: Howard Davies
Running time: 195 mins
Rating: E
Verdict: Chekhov for people who don't get Chekhov

- TimeOut