The Cherry Orchard

 The Cherry Orchard
Donmar Warehouse
St. Ann’s Warehouse
April 19, 2025

Photo courtesy of Dunmar Warehouse
& St. Ann's Warehouse

The Dunmar Warehouse production of The Cherry Orchard is astonishing.  This adaptation, written and directed by Benedict Andrews, turns Anton Chekhov's classic into an emotionally engaging experience.  The stage is bare.  The floor and walls are richly carpeted.  The characters, while drowning in their own inability to take action to move their lives forward, are crisp, alive, and empathetic.

Liubov Ranevskaya Andreevna (played by Nina Hoss) returns home to her beloved Russia after years of living in Paris.  She fled in grief after her young son drowned in the lake on the family property.  The entire estate, including the surrounding cherry orchard, is now being sold to pay the debt.  Yermolai Lopakhin (played by Adeel Akhtar), whose father and grandfather were servants for the Andreevna family, suggests they cut down the cherry orchard and divide up the land.  They can build homes and rent the properties.  He assures Liubov that the bank will give them a loan for this endeavor, which will allow them to maintain their beloved family home.  She will have none of it.  Her brother, Leonid (played by Michael Gould), asks their wealthy aunt for a loan, but it is not enough.  Lopakhin outbids every offer on the property, leaving the family homeless and with no other choice but to move on.   

Adeel Akhtar as Yermolai Lopakhim
Photo courteys of Donmar Warehouse & St. Ann's Warehouse

Benedict Andrews makes bold choices in the development of this adaptation.  There is a passionate speech given by the liberal tutor, Pyotr Trofimov Sergeevich (played by Daniel Monks), that focuses on the takeover by the oligarchs, who have no concern for the working class.  Mr. Monks fervently delivers this monologue, which directly addresses the political situation that is presently out of control in our country.  In Chekhov’s original work, the table turns on the caste system, as the economic circumstances of the characters shift.  Money rules, and the power belongs to those who have more of it.  It is striking how the social conflict that Anton Chekhov wrote about in his play in 1903 Russia runs parallel to our present time.  

Nina Hoss & Sadie Soverall
as Liubov & Anya
Photo courtesy of Donmar Warehouse
& St. Ann's Warehouse

Mr. Andrews brilliantly utilizes the space, keeping the actors visibly present (seated in the audience) when not in a scene.  They are spoken about and physically referred to, keeping them connected to all the action of the play.  They fill the space as their ancestors inhabit the house and estate, exemplifying their sense of belonging. 

The cast is riveting.  The darkness that is ever-present in Chekhov’s work is there, yet it does not weigh down the action.  These actors bring a sense of optimism and hope to the bleakest of times.  When Anya (played by Sadie Soverall) and Varya (played by Marli Siu) miss the opportunity for marriage, they are disappointed but not broken.  These moments are genuine and endearing.  After the family loses their beloved cherry orchard and their home, they carry on.  They will not only survive, but they will also flourish and thrive.

The Cherry Orchard is playing at St. Ann’s Warehouse through April 27.  Get a ticket.  It is an amazing production, living up to the Dunmar Warehouse standard that we’ve experienced in the past at St. Ann’s Warehouse. 

Domenick Danza

A View from the Bridge

A View from the Bridge

The Young Vic Production

The Lyceum Theatre

October 24, 2015

Photo courtesy of
A View from the Bridge

This past spring my colleague and fellow blogger, Deirdre DeLoatch, wrote about her theatre trip to England.  “Experiencing the Heart and Culture of London” was posted on this blog on March 20, 2015.  She raved to me about the Young Vic’s production of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge and how it was destined for a Broadway run.  That production is presently in previews at the Lyceum Theatre with and opening date scheduled for November 12.  It far exceeds the high expectation that Deirdre setup for me.  Director Ivo Van Hove’s bare bones production revels in the richness of Arthur Miller’s text and makes relevant this impassioned story of family, love, and hubris.

The play takes place in the 1950s in Red Hook, Brooklyn.  Eddie Carbone, a longshoreman and son of an Italian immigrant, opens his home to two of his wife’s cousins, Marco and Rodolpho, who are illegally entering the country to work and send money home to their impoverished family.  At the same time, Eddie’s niece Catherine, who he and his wife Bea raised since childhood after the death of her parents, is coming of age and ready to move forward with her adult life.  When Rodolpho begins romancing Catherine, Eddie is forced to face his true feelings for his niece and Bea faces her biggest fear.

Photo courtesy of A View from the Bridge

The starkness of the production makes clear the skillful structure of Arthur Miller’s play.  Just when he brings the conflict to a high point and you think resolution is ahead, he delves deeper into what is driving each character so we questions what is right and what is truth.  No playwright writes the tragic fall of the American hero like Arthur Miller.  When Eddie Carbone screams, “He took my name… I want my name back,” he echoes John Proctor in The Crucible and Peter Stockman from his adaptation of Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People.  Once the truth is told, there is no going back.  When Eddie lunges at Marco in the final scene after his wife Bea finally confronts the truth of his desire, it is similar to the tragic ending of All My Sons.

Phoebe Fox, Mark Strong, & Nicola Walker
Photo courtesy of A View from the Bridge

Although physically not cast to type, the actors make Miller’s dialogue ring with vitality and inspired dramatic action.  Mark Strong is audaciously authentic as Eddie Carbone. His is equally matched by Nicola Walker as his wife Bea.  She has honest moments that reveal her true feelings and realistic fears that propel the action of the play forward.  Michael Gould is a grounding force as Alfieri, who carefully and deliberately steps into the action of the play and accepts his role in the outcome.  Phoebe Fox and Russel Tovey, as Catherine and Rodolpho, change and grow as they face their obstacles in order to achieve their dreams.

Russel Tovey, Phoebe Fox, and Mark Strong
Photo courtesy of A View from the Bridge

The set, by Jan Versweyveld, is a designated square box with a single entrance up stage center.  There are no props and no interior or exterior settings.   The playing area is like a boxing ring with audience seating stage right and left, creating a three quarter stage setting.  Other powerful director/designer choices are the fact that all the characters, except for Alfieri before he steps into the playing area, are barefoot.  Also, the shower in the opening and closing make a strong, effective, awe-inspiring statement.  I will not go into detail about these images so you can feel the full impact when you see it… and you MUST.

This production sheds a new light on this American classic by stripping it down and engaging the audience in the beauty, rhythm, and directness of Arthur Miller’s words.  The play runs under two hours without an intermission, and is scheduled for a limited run of seventeen weeks.  It is an impactful work.  Be sure to see it. 

Domenick Danza