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Orchard blossoms with novel take
Chekhov classic is rejuvenated by being played nearer to comedy than tragedy, writes PETER MASON
Francesca Annis as Ranyevskaya and Ian McKellen as Firs in the Cherry Orchard
[Jack Merriman]
KENNY MacASKILL is disappointed by a polemical, rather than factual, account of the Lone Star State and its political path since the civil war
PAUL DONOVAN is fascinated by the lives of Charles and Mary Bagot, and the insight this biography shines on the morals of pre-Victorian society
GORDON PARSONS appreciates fine performances and a feel for ambiguity, but misses the music of the dialogue
DOUGLAS FIELD relishes the hard-boiled language, satire and humour of the third and last of the Harlem trilogy
STEPHANIE BROWN draws attention to the hidden labour of the female embroiderers, and how a 19th century replica made no such error
MIK SABIERS revels in a band that ploughs an idiosyncratic furrow of expletive laden, guitar-driven alt rock
The Cherry Orchard
Theatre Royal Windsor
USING much the same cast that put across a rather confused Hamlet at this venue during the summer, director Sean Mathias has come up with a considerably more satisfactory Cherry Orchard, thanks in part to the addition of two stage heavyweights, Francesca Annis and Martin Shaw.
Annis is enthralling as the fragile, flighty aristocrat Ranyevskaya — exasperatingly unwilling to do anything about her fate as the family estate is sold from underneath her, yet so sweet and loveable that it becomes impossible to condemn her for too long.
Partly this is because Annis also imparts Ranyevskaya with such subtle strength that we come to see the old lady as a great survivor, better adjusted to the oncoming rush of change than many of the self-deceiving procrastinators who surround her.
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