The Cherry Orchard, National Theatre, 17th July 2011, 2.30pm

Playwright – Anton Chekhov
Version – Andrew Upton
Director – Howard Davies
Designer – Bunny Christie

The Cherry Orchard, a wonderfully enchanting story that fills you with several emotions, constantly enforced through the cast’s exquisite reactions to the ever so real set - their ‘home’, by Bunny Christie. The wooden design with natural light exposed by candles helps to set the endearing house that fuels the storyline; along with the cherry orchard their home must be sold to solve the family’s debt issues.

The succession of the performance is rooted to the setting which fluidly links from a much loved sitting room to a picturesque terrace with a river beyond. Zoe Wannamaker’s (Ranyevskaya) constant emotive reactions to the locations with the melancholy reminders to both her husband and son’s passing, fill the audience with much pathos. But, as for the some of the other cast members, a lack of improvisation can be noted. Especially in Charity Wakefield’s scenes (Anya) little emotion seems to be fuelling her lines, to an extent that her presence on stage may not always be acknowledged, giving her minimal connection with the audience. Something that is echoed when the cast stand with their back to the audience; Howard Davies’ decision to stage parts this way fills me with bemusement. As well as Howard Davies’ reasons not to have a Russian accent for the whole cast, instead a cast full of English, Irish and Scottish accents.

The clear one eighty turn after the interval sees the play becoming light-hearted with games such as musical chairs unravelling on stage along with Sarah Woodward (Charlotta), James Laurenson (Gaev) and Pip Carter (Yepihodov)’s comical characters perfectly complimenting the acts.

One thing that is sure to be said is that this new adaptation by Andrew Upton, including the phrases ‘frigging’, ‘crap’, ‘bollocks’ and ‘bloody’, is something that startled the audience. It seems that some of Chekhov’s original language has been rejected in order to have more impact and suit the modern audiences. Don’t get me wrong, we all like new adaptations but, is this needed? Or, does it do the opposite and lose the intended impact?