Promising to be one of the highlights of 2021, Chekhov’s great play, The Cherry Orchard, has returned to the Sydney stage, with Belvoir Artistic Director Eamon Flack directing for the first time this year.
A homecoming. A picnic. A party. A leave taking. It’s an uncertain time. Change is coming, you can sniff it in the air. A matriarch returns to a home that’s seen better days – but it still has its orchard. Precious, beautiful, but… in the way.
Chekhov’s final play needs no embellishment to describe our times. What orchards are we cutting down? What orchards are we planting? This is a classic, as funny as it is profound.
With an inspiring cast from today’s Australia, twelve richly talented artists take to the stage led by Pamela Rabe (The Glass Menagerie, TV’s Wentworth), Keith Robinson (Twelfth Night), Nadie Kammallaweera (Counting and Cracking) and Mandela Mathia (Sami in Paradise).
Continuing the incomparable group of artists is Peter Carroll (Life of Galileo, STC’s The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui), Priscilla Doueihy (IFC Films’ Babyteeth), Kirsty Marillier (STC’s Home, I’m Darling) and Lucia Mastrantone (Atlantis).
Starring alongside Charles Wu (An Enemy of the People), Sarah Meacham (The Wolves), Josh Price (MTC’s An Ideal Husband), and Jack Scott (ABC’s Hardball), with choreography by Elle Evangelista (Force Majeure’s The Last Season).
“One of the great joys of theatre is a big cast in a big play – that alone is a natural antidote to isolation, fragmentation, the virtual,” said Eamon Flack, Belvoir Artistic Director. “The Cherry Orchard is both a serious play and a ridiculous play.”
“On the one hand it’s a comedy. On the other hand, it may be the best play we have about the weird dance of comfort and crisis that characterises our way of life today.”
Director: Eamon Flack Featuring: Peter Carroll, Priscilla Doueihy, Nadie Kammallaweera, Kirsty Marillier, Lucia Mastrantone, Mandela Mathia, Sarah Meacham, Josh Price, Pamela Rabe, Keith Robinson, Jack Scott, Charles Wu Set & Costume Designer: Romanie Harper Lighting Designer: Nick Schlieper Composer & Sound Designer: Stefan Gregory Choreographer: Elle Evangelista Intimacy Coordinator: Chloë Dallimore Movement/Fight Director: Nigel Poulton Voice Coach: Danielle Roffe Assistant Director: Claudia Osborne Stage Manager: Khym Scott Assistant Stage Manager: Jessie Byrne
The Cherry Orchard
Upstairs Theatre – Belvoir St Theatre, 25 Belvoir St Surry Hills
Season continues to 27 June 2021
Information and Bookings: www.belvoir.com.au
Image: The Cast of The Cherry Orchard – photo by Brett Boardman