The Cherry Orchard - Donmar Warehouse 2024

You or the actress ?

From the other Times review (The New York Times):

"Benedict Andrews’s production in London offers perfectly pitched comedy where other directors find somber tragedy."

www.nytimes.com/2024/05/03/theater/the-cherry-tree-nina-hoss-donmar-warehouse.html

He's usually the critic I agree with most

I wouldn't say class, as you can be very conservative in your basic leanings no matter what "class" you are, and equally you can lean liberal no matter what your class.

It is likely that if you have a basically conservative outlook (ie you are more comfortable with what you are already familiar with) versus a more liberal outlook (you are especially open to the adventure of seeing things done in a way you've never seen before), you are more likely to reject what Andrews is doing.

Conservative impulses supposedly evolved to keep us safe, so we don't walk off cliffs. Liberal impulses supposedly evolved to achieve an edge via trying new ways of doing things. The worries for the basic outlooks are that some liberals will inevitably fall off cliffs, and some conservatives will be inevitably be left behind. But both impulses are present in varying degrees in everybody as our ancestors survived using both impulses to give birth to us.

Some spoilers follow. . .

So if when the lights stay on, you feel "that's wrong," then things aren't gonna work out. If you think "ooh, that's interesting," you've a shot at enjoying yourself.

If when you hear the word," f--kwit," and you think "that word is disturbing, the translator is impolite," you are on the path to hating this. If you think, "good stuff, sounds like the real world," you might appreciate this.

If when an actor addresses an audience member as a piece of furniture, you are angry because "that's not how proper theatre, especially Chekhov, is done," you aren't going to like this. If you laugh, and think, "this is fun, I wonder where this is going," you've a shot at enjoying yourself.

These choices of Andrews' will add up, and many more follow, not least being the use of actor-musicians, and if you psychologically align conservative at each and every choice, you will be having an awful time long before the second half payoff comes, and the show will be irredeemable by then.

If you are open to to these choices, you might find yourself exhilarated come the denouement.

Like I said, being a conservative personality type (and it's all a spectrum anyway - my own immense conservative enjoyment of the cosy "Dear Octopus" period piece was off the charts lol) is a great advantage in many situations, especially related to survival by not taking undue risks, but it will not have been an advantage for any critic who saw this show.

Saw this today for the Matinee and it was different!

The lights are on all the time and if sitting in AA52 you may be pulled on stage to be a bookcase.

The show starts with a Henry hoover and cast members sitting in the audience.

I did find some of the dialogue hard to hear, so voice projection wasn't great in my opinion.

I counted 9 people asleep in the stalls during the first part and people left in the interval.

I don't feel like I cared for any of the characters and to be honest I have no idea what was going on half the time! Costumes are a mix of old and modern and swear words and new words/terms are added to the original text.

Can't say it was a memorable play and not a favourite Donmar production this year.

I am with Steve for this one. I was at the matinee too yesterday and I rather liked it (and I am one who misses samovars when they are not around in Russian plays, but it would have been naive to go and see a Benedict Andrews' production expecting classical staging). It was nice to see Nina Hoss for the first time. I agree that there are some elements that are not great (put that ball away!) and the boundaries between masters and servants were not entirely clear. Éanna Hardwicke, Alison Oliver's boyfriend, was very endearing at the end helping June Watson.