Review: The Cherry Orchard (樱桃园) (S'pore Arts Fest 2009)

Cast: Lin Zhaohua Theatre Studio (林兆华戏剧工作室)
Synopsis: Set within the onslaught of capitalism and a period of rapid social change, the play focuses on an aristocratic family's decline to the extent that they have to sell their estate, which includes a cherry orchard, in order to pay off their bills. Lead character, Lubov Andreyevna Ranevsky, rushes back from Paris to stop the auction of her estate and to save her beloved cherry orchard - a representative and reminder of her fond memories of her childhood. Despite the impending auction of the cherry orchard, the owners still indulged in old habits like spending hordes of money thoughtlessly, even though they were nearly broke, and spending time in self-denial and oblivion to their dire situation.
Playwright: Anton Chekhov 

It was not an easy play to sit through, though it was only half the length of Beijing Ren. In fact, nearly an hour into the play, I was struggling to keep awake. I finally had to prop myself forward to prevent any snoring from happening. The play was successful in the sense that, it managed to convey the sense of the characters living in their own world, in self-escapism and denial, such that although they were talking to each other, they were also talking past each other. No one was really listening to anyone else and no one really cared about anyone else - each lived in their own minds, each so burdened and weighed down by their own troubles, each encased in their own little universe, they couldn't and wouldn't realise the societal changes that were happening all around them. And for all that, the play came across as really tedious and heavy-going. But perhaps, that was what the director had intended - the point was conveyed successfully, but audiences were... put off.

The set was great though, in fact it was amazing. The entire stage was transformed into an orchard and there were overhanging layers, which I later realised (after looking at a picture in the house programme) to be rolling clouds in greyish-orange hues - to portray the desolateness of the situation, and there were also cherry trees which were bare - the obvious symbolism here which I needn't add.

This would not be a play that I would recommend for novice theatre goers.