The Cherry Orchard
Apr. 22nd, 2004 09:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidTuesday I saw a production of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard at Brandeis. I'm not a Chekhov fan (I've seen too many productions that felt heavy and pointless), but this worked pretty well.
The set was nicely done, with a wall of doors and windows midway back that could be opened onto the ever-present orchard behind. The props were changed by people dressed as household servants, which was a nice touch. The lighting was fine, as was the sound. The costumes, though, were outstanding, beautiful dresses for the main character, dresses to drool over in how they were cut just so. Gibson-girl-ish, and lovely.
The show moved along, with humor as well as stronger emotion. I still don't understand how upper class people with no money had so many hangers-on of indeterminate status with them, but I wonder whether the characters would fit better if I knew more about Russian society then. On the other hand, I have taken classes in Russian history, and there still seemed to be lots of superfluous-to-the-family people drifting in and out. Perhaps that is part of why I don't care for Chekhov's plays. Hm. Plus all the highfalutin talk about work without actually ever doing any. Many of his characters seem peculiarly unsuited to do anything at all. I mean, there are aristocrats in other plays, and while they are not doing jobs that earn money, they do things, whether it's administering the estate, or being a magistrate, or hunting, or whatever. Chekhov's main characters have nothing but a strange indolence, even in the face of financial ruin.
The set was nicely done, with a wall of doors and windows midway back that could be opened onto the ever-present orchard behind. The props were changed by people dressed as household servants, which was a nice touch. The lighting was fine, as was the sound. The costumes, though, were outstanding, beautiful dresses for the main character, dresses to drool over in how they were cut just so. Gibson-girl-ish, and lovely.
The show moved along, with humor as well as stronger emotion. I still don't understand how upper class people with no money had so many hangers-on of indeterminate status with them, but I wonder whether the characters would fit better if I knew more about Russian society then. On the other hand, I have taken classes in Russian history, and there still seemed to be lots of superfluous-to-the-family people drifting in and out. Perhaps that is part of why I don't care for Chekhov's plays. Hm. Plus all the highfalutin talk about work without actually ever doing any. Many of his characters seem peculiarly unsuited to do anything at all. I mean, there are aristocrats in other plays, and while they are not doing jobs that earn money, they do things, whether it's administering the estate, or being a magistrate, or hunting, or whatever. Chekhov's main characters have nothing but a strange indolence, even in the face of financial ruin.