5 Reasons to watch The Cherry Orchard

Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's last play, The Cherry Orchard, will be screened at Godrej Dance Theatre, NCPA, this weekend. If the thought of Chekhovian drama hasn't excited you already, we give you four more reasons to catch the show.

5 Reasons to watch The Cherry Orchard

u00a0
For the second time in as many months, Mumbai's theatre lovers will be treated to an international theatrical production right here in the city. The National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA), in collaboration with UK's Royal National Theatre, brings us a theatre screening of playwright Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, after a successful screening of filmmaker Danny Boyle's version of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. While watching a film screening of a play might not be the same as watching a live performance, we give youfive reasons not to miss this show.

It's Chekov at his best
The Cherry Orchard was the Russian playwright's final and perhaps most autobiographical play. The orchard, that is almost the central character in the play, was inspired by a cherry orchard that Chekhov himself tended and was destroyed after he was forced to sell it due to ill health.

A crash course in Russian history
The play mirrors the various social and economic forces that were at work in Russia at the turn of theu00a0 century. The rise of the middle class,u00a0 abolition of serfdom, fall of aristocracy are highlighted by the play. Andrew Upton, who has reworked it to suit our times, has also moved the play's setting from 1904 to 1905 bringing it closer to the date of the Bloody Sunday massacre, which sowed the seeds for the Revolution in 1917.

Critically acclaimed cast and crew
The new version of the play has been directed by Howard Davies. Davies and Upton (who have previously collaborated on successes such as Philistines and The White Guard) have decided to recreate the play as a comedy the way Chekhov intended it to be. The play also features Zoe Wanamaker (as Lyubov Andreyevna Ranevskaya) and James Laurenson (as Leonid Andreyevich Gayev), both of whom have been hailed for their stellar performances.

Show your love for the environment
The play reflects Chekhov's love for nature, particularly trees. It was written at a time when Russia was seeing the initial effects of the Industrial Revolution. Trees were being cut and orchards wantonly destroyed. This play was Chekhov's reaction to the goings-on around him. Even a century later, we are grappling with environmental issues that are now threatening our way of life.

It's cheap!
Were you to watch the play at The Royal National Theatre, London, you'd perhaps catch a glimpse of the Thames rolling by from the South Bank campus. But you'd also be shelling out over Rs 2,000 ( ufffd 30) for evening and matinee shows. Now, the screening may or may not be as good as the real thing but it's certainly easier on the wallet at Rs 300 per ticket.

The Cherry Orchard
Set at the very start of the 20th century, The Cherry Orchard captures a poignant moment in Russia's history as the country rolls inexorably towards 1917. Ranyevskaya returns more or less bankrupt after spending ten years in France.u00a0 Luxuriating in her fading moneyed world and regardless of the increasingly hostile forces outside, she and her brother snub the lucrative scheme of Lopakhin, a peasant turned entrepreneur, to save the family estate. In doing so, they put up their lives to auction and seal the fate of their beloved orchard.

Till August 1, 7 pm At Dance Theatre Godrej, NCPA, Nariman Point.u00a0
Call 22824567

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels