Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard by Gilles Bouillon at the Théâtre de Chatillon, a staging that transports us into history and reminds us that "nothing is created, nothing is lost, everything is transformed" (Lavoisier).
The Cherry Orchard: a poetic and social work by the great master Chekhov
Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) wrote The Cherry Orchard from 1902 and staged it for the first time in Moscow on January 17, 1904, six months before his fatal bow.
The Cherry Orchard tells the story of an aristocratic Russian family finding, after a long stay in Paris, the house that has rocked their lives since childhood. All generations are represented and defend varied visions of what to do with this magical place to which everyone is attached. Because this place is as rich in memories as the accounts are dry. The orchard is no longer profitable, the mother has squandered their fortune on the sweet eyes of an unscrupulous lover and debts are piling up. They have no choice but to sell this poetic place at auction. Having become a merchant, Lopakhine, a former slave and the son and grandson of a slave in the family, offers them modern solutions. He devised an economic model that would earn them a rent and save them. But these ideas are not unanimous. How can we imagine destroying such a beautiful place full of sweet melancholy and dear memories? Isn't it worth waiting and letting yourself be carried away by the reunion and the love in the air?
Through his characters, each symbolizing a current of thought, Chekhov subtly describes the world that changes and evolves at that time. Russia is on the verge of explosion, the aristocracy leaves no room for the bourgeoisie and refuses any compromise. The author never takes sides but wonderfully exposes the delicate movement of his century. The cherry blossom, refined, airy, aristocrat, is opposed to the earth, to the pragmatism of the soil, to materialism.
The Cherry Orchard, a symbolic work of its time
The Cherry Orchard, a symbolic work of its timeAfter the reactionary reign of Nicholas I, Alexander II attempted to liberalize Russian politics. Apart from the abolition of serfdom in 1861, Alexander II did not reform the country structurally, which contributed to the rise of opposition and his assassination in 1881 by an anarchist terrorist group called Narodnaya Volya (People's Will).
Despite this assassination, power remained in the hands of the elite, which implemented a policy of repression. Between 1881 and 1904, Russia lived in a state of emergency or almost permanent state of siege . The secret police is reinstated, its powers are extended, which is worth searches and summary arrests, imprisonment without trial, forced labor…
These political turmoil are intimately linked to the Russian Industrial Revolution, which has been underway since 1890. Indeed, the bourgeois middle class has grown up but has no access to power. The proletariat has appeared and favors the rural exodus, thus impoverishing the peasants of the countryside. Pressure groups are strengthened and expressed through strikes and terrorist acts.
To top it off, the world economic crisis hit the Russians between 1901 and 1903.
Chekhov wrote this play in 1904, after having witnessed all these significant events and perhaps did not have the hindsight, or the desire, to judge these upheavals. Just before his death, and with great benevolence, he gives us the observation of this century that oscillates between conservatism and revolution.
Gilles Bouillon, a director who takes us on a journey
We can only salute the aesthetics of the scenography, perfectly connected with costumes and hairstyles that plunge us into another era and intensify the lyricism of the play. A great softness emerges from the visual universe created. Congratulations to Nathalie Holt, scenographer, and Cidalia Da Costa, costume designer.
We do not see the 2h30 of show pass because the piece is well punctuated by music, dances and magic tricks. The good mood is communicative.
In addition, the characters are well marked and all evolve together in a choral work, dear to the director Gilles Bouillon. The acting is uneven but we particularly notice the emotion, very touching, conveyed by Nine de Montal, in the role of Lioubov (the matriarch), the physical prowess of Julie Harnois who offers us a very modern and colorful Charlotta, and Roger Jendly, amusing and delicate in the role of Firs, the old servant that we will forget in the house so much he is part of the furniture …
To sum up, it is a play to go see at least once in your life and this staging is interesting to discover or rediscover the work of the great master Chekhov.
Practical information
The performances of "La Cerisaie" are unfortunately over at the Théâtre de Châtillon.
The company of the passage is on tour in France:
- January 20 and 21, 2016 at the Scène nationale d'Albi
- 26 and 27 January 2016 l'Odyssée, Scène conventionnée de Périgueux
- 3 and 4 February 2016 at the Théâtre Scène nationale in Narbonne
- 11 and 12 February at the Opéra-Théâtre, Metz Métropole
- February 23 to March 4, 2016 at the Regional Drama Center of Tours
- March 10 and 11, 2016 at the Théâtre Jacques Coeur, Lattes
