Sydney Theatre Company: The Cherry Orchard
The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov. Adapted by Andrew Upton. Directed by Howard Davies. Set and costume design by Fiona Crombie, lighting design by Damien Cooper, sound design and composition by Paul Charlier. Sydney Theatre Company. Wharf Theatre 1, Walsh Bay, until February 4.
N.B. If you have landed on this page looking for a review of The Lost Echo by Barrie Kosky and Tom Wright, click here for the review.
2006 is a landmark year for the Sydney Theatre Company. It’s the year in which artistic director Robyn Nevin’s Quixotic dream -- to create a full-time acting ensemble -- comes true.
A dozen actors employed full-time for two years is hardly a huge ask in international terms, but in the petrified Australian funding environment, even the largest and most successful performing arts companies have to raise a majority of their operational income at the box office. And we wonder why our flagship theatre companies look so much like commercial producers... it’s been a fiscal necessity for many many years.
Nevin’s Sydney Theatre Company is a good choice of beneficiaries for this (mostly NSW State Government) largesse. On paper, Nevin’s programming can seem quaint -- certainly conservative -- but on stage, her choices speak for themselves. They declaim for themselves, actually.
A few years back, the STC scheduled Alan Seymour’s The One Day of the Year. My reaction was a sneering: Why do it? But what hit the stage was so vital, so clear-sighted, that this crusty old play -- analysed to death in every Australian classroom -- looked every bit as important, insightful and compelling as Death of a Salesman. That 2003 season has to be the high-watermark of subsidised theatre in recent Australian history.
I credit Nevin entirely. She’s a “true believer” from the pre-television era who knows what theatre is capable of. She knows that theatre must be live -- absolutely in the moment -- and alive. Apart from being an outstanding actor, she’s a matchmaker par excellence. Subtly, she has influenced the creative teams who have worked for the STC under her leadership. Not just directors and set designers, but sound designers and composers, the works. Under Nevin, creative teams have been encouraged to dream great dreams. Ambitious dreams.
The first production by the new STC Actors Company will be David Hare’s translation of Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children. It will play at the company’s Wharf Theatre HQ from mid May. Nevin will direct. Unusually, perhaps, for this kind of ensemble, Nevin will not be the sole director of the company. (Barrie Kosky will direct the epic Lost Echo double feature in September, reviewed here.)
Several members of the Actors Company star in the STC’s current production of The Cherry Orchard. Pamela Rabe is a waspish and capricious Charlotta; Dan Spielman plays the boy philosopher Trofimov with a voice that could charm snakes; John Gaden is an avuncular Gaev with a vicious streak; Peter Carroll plays Firs as one bitterly resentful of his freedom.
Robyn Nevin (Ranyevskaya) and John Gaden (Gaev)
in The Cherry Orchard (Photograph: Heidrun Lohr)
Nevin herself takes the key role of Ranyevskaya. Watching her, one could imagine what it might be like to have Katharine Hepburn in the role... and not miss anything but the rasp.
Anna Torv is an iridescent presence -- quite wondrous -- as Anya. Lucy Bell plays Varya with a determined waddle and overstressed tautness. Always an impressive actor in ingénue roles, Bell has evolved into a remarkable and assured performer.
Anna Torv (Anya) and Dan Spielman (Trofimov)
in The Cherry Orchard (Photograph: Heidrun Lohr)
Designer Fiona Crombie's use of the Wharf 1 Theatre is remarkable. Her costumes, too, are lavish. Stunning. Particularly for the women.
Clearly, British director Howard Davies can take credit for the look, the staging and quality of the performances, but I am far less impressed by his overarching vision, if indeed there is one.
Adaptor Andrew Upton (who made a fair fist of Hedda Gabler, last year, and is a brilliant writer in his own right if his Cyrano is any indication) puts forward a strong thesis: each act is formally self-contained. The first, he writes, has “a dream-like incongruity.” The second is “reminiscent of a Shakespearean pastoral comedy.” The third is a “thundering farcical disaster” and the fourth “has a haunting absurdist quality.”
Davies does best with the pastoral act. The rest, especially the opening, feels oddly forced and strident.
I’m a firm believer that Chekhov should be approached with the same caution as Beckett and Pinter. Bad productions of any of these playwrights can be dire. Will be dire. Good productions are rare. I also believe -- from observation -- that it’s getting harder and harder to do Chekhov well.
The Cherry Orchard is the first play I ever saw performed live. (I was amazed, as a teen, that I could actually smell the cucumber that Charlotta munched on, from twenty rows back. This time around, the aroma was masked by Yasha’s fragrant cigar.)
A decade later, I saw Jean-Pierre Mignon’s production of the play for Anthill Theatre in Melbourne. Nothing I’ve seen in 20 years since rivals that production. This one is better than most other challengers (especially the woeful recent Queensland Theatre Company production and a passable MTC production some years back) but still oddly unsatisfying. It’s partly the writing. It’s partly a lack of vision and cohesion. And it’s partly the increasing lag between Chekhov’s world and ours. This production is like looking through the wrong end of the scope.
FURTHER READING:
Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton to replace Robyn Nevin...
OTHER SYDNEY THEATRE COMPANY REVIEWS:
The Lost Echo by Barrie Kosky & Tom Wright (September 2006)
Doubt by John Patrick Shanley (February and April, 2006)
N.B. If you have landed on this page looking for a review of The Lost Echo by Barrie Kosky and Tom Wright, click here for the review.
2006 is a landmark year for the Sydney Theatre Company. It’s the year in which artistic director Robyn Nevin’s Quixotic dream -- to create a full-time acting ensemble -- comes true.
A dozen actors employed full-time for two years is hardly a huge ask in international terms, but in the petrified Australian funding environment, even the largest and most successful performing arts companies have to raise a majority of their operational income at the box office. And we wonder why our flagship theatre companies look so much like commercial producers... it’s been a fiscal necessity for many many years.
Nevin’s Sydney Theatre Company is a good choice of beneficiaries for this (mostly NSW State Government) largesse. On paper, Nevin’s programming can seem quaint -- certainly conservative -- but on stage, her choices speak for themselves. They declaim for themselves, actually.
A few years back, the STC scheduled Alan Seymour’s The One Day of the Year. My reaction was a sneering: Why do it? But what hit the stage was so vital, so clear-sighted, that this crusty old play -- analysed to death in every Australian classroom -- looked every bit as important, insightful and compelling as Death of a Salesman. That 2003 season has to be the high-watermark of subsidised theatre in recent Australian history.
I credit Nevin entirely. She’s a “true believer” from the pre-television era who knows what theatre is capable of. She knows that theatre must be live -- absolutely in the moment -- and alive. Apart from being an outstanding actor, she’s a matchmaker par excellence. Subtly, she has influenced the creative teams who have worked for the STC under her leadership. Not just directors and set designers, but sound designers and composers, the works. Under Nevin, creative teams have been encouraged to dream great dreams. Ambitious dreams.
The first production by the new STC Actors Company will be David Hare’s translation of Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children. It will play at the company’s Wharf Theatre HQ from mid May. Nevin will direct. Unusually, perhaps, for this kind of ensemble, Nevin will not be the sole director of the company. (Barrie Kosky will direct the epic Lost Echo double feature in September, reviewed here.)
Several members of the Actors Company star in the STC’s current production of The Cherry Orchard. Pamela Rabe is a waspish and capricious Charlotta; Dan Spielman plays the boy philosopher Trofimov with a voice that could charm snakes; John Gaden is an avuncular Gaev with a vicious streak; Peter Carroll plays Firs as one bitterly resentful of his freedom.
Robyn Nevin (Ranyevskaya) and John Gaden (Gaev)
in The Cherry Orchard (Photograph: Heidrun Lohr)
Nevin herself takes the key role of Ranyevskaya. Watching her, one could imagine what it might be like to have Katharine Hepburn in the role... and not miss anything but the rasp.
Anna Torv is an iridescent presence -- quite wondrous -- as Anya. Lucy Bell plays Varya with a determined waddle and overstressed tautness. Always an impressive actor in ingénue roles, Bell has evolved into a remarkable and assured performer.
Anna Torv (Anya) and Dan Spielman (Trofimov)
in The Cherry Orchard (Photograph: Heidrun Lohr)
Designer Fiona Crombie's use of the Wharf 1 Theatre is remarkable. Her costumes, too, are lavish. Stunning. Particularly for the women.
Clearly, British director Howard Davies can take credit for the look, the staging and quality of the performances, but I am far less impressed by his overarching vision, if indeed there is one.
Adaptor Andrew Upton (who made a fair fist of Hedda Gabler, last year, and is a brilliant writer in his own right if his Cyrano is any indication) puts forward a strong thesis: each act is formally self-contained. The first, he writes, has “a dream-like incongruity.” The second is “reminiscent of a Shakespearean pastoral comedy.” The third is a “thundering farcical disaster” and the fourth “has a haunting absurdist quality.”
Davies does best with the pastoral act. The rest, especially the opening, feels oddly forced and strident.
I’m a firm believer that Chekhov should be approached with the same caution as Beckett and Pinter. Bad productions of any of these playwrights can be dire. Will be dire. Good productions are rare. I also believe -- from observation -- that it’s getting harder and harder to do Chekhov well.
The Cherry Orchard is the first play I ever saw performed live. (I was amazed, as a teen, that I could actually smell the cucumber that Charlotta munched on, from twenty rows back. This time around, the aroma was masked by Yasha’s fragrant cigar.)
A decade later, I saw Jean-Pierre Mignon’s production of the play for Anthill Theatre in Melbourne. Nothing I’ve seen in 20 years since rivals that production. This one is better than most other challengers (especially the woeful recent Queensland Theatre Company production and a passable MTC production some years back) but still oddly unsatisfying. It’s partly the writing. It’s partly a lack of vision and cohesion. And it’s partly the increasing lag between Chekhov’s world and ours. This production is like looking through the wrong end of the scope.
FURTHER READING:
Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton to replace Robyn Nevin...
OTHER SYDNEY THEATRE COMPANY REVIEWS:
The Lost Echo by Barrie Kosky & Tom Wright (September 2006)
Doubt by John Patrick Shanley (February and April, 2006)
Labels: Andrew Upton, Anthill Theatre, Chekhov, Howard Davies, Jean-Pierre Mignon, Queensland Theatre Company, Robyn Nevin, STC Actors Company, Sydney Theatre Company
posted by Chris Boyd at 2:33 AM
2 Comments:
Chris, this is really top writing. Thanks for starting up your blog.
As far as "The One Day of the Year" goes, I've always wondered what a production in which the characters were played by differently aged actors would read. For example, that final "I'm an Australian!" speech, played by a 17-year-old boy; while the student characters could be played by baby-boomer-ish figures - have a read of the script. It's an interesting exercise.
The thing about that is that the play holds up, and can hold up, to quite vigourous investigations (as could many other Aust'n plays, and I'm thinking of K.S. Pritcard's Brumby Innes in particular).
Problem is, who's going to attempt it? As you point out: "[our] most successful performing arts companies have to raise a majority of their operational income at the box office." I think STC's government support, depending on the year, comes in at between 7 to 10 percent. As someone there mentioned to me, it's like the days of J.C.Williamson except with a state imprimatur.
A solution? Well, it's not just in funding, but I think (crazily enough) it's in delineating these realities and their relationship to what we see on stage that can help. Help at least to allow us to think our way through the barriers via analysis. That is, part of the answer lies in critics who can give us "good things to think with". Alison Croggon's Theatre Notes is one place. And gladly this is another.
Thanks, Ben, for your comments.
It's easy to excuse a company like Opera Australia, for example, for doing Gilbert and Sullivan (or yet another year-long season of Puccini) when the profits from the pop repertoire are so obviously underwriting new and daring works.
But how long do we excuse the Melbourne Theatre Company's ultra commercialism as "survival instinct"? You know the thinking... They once had a $2 million debt, so, as god is their witness, they will never be poor again.
But if I'm impatient for the MTC to get a home base and start doing something -- think of its productions of Alma de Groen and Stephen Sewell plays in the Arts Centre's Playhouse theatre in the early 1990s -- I'm beginning to despair that the company even knows what real theatre looks like. Worse still, Melbourne audiences don't know what they're missing. They're dulled into believing that a TV mini-series in a night, on stage, is 'theatre'... Lord help us!
I'm so glad Alison Croggon exists. She's always struck me as being a true critic in the George Bernard Shaw tradition. She has a vision and is prepared to compare what she sees against it; against what she knows theatre can do and be. I actually admire that rejection of pragmatism. Of excuse. Of apology.
As for vigorous interpretations... do you remember when Jean-Pierre Mignon did a whacked-out version of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll for Anthill? Talk about bent out of shape! Enormous bloated Kewpie Dolls everywhere, shiny black surfaces, black-tie costumes, candy canes crossed like huge pairs of scissors, slo-mo zombie acting -- the lovers in suspended animation (or hibernation) between lay-offs -- all bound by a slow ticking clock. Ray Lawler was quite open to it, apparently. Said it was like looking into a familiar house through a different window, or words to that effect. It was gutsy, I thought, but pointless. Unproductive. An exercise rather than something calculated to illuminate.
One Day of the Year is much more responsive play, I reckon, even to small changes. The STC production concentrated on dusting off Wacka, mostly. Bringing him in from the lunatic fringes of farce. Making him flesh and blood instead of a cipher.
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