LIFE AIN’T JUST A BOWL OF CHERRIES
IN 1903 RUSSIA
Written and set in 1903 Russia, Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard would be the master playwright’s final creation. Unless one already has knowledge of that time and place, the play — even with North Coast Rep‘s superlative production — becomes much easier to understand and appreciate if you know just a little what had occurred in the recent history of that time:
Ken Barton, Katie MacNichol, Bruce Turk, Amanda Evans
Jackson Goldberg, Katy Tang
Katie MacNichol, Michael Raver
Through much of the 1800s, about 38% of the population were indentured servants, essentially slaves, who were called serfs (in the play, they are referenced as “peasants”). In 1861, Tsar Alexander II emancipated them, liberating over 23 million people, while dealing a serious blow to the already-crumbling upper class, who suddenly had no source of cheap labor to maintain their estates.
Katie MacNichol, Riley Osburn
Katie MacNichol, James Sutorius, Bruce Turk
Katy Tang, Jackson Goldberg
The Cherry Orchard brings to us a world, only 42 years later, where the wealthy are still clinging to their waning past glory without means to support it, while many industrious offspring of former serfs had amassed power and fortune. A frequent theme is the shifting of status, especially among those who assumed they’d always be wealthy and lack the financial education or coping mechanisms for their current lot.
Katy Tang, Michael Louis Cusimano
Amanda Evans, Katie MacNichol
Amanda Evans, Bruce Turk, Riley Osburn
The story finds the Ranyevskaya family struggling with the fact that, while they have no funds to pay their debts, they live in complete denial of their situation. Family friend and child of the peasant class Yermolai Alexeievitch Lopakhin (Richard Baird) tries in vain to show them that they could make ends meet, if they’d just sell the huge cherry orchard in their yard to make room for new housing for those who now have means to buy homes. The thought of cutting the pretty trees is so abhorrent for the impractical matriarch Lyubov (Katie McNichol) and her aimless brother Leonid (Bruce Turk) that they tune him out, despite the fact that, on some level, they know the outcome will be losing absolutely everything, including the orchard.
Bruce Turk, James Sutorius, Katie MacNichol, Richard Baird
Richard Baird, Ken Barton
Michael Raver, Riley Osburn
While Chekhov doesn’t use asides to the audience, characters pontificate about their circumstances enough that we get who they are and, in most cases, how they all relate. This is valuable since there are fourteen characters. And, in American playwright Jean-Claude van Itallie’s 1977 version, liberties have been taken, and some significant facts have been omitted which may have helped newcomers to this work: Lyubov’s daughter Varya (Amanda Evans) was adopted as a former serf; nasty Yasha (Michael Louis Cusimano) was a manservant who had returned after accompanying Lyubov on a long trip to Paris; and feisty, playful Charlotta (Sofia Jean Gomez) was a former governess (and now companion) to Lyubov’s natural-born daughter Anya (Riley Osborn).
(front) Richard Baird, Katie MacNichol, (back) James Sutorius, Amanda Evans
Sofia Jean Gomez, Michael Louis Cusimano, Katy Tang, Jackson Goldberg
Richard Baird, Michael Raver
Tracking so much information in two hours is a lot, but is it worth it? A definite yes. With just the little extra information shared above, this already fine performance will be even more enjoyable. The Cherry Orchard is ripe with irony, poetic justice, and comment on the human condition. The characters and their choices will linger in your mind days afterward. It serves as a marvelous peek into the lives and struggles of those who lived during this tumultuous period in history.
Amanda Evans, James Sutorius, Bruce Turk
Katie MacNichol, Bruce Turk, (back) Ted Barton
Sofia Jean Gomez, Jackson Goldberg 
David Ellenstein masterfully keeps the huge cast moving, not only within rooms, but to different locations, helped by set designer Marty Burnett’s beautiful illuminated panels that become both walls and views of the orchard when rotated. The blend of drama and comedy is difficult to achieve with many productions and translations; except for the very final moment — which would have been more poignant if not taken quite so far — Ellenstein and his cast truly deliver.
Michael Louis Cusimano, Katie MacNichol
(front) Bruce Turk, Riley Osburn, Katie MaccNichol, Amanda Evans (back) Michael Raver, Richard Baird
Katie MacNichol (seated), Michael Raver, Sofia Jean Gomez, Ted Barton
With North Coast Rep’s savvy and budget (paying fourteen actors alone will break the bank at other small theaters), this is an excellent opportunity to catch a classic done so captivatingly well.
Bruce Turk, Richard Baird, Katie MacNichol
photos by Ken Jacques
North Coast Repertory Theatre
987 Lomas Santa Fe Drive in Solana Beach
Wed at 7; Thurs & Fri at 7:30; Sat at 2 & 7:30; Sun at 2 & 7:30
ends on April 2, 2023
for tickets, call 858.481-1055 or visit North Coast Rep