Though we can find the same questions throughout Chekhov’s dramas, each is distinct from the others. Are the lives of servants worse than the privileged who employ them? How do we live with disappointment? Does sophisticated reasoning alleviate suffering? Can we refuse those in love with us, and avoid cruelty? In their inaugural production, The Classics Theatre Project is staging The Cherry Orchard, directed by Joey Folsom, in a new adaptation by local actor and playwright, Ben Schroth. Schroth has forged an impressive script. Lyric but not formal. Clear but not simplistic. Accessible but not superficial. He captures the essence of the script without diminishing it.
Chekhov is a master of tying plot to content, and the narrative here is intriguing. Mrs. Lyubov Ranevsky is returning from a five-year hiatus from Paris, after the drowning death of her son. Finances have become dire, but she doesn’t want to deal with it. The sale of her real estate and beloved cherry orchard seem inevitable. Dunyasha, cheerful and frantic, is in love with Yasha but Yepikodov is in love with her. They are all servants in Mrs. Ranevsky’s home. Lopakin, a businessman, is in love with Miss Barbara, but can’t bring himself to propose. Numerous lives hang in limbo, while Lyubov struggles with an impossible decision. Whether or not she sells will have enormous impact.
Checkhov truly has a gift for expressing the sublime aspect of leisure class living without romanticizing or judging. There is always a wistful quality to his layered stories: an absorbing mixture of reflection, humor, melancholy and warmth. All the characters bear their fractures and follies, but rarely are they vicious. The coldness of the world never quite seems to ruin them. In The Cherry Orchard we are privy to moments where we witness the turns that our lives take, in the midst of forces beyond anyone’s control. Miss Barbara (intensely frustrated and overwhelmed) would gladly accept Lopakin’s offer of marriage, but for reasons unrevealed (he feels inadequate?) he simply can’t. This could plausibly change both their lives for the better, but they are submerged in the realm of not to be.
Folsom, Schroth, the cast and crew, et al, have created a show that is poised, humane, smart and pleasurable. Mr. Folsom has the unenviable task of weaving a story with numerous characters, orchestrating their movements, cues, and chemistry. He has navigated this with precision. The players are relaxed, focused, and thoroughly invested, revealing the interior lives of their broken, yet sympathetic characters. Touch is everything with Chekhov. You don’t want insouciance, or gravitas. It’s a difficult balance, and happily, The Classics Theatre Project has managed it, with grace.
The Classics Theatre Project presents The Cherry Orchard (in a new English adaptation by Ben Schroth) playing June 21st-July 14th, 2018. The Trinity River Arts Center, 2600 Stemmons Freeway, Suite 180, Dallas, Texas 75207. www.TheClassicsTheatreProject.com. 1-866-499-ARTS