“The Cherry Orchard” by Anton Chekhov
Direction: Nikos Karathanos
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English surtitles
On Thursday 7 and Friday 8 of May with English surtitles.
Introduction
The poet of the stage, Nikos Karathanos, takes on a masterpiece of the world theatre repertoire: Chekhov’s "The Cherry Orchard".
Photo: Vassilis Makris
“In this life, you either bend or you break”, muses Nikos Karathanos as he reads Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard”. In the wake of his successful staging of Peresiadis’ “Golpho” and Boccaccio’s “Decameron”, the charismatic director and actor takes on one of the most emblematic works in the world theatre repertoire in collaboration with his hell-raising colleague, the dramatist Lena Kitsopoulou.
Chekhov’s swan song, “The Cherry Orchard” (1904) is a work that bids farewell to an era that has reached its end, staging a wake to see the old world off. The wonderful cherry orchard is up for auction; in denial, its owners do nothing to save it; irresponsibility and self-deception are rampant and bankruptcy is nigh.
The work’s tragi-comic protagonists never give up their struggle for a little happiness. Trapped at the mercy of an age of transition, they play the lead roles in a devastating comedy about the secret of life which poses the question: “Why so much pain beneath so much beauty?”.
“A comedy, at times a farce”, is how Chekhov described the ”Cherry Orchard”. Nikos Karathanos and his exceptional cast undermine the stereotypes which can weigh readings of Chekhov down and approach the work as a “heretical comedy within a marvelous drama” in a production which, exuding perspicacity and a limitless sensitivity, cannot but call to mind our current era of historic transition.
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Anton Chekhov, a doctor and ingenius short story writer and playwright, left his impeccable imprint on world dramaturgy with his unparalleled virtuosity in covering major dramas with thundering silence, and in profiling humans (that is, ourselves) exactly as they are: in the best times and in their worst times, with the things that make them laugh and the things that haunt them, naked amid the adventure of life.
“The Cherry Orchard” was first staged on 17 January 1904 at the Moscow Art Theatre, under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski. After a few months, Chekhov died of tuberculosis.
When Stanislavski read the play, he wrote to Chekhov: “I burst into tears while reading it, and couldn’t cease crying.” In turn, the writer responded: “My play is not a drama, but a comedy – at times a farce.
“The Cherry Orchard” premiered in Greece in 1939 by the Greek Art Theatre (Theatro Technis), under the direction of Karolos Koun. Numerous important stagings followed, both by state theaters and free theater groups.
Eimuntas Nekrošius, Anatoly Efros, Giorgio Strehler, Otomar Krejća, Stefan Pucher, Peter Brook: this is only a short list of leading European directors who dove into this Chekhovian masterpiece, thus signing some of their most significant work. The European repertoire was fortunate with the case of “The Cherry Orchard,” this treasured garden of the global theater production.
During the rehearsals for the staging of “The Seagull” at the Moscow Art Theatre, one of the actors suggested having frogs, crickets, and dogs heard from behind the stage. “What purpose would that serve?” asked Checkov, with a tone of discontent. “Making it real,” the actor responded. “Real, huh?,” Chekhov repeated laughing. Following a short pause, he said: “Stage is Art. There is a painting by Kramskoi, where faces are exquisitely painted. What would you say if we removed the painted nose from one of those faces, and then added a human nose? The nose would be real, but the painting would be ruined.”
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Photo: Vassilis Makris
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Tuesday 28 April
After performance talk with Nikos Karathanos
Moderated by Grigoris Ioannidis, theater critic and assistant professor of Drama Studies, University of AthensEmbedded media
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Credits
Biography
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