La Cerisaie: bits and pieces of pathos and ferocious humour are all that remain of the tragic content !
La Cérisaie (The Cherry Tree/the Cherry Orchard) presented by the Belgian company TG STAN (i.e. Stop Thinking About Names)
The Flemish TG Stan collective from Antwerp chose to perform their version of Chekhov’s last play (1903-04), as a comedy where the tragedy was reduced to moments of pure pathos as the actors free themselves from the constraints of Chekhov’s theatrical conventions. The enclosed space of a dying society has flung open the windows and let fresh air flood into the theatre to produce a counter discourse that brought this performance beyond what we might expect. This reading was at times intriguing but at times disturbing because we seemed to lose something. …