Review: THE CHERRY ORCHARD at Marin Theatre

Change is hard, we all know that. We get stuck in patterns and the comfortable, even if that inertia is destructive. Watching Chekhov’s Cherry Orchard, brilliantly directed by American Conservatory Theatre Artistic Director emerita Carey Perloff and starring an all-star cast of local legends, will make you jump into action. The characters presented here are so stultifyingly stuck in their past that you want to slap them upside the head and scream “wake up.”

Liz Sklar delivers a touchingly sad performance as the matriarch Liubơv, who returns from Paris after abandoning her family and putting their family estate at risk due to her financial recklessness. Sklar embodies the manic denial of this woman who meddles in other’s affairs rather than face the impending auction of the family estate. Her brother Gáyev (Anthony Fusco) mumbles about billiard shots and is constantly being told to shut up. The rest of the family are equally messed up – two daughters, Ánya (Anna Takayo) and adopted Várya (Rosie Hallett), and their 84-year-old manservant Firs (Howard Swain) who dotes on the past.

The supporting characters are all wacky in their own right. Danny Scheie chewing up the scenery as Píshchick, the financially troubled but eternally optimistic landowner, Jomar Tagatac as the comically befuddled Yepikhodơv, Leontyne Mbele-Mbong as Carlotta the clown, Molly Ransom as Dunyashá the confused maid, Joseph O’Malley as Trofímov the utopian idealist and eternal student, and Joel Morel as Yásha the obnoxious manservant. This cast is an embarrassment of riches, all excellently channeling the ennui.

Marin Theatre Artistic Director Lance Gardner plays Lopákhin, the once servant who is now a rich businessman attempting to provide a solution to the family’s financial woes. His idea of subdividing the state into luxury parcels is called “hopelessly vulgar” by Liubơv. He’s self-conscious to a fault mixed with bravado over his newfound wealth. Kudos to Perloff's direction highlighting the comic elements of the piece and to Kate Boyd's lighting, NIna Ball's scenic design and Lydia Tanji's costumes.

Chekhov doesn’t indict the out-of-touch family, rather makes them pitiable. The romantic interactions among the youth are messy and unresolved. Grasping desperately to the past is juxtaposed with the idealism of Ánya and Trofímov in this classic dramedy. Laziness is the death knell of society. Set in the turn of the 20th century, this tale of required change could easily be transposed to contemporary times making the Cherry Orchard a timeless classic.

The Cherry Orchard runs through February 22nd. Tickets can be purchased at 415-388-5208 or online at marintheatre.org

Photo Credit: David Allen