Review of The Cherry Orchard - Simon Stephens

By reading the review written by Simon Stephens, I learnt that he felt he wasn't good enough to write the play which suggests to me that the language Chekhov used was challenging and intellectual. Moreover, Simon Stephens explains that in Chekhov's plays and short stories he portrays the human condition with more honesty and tenderness than any playwright's he's read.

By reading the review, it helped develop my understanding of Chekhov and his style of plays. Stephen Simons states that it is incredibly hard to translate a play from a century ago from Russian to English and to capture the vitality, sensuality, pathos, rage and compassion of the spirit of the play. This also explains all the different aspects and themes in the play and the variety used in Chekhov's style.

I learnt that Chekhov wrote four acts which were performed with a 45 minute interval between each act which is very different to theatre in this day and age, as the audience needed constant reminders of what was going on. This suggests the plays were very intense with a lot going on.

The Cherry Orchard was first performed at Stanislavski's at The Moscow Art theatre in January 1904 and has never been out of production and has been performed all over the world. This suggests to me that the play is well written and the themes are very relatable as it is still watched today.

Moreover, I learnt that the play was performed to evoke the sense of loss and tenderness which takes place throughout. This teaches me that Chekhov always had the audience in mind whilst writing. By reading the review, it helped develop my background knowledge of the play and what drove Chekhov to produce 'The Cherry Orchard' as the review states: "The war was the first catastrophe that manifested the terror of that Chekhov seemed to foretell for his characters." This was done to grip the audience's attention and give the sense that something bad was going to happen.

Simon Stephens expresses that the play is very truthful, comedic and appealing which helps me to understand how the play should be represented. In addition, the review uses a lot of articulate language such as 'refraction', 'shuddering' and 'excavate' which helps me to develop my use of vocabulary.