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Post by topaz on May 2, 2024 11:43:00 GMT
Unfortunately, I saw this bizarre modernist version of The Cherry Orchard last night. It felt as if it had been devised by someone on acid wanting to do something "new and creative". I didn't think the modernised script worked at all and the production as a whole was utterly incoherent.
Going to lots of plays every year as I do, sometimes only a few will be brilliant, others will be good or average, some may be disappointing. But this was on another level of awfulness entirely, I really hope I don't see a worse show this year or next. I don't think I could face it.
Clearly a number of other theatregoers weren't keen either. I was sitting in the circle and noticed a number of people left in the interval. Also, no one was standing in the
second half, so either they all left, or perhaps the theatre gave them freed-up seats elsewhere? I never leave at the interval, always clinging on to a faint hope - however forelorn - that things may improve - however, when I saw the cast bringing on musical instruments for the beginning of the second half - all hope was extinguished. Suffice to say, things did not get better.
I don't know when I have been more bored at the theatre and felt a genuine sense of relief when it was all finally over.
It seems a travesty that this production has almost sold out, whereas another classic play with a modernist interpretation The Glass Menagerie at Kingston which is brilliant and one of the very best things I have seen this year, still has lots of tickets available.
This is very much how I felt - I was made of less stern stuff and fled at the interval, so it's comforting to know things didn't look up from there. Thanks for the Glass Menagerie rec! It's a good push to check it out as a balm... |
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Post by lynette on May 2, 2024 12:09:24 GMT
Beginning to take it personally with the Donmar: earphones with Macbeth and now audience participation with Cherry Orchard. Two pet hates Well in a sense it *is* personal, you and I are not the audience they want. But we pay, don’t we? And we have supported them for years, by going to stuff , more or less everything back in the day and with financial support. I will reserve judgment until I’ve seen this particular show. |
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Post by aspieandy on May 2, 2024 13:45:59 GMT
LOL. Bring back Longhurst! New AD makes his mark*, etc.
* with the help of Ben Andrews
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Post by MrBunbury on May 2, 2024 14:27:16 GMT
LOL. Bring back Longhurst! New AD makes his mark*, etc.
* with the help of Ben Andrews
This is a production still belonging to Longhurst's artistic direction. Timothy Shearer's first production has not been announced yet. |
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Post by parsley1 on May 2, 2024 15:04:04 GMT
Yes I did note and can confirm a significant number of people left at the interval
If you serve rubbish this is what you get
Although given the Donmar has been on a high for the last year you can get away with the odd dud
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Post by aspieandy on May 2, 2024 16:08:58 GMT
I would have thought Longhurst would bail out on DT's Macbeth, esp. given Sheader officially took over 8-9 weeks ago.
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Post by parsley1 on May 2, 2024 18:02:33 GMT
Unfortunately, I saw this bizarre modernist version of The Cherry Orchard last night. It felt as if it had been devised by someone on acid wanting to do something "new and creative". I didn't think the modernised script worked at all and the production as a whole was utterly incoherent.
Going to lots of plays every year as I do, sometimes only a few will be brilliant, others will be good or average, some may be disappointing. But this was on another level of awfulness entirely, I really hope I don't see a worse show this year or next. I don't think I could face it.
Clearly a number of other theatregoers weren't keen either. I was sitting in the circle and noticed a number of people left in the interval. Also, no one was standing in the
second half, so either they all left, or perhaps the theatre gave them freed-up seats elsewhere? I never leave at the interval, always clinging on to a faint hope - however forelorn - that things may improve - however, when I saw the cast bringing on musical instruments for the beginning of the second half - all hope was extinguished. Suffice to say, things did not get better.
I don't know when I have been more bored at the theatre and felt a genuine sense of relief when it was all finally over.
It seems a travesty that this production has almost sold out, whereas another classic play with a modernist interpretation The Glass Menagerie at Kingston which is brilliant and one of the very best things I have seen this year, still has lots of tickets available.
I echo your thoughts and was also bored out of my mind I could not wait for the end And was thinking about anything and everything other than what was going on before me in front of my eyes It probably ranks amongst my worst theatre experiences and the length didn’t assist Ugly staging ugly translation ugly acting ugly lighting |
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Post by parsley1 on May 2, 2024 18:38:47 GMT
I would definitely suggest getting a credit note if you have tickets
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Post by max on May 2, 2024 19:59:17 GMT
....................... For the first half, I was wondering what happened to Benedict Andrews, as it just seemed like a straightforward Brechtian thing, with the lights on, some audience participation, actors sitting among the audience, and an Anya Reiss type script update, using modern words like "f--kwit" and modern phrases like "See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya." Where was the genius of his "Three Sisters," with all the stacked tables and chairs disappearing one by one from under the actors' feet, leaving them with less and less room to exist? Where was the spinning stage of "Streetcar," which created that sense of New York dynamism? ........................... Overall, this was not the comedy that Chekhov supposedly wanted it to be, but nor was it the weighty drama Stanislavsky supposedly thought it should be. Benedict Arnold just winds up both audience and actors like a music box until all we feel is the reality and truth of Chekhov's whole world. 4 and a half stars from me.  [Steve's full post is upthread] Great reminder of 'Three Sisters' at the Young Vic Steve - that was so long ago I hadn't clocked it's the same director (2012!). I loved that production - especially what you describe, the gradual disintegration of their territory of dreams, at their own hands. Not a cliched samovar in sight, but there was a pile of black/brown dust at the back - was it tea leaves? That's what my mind went to anyway. The whole production went so far out it looped around again and became a stirringly different yet ultimately faithful-to-Chekhov production, and very moving. I may have missed the boat on this Donmar 'Cherry Orchard' now; may have to try for a return, or standing ticket. www.benedictandrews.com/new-gallery-45/s6naxky30hqpl69wmdgg5tpwkzaps7 |
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Post by parsley1 on May 2, 2024 20:33:14 GMT
I also loved Three Sisters
This is worlds apart from that production
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Post by max on May 2, 2024 20:37:56 GMT
I also loved Three Sisters This is worlds apart from that production I may chance it - knowing there was intel to the contrary. With this and 'Opening Night' still to see, the 'at your own risk' nights are stacking up. |
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Post by Steve on May 2, 2024 20:54:24 GMT
I also loved Three Sisters This is worlds apart from that production I may chance it - knowing there was intel to the contrary. With this and 'Opening Night' still to see, the 'at your own risk' nights are stacking up. As I left, I heard Mark Lawson saying "that was different," though I don't know whether for better or worse lol.
My point is the reviews must be imminent, and you can see where the majority, or your favourite critic, falls.
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Post by lt on May 2, 2024 21:47:56 GMT
I may chance it - knowing there was intel to the contrary. With this and 'Opening Night' still to see, the 'at your own risk' nights are stacking up. As I left, I heard Mark Lawson saying "that was different," though I don't know whether for better or worse lol.
My point is the reviews must be imminent, and you can see where the majority, or your favourite critic, falls.
According to What's on Stage press night is or was this evening. |
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Post by andbingowashisname on May 3, 2024 0:28:12 GMT
My point is the reviews must be imminent, and you can see where the majority, or your favourite critic, falls.
For me this is a very telling battle of Steve versus Parsley; the effusive critic who always strives to find something positive to say even when maybe there is perhaps an abject absence of positive things to find (much the character Alec Baldwin played in "Friends") against the terse and direct critic who almost seems to salivate at the prospect of delivering a few barbed home truths (much like the protagonist in Shania Twain's anthem "That Don't Impress Me Much"). In many ways I love them both. Let battle.... commence! P.S Don't get the hump with me Steve; I'm just trying to have fun. |
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Post by Steve on May 3, 2024 7:37:20 GMT
My point is the reviews must be imminent, and you can see where the majority, or your favourite critic, falls.
For me this is a very telling battle of Steve versus Parsley; the effusive critic who always strives to find something positive to say even when maybe there is perhaps an abject absence of positive things to find (much the character Alec Baldwin played in "Friends") against the terse and direct critic who almost seems to salivate at the prospect of delivering a few barbed home truths (much like the protagonist in Shania Twain's anthem "That Don't Impress Me Much"). In many ways I love them both. Let battle.... commence! P.S Don't get the hump with me Steve; I'm just trying to have fun. Parsley is the most direct, caustic and funny person I've ever met.
He always makes me laugh. He had the most marvelous seat and stayed until the end, so the play has no excuses lol.
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Post by Rory on May 3, 2024 7:59:06 GMT
5* rave in the Standard.
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Post by parsley1 on May 3, 2024 8:00:19 GMT
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Post by parsley1 on May 3, 2024 8:00:47 GMT
For me this is a very telling battle of Steve versus Parsley; the effusive critic who always strives to find something positive to say even when maybe there is perhaps an abject absence of positive things to find (much the character Alec Baldwin played in "Friends") against the terse and direct critic who almost seems to salivate at the prospect of delivering a few barbed home truths (much like the protagonist in Shania Twain's anthem "That Don't Impress Me Much"). In many ways I love them both. Let battle.... commence! P.S Don't get the hump with me Steve; I'm just trying to have fun. Parsley is the most direct, caustic and funny person I've ever met.
He always makes me laugh. He had the most marvelous seat and stayed until the end, so the play has no excuses lol.
Very kind! It’s always a pleasure to bump into Steve |
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Post by Steve on May 3, 2024 8:01:11 GMT
The scores are coming in.
Steve 1, Parsley 0
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Post by lt on May 3, 2024 8:18:11 GMT
The scores are coming in.
Steve 1, Parsley 0
Think there were Theatreboard reviews from others too? By my reckoning, currently 4 negative reviews and Steve's positive review. But don't ask me to explain the incomprehensible Standard review... |
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Post by parsley1 on May 3, 2024 8:44:28 GMT
3 stars from Independent
“Annoying”
“Grating”
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Post by lt on May 3, 2024 9:27:15 GMT
2 Stars from Broadway World:
"There’s no set forcing the cast to awkwardly loiter and shuffle between each other and over the Aztec prints zigzagging across the stage and backwall. I suppose it’s a nod to agrarian culture, but it leaves the production incoherent and cold, a room of solipsists languorously lounging in a 1970s burnt orange purgatory".
"At best it’s a bit pretentious, at worst it’s a meandering waste of a thoroughly brilliant cast".
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Post by Steve on May 3, 2024 9:33:10 GMT
3 stars from Independent “Annoying” “Grating” That's a goal for you, Parsley (and It and the other negative theatreboard reviewers). After all, in the immortal words of Linda Evangelista, theatregoers don't get out of bed (and invest time, tickets, trains, buses, childcare, etc) for less than 4 stars And ooof, Broadway World comes in with 2 stars: www.broadwayworld.com/westend/article/Review-THE-CHERRY-ORCHARD-Donmar-Warehouse-20240503That's Parsley (and It, etc) 2, Steve 1 as Parsley scores twice, as Steve is flagging desperately. Tough match! :0 |
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Post by lt on May 3, 2024 9:35:49 GMT
4 stars from The Stage:
"Benedict Andrews’ exhilaratingly radical adaptation brings passion and a playful punk spirit to Chekhov’s classic satire of class and capitalism"
Another - to me -inexplicable review. |
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Post by Steve on May 3, 2024 9:41:02 GMT
4 stars from The Stage:
"Benedict Andrews’ exhilaratingly radical adaptation brings passion and a playful punk spirit to Chekhov’s classic satire of class and capitalism"
Another - to me - inexplicable review.
And Dave Fargnoli boots in a "lively and irreverent" goal for the Bright Side Team, with the score now standing at Bright Side 2, Dark Side 2 :0 Its tense out there. . . But now, Whatsonstage's Sarah Crompton, for the Darksiders, scores a savage 3 star goal against the Brightsiders, describing the play as a "Puccini aria played by Slipknot." www.whatsonstage.com/news/the-cherry-orchard-at-donmar-warehouse-review-like-hearing-a-puccini-aria-played-by-slipknot_1597698/Cup half full: 2, Cup half Empty 3 But wait, you can hear a pin drop as TimeOut's Andrzej Lukowski takes the ball for a penalty. This brilliant, broadminded, perspicacious, deeply humane, critic hits a 5 star ball straight over the net as both Brightsiders and Darksiders look on in disbelief: www.timeout.com/london/theatre/the-cherry-orchard-15-reviewIt's Positive Reviews 3, Lukewarm and Negative Reviews 3 The game tastes like marmite, the most freely advertised spread in theatregoing history. |
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