Betwixt then and now
The Age
Tuesday March 1, 2011
THE CHERRY ORCHARD RATING: 2.5/5By Anton Chekhov, translated by Tom Stoppard, the Theatre Husk, Northcote, until March 20 ONE of the paradoxes of contemporary theatre is that while it is considered almost immoral to modernise historical English scripts, it is all the rage to retranslate foreign classics into contemporary idiom. And so Shakespeare's language remains petrified with its "fardels" and "orisons", while Euripides, Moliere and Goethe bustle in the latest funky argot.Tom Stoppard's recent translation of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard currently receiving its Australian premiere by the independent company Winterfall Theatre treads a careful line between authenticity and originality. Stoppard's text is fluent and engaging without being self-consciously modern. At the same time, some of the quirkiness of Chekhov's cast seems to have been flattened by making the characters appear so contemporary.Trent Baker's production is studied and actorly, tending to emphasis the tragic at the expense of the comic. There are some fine moments and solid performances, but overall there is a heaviness to the action.Interestingly, Baker increases the emotional tension between Ranevskaya and Lopakhin, whose smouldering glances suggest the key reason Lopakhin fails to marry Varya is because he is in love with her mother. While a valid interpretation, it nevertheless tends to shut down many of the other possibilities contained in these characters.
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