‘The Cherry Orchard’ with music by Laura Rossi at The RSC.
RSC Co-Artistic Director Tamara Harvey directs Kenneth Branagh as Lopakhin, Helen Hunt as Ranyevskaya and Bill Pullman as Gaev in Laura Wade’s vital new version of Anton Chekhov’s great final play, tragic and comic in equal measure, set in a world tilting towards revolution.
Ranyevskaya and Lopakhin are giants at war over a cherished estate. Madame Ranyevskaya returns from five years in Paris to find her house crumbling under the weight of debt and memory and her beloved cherry orchard under threat. Attempting to mend her extravagance, Lopakhin, the son of a serf, insists that the family must sell it off.
Beyond the orchard, people are starving and the aristocracy is in decline. As auction day approaches the household begins to panic. In this collision of past and future, it’s dangerous to stand still when the world demands change.
Rob Alexander-Adams (Passer By), Kenneth Branagh (Lopakhin), Chumisa Dornford-May (Anya), Michael Elwyn (Firs), Alfred Enoch (Trofimov), Amber Gadd (Dunyasha), Guy Henry (Pishchik), Helen Hunt (Ranyevskaya), Erin Siobhan Hutching (Offstage Understudy), Julian Moore-Cook (Yasha), Bill Pullman (Gaev), Andy Rush (Yepikhodov), Esther Smith (Varya) and Sophie Stone (Sharlotta).
Joining Tamara Harvey on the creative team are Writer, Laura Wade; Set & Costume Designer, Anna Fleischle; Lighting Designer, Aideen Malone; Composer, Laura Rossi; Sound Designer, Claire Windsor; Movement Director, Annie-Lunnette Deakin-Foster; Fight Director, Alex Payne; Musical Director, Tomek Pieczora and Casting Director, Charlotte Sutton CDG.
MD/ piano/ Celesta: Tomek Pieczora, violin Sarah Crisp, Cello Daryl Giuliano & guitar/mandolin Joe Archer.
