They are deep in debt, yet instead of doing anything about it, they nurse their sensitivities, make a show of generosity, deliver sanctimonious lectures, throw parties, and borrow a bit more from the neighbors. They talk instead of acting. This is not a political satire of our time but Anton Chekhov’s tragic farce The Cherry Orchard, set around the appalling Gaev family and their Russian country estate. In Chekhov’s last play, sentiment stands in for ethics, ideology for thought, suffering for action, generosity for responsibility — and no one can tell the difference. Written in 1903, while the Combat Organization of the Socialist Revolutionaries assassinates government ministers and the Russian Social Democratic Party splits into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. Premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre nine days before the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War. Six months later, Chekhov is dead. Twelve months later, the Imperial Guard opens fire on a workers’ demonstration outside the Winter Palace. The first Russian revolution erupts. The twentieth century begins.
The situation is hopeless but not serious. The Human Acting Master Class plays The Cherry Orchard as what Chekhov wrote: a comedy.
Theater Spielraum
Lyubov Andreyevna Ranevskaya, noblewoman, estate owner
Anya, her daughter
Varya, her foster daughter
Leonid Andreyevich Gayev, Ranevskaya’s brother
Yermolai Alexeyevich Lopakhin, merchant
Pyotr Sergeyevich Trofimov, student
Boris Borisovich Simeonov-Pishchik, nobleman, estate owner
Charlotta Ivanovna, governess
Semyon Panteleyevich Yepikhodov, bookkeeper
Dunyasha, maid
Firs, manservant, an old man of 87
Yasha, young manservant
A Vagrant
Station Master
Post Office Clerk
Ball Guest
Director
Assistant Director
Dramaturgy
Set
Costume
Lighting
Workshop
Lighting and Sound Operation
Sound
Prompter
Producer
PR Assistant
Animal Handler
Box Office
Photography
Maria Winkler
Maria Anvidalfarei
Pia Lettner
Bernd Gordon
Georg Duffek
David Nagl
Michael Meier
Mariya Olshanska
Roland Dietz
Ines Reibnegger
Gerhardt Ordnung
Filip Kajmakoski
Stefan Fleischmann
Turgut Murshudlu
Stefan Fleischmann
Elias Miesbauer
Anne Frütel
Roland Dietz
Claude
Anne Frütel
Pia Lettner
Maria Anvidalfarei
Tom Barcal
Georg Duffek
Maria Anvidalfarei
Anne Frütel
Roland Dietz
Simon Mitteregger
Sandra Stani
Sophia Steinbruckner
Anne Frütel
Ines Reibnegger
Sarah Schuster
Katrin Poinstingl
Andrea Müller
Valentina Körber
Carolina Lender
Theresa Harmtodt
Alba Frütel
Nina Peemöller