“Funnier than I remember,” said a man at one of last weekend’s performances of Germinal Stage’s “The Cherry Orchard,” and he wasn’t kidding.
Seasoned theater-goers know that a Chekhov play means bracing yourself for a heavy dose of allegory, confusing Russian names and a fairly large cast, and a story punctuated by heavy pauses and laced with what Interview Magazine described as “utterly demoralizing anguish.”
But ‘s interpretation of turns all those stereotypes on their heads. (Almost all of them; the names still play Who’s Who with the actors.)
In German Stage director and manager Ed Baierlein’s adaptation, “The Cherry Orchard” becomes a comedy — or as . In this interpretation, as opposed to the tragic version originated by Constantin Sergevevich Stanislavsky. it’s a smart, sly indictment of the wealthy, and a philosophical view of loss and change.
Written in 1903 and predating the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917, “The Cherry Orchard” is about the Ranevskaya family’s effort to save the family home, including its vast, celebrated, titular cherry orchard.
A manservant, Fiers (Baierlein, who is hilarious), recalls harvest time, extolling the virtues of dried cherries. Another character looks at the orchard and delivers this monologue foreshadowing Russia’s coming shift to Communism:
“Your grandfather, your great-grandfather and all your ancestors owned serfs, they owned human souls. Don’t you see that from every cherry-tree in the orchard, from every leaf and every trunk, men and women are gazing at you?”
Well, no, the Ranevskayas actually don’t see that. Matriarch Lubov envisions her ghostly mother in a white dress when she peers at the blooming orchard. She and her family dismiss the pragmatic suggestion to sell off the land and pay off their staggering debts.
The Ranavskayas are only slightly more rooted in reality than Carlotta (Laura Booze, a wonderful physical comedian), an aged governess who becomes a little dangerous when she’s near a musical instrument. And Fiers! He staggers across the stage, part Fool and part grandfather, with odd accusations (“You put on !”) and admirable fortitude.
When, at last, the sale of the house and the orchard goes through, and everyone skedaddles in varying humor, only the addled Fiers remains in the empty rooms. Not by choice, mind; he’s been forgotten by the same aristocratic masters who allowed the estate to fall fallow.
“Life’s gone on as if I’d never lived,” he said, lying down on a settee to take a final — really final — nap.
Baierlein does an extraordinary job of mining Chekhov’s play for both portent and comedy. His capable cast find such nuances in their parts that they turn the standard Chekhov tropes — the insufferable student, the droll uncle, the unconfident nouveau riche — into richer personas.
Claire Martin: 303-954-1477, cmartin@denverpost.com or twitter.com/byclairemartin
THE CHERRY ORCHARD By Anton Chekhov, adapted, directed and designed by Ed Baierlein, with Stephen R. Kramer, Xandra Prestia-Turner, John W.B. Greene, Karin Carr, Eric Victor, David L. Wygant, Lisa Mumpton and Laura Booze. Through May 2, Germina Stage, 7287 Lowell Blvd., Westminster. Tickets $23 at 303.455.7108 or online at
