Theatre stars talk to Daniel Morris about how they have brought the Anton Chekhov classic up to date with a revitalised script and modern music
A fresh, new and exciting stage adaptation of a classic Russian drama is being brought to the county by Shropshire-based Here To There Productions.
Written by Anton Chekhov, The Cherry Orchard is a darkly humorous and dramatic piece of timeless theatre that now promises to have been brought bang up-to-date with a revitalised script as well as music from the modern day.
With the Here To There production directed by Jasmine Arden-Brown, the story centres around a woman who fights to keep her family estate safe in the face of greed and commercialism. Despite its 1800s setting, it is sure to resonate with today’s audiences and capture people’s imagination.
Through a cast of 13 professional actors in full RSC period costumes, along with a beautiful set plus an immersive soundscape, the world of Russia in the 19th century is set to be brought vividly to life.
With the play set to run from August 28 to September 14 at venues across Shropshire, Worcestershire and Herefordshire, we caught up with Carl Walker – whose film production company, Wild Edric Media, has produced its promotional video material – and lead star Cassie Bancroft to find out more about what audiences can expect.
“This mammoth production of The Cherry Orchard is very much on the back of a successful Here To There tour earlier in the year of another classic, Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, which went around five cities, including Manchester and Nottingham,” said Carl.
“That was very well received and as a result of that, producer Andrew Whittle really wanted to do another mini tour, but this time bring a classic back home.
“Just like Hedda, which is a classic piece but can be sometimes a little bit hard to penetrate for modern audiences, Andrew has done a fantastic job in adapting the script. He has maintained the original storyline, and stayed with the way it was set in terms of the 1800s, but has actually modernised the language and even introduced a bit of a mash-up of popular music as well. It’s really been brought up-to-date and made very, very accessible.”
Cassie, an alumnus of The Poor School whose debut was in the BBC’s Murdered By My Boyfriend and who has garnered numerous other stage and screen credits, is set to take on the lead role of Madame Lubov, whose childhood home (including the titular cherry orchard) is under threat from property developers.
“She’s quite fun because she’s got a bit of everything really,” said Cassie. “She’s a bit naughty, she likes to joke, but she also often comes from a place of sadness.
“Her family is quite a wealthy family – they’re quite entitled. But they’re likeable. They do everything that they shouldn’t do – everything that in theory would really irritate you as a viewer. But they do it in a way that you just can’t dislike them.
“Even in the way their servants are treated. That would be seen as quite a poor way to treat people, but it’s still somehow done in a way that it’s hard to dislike the characters. So I think they’re all likeable, which I think in itself makes you care.
“By the time you get to the end of the story, you’re actually interested in where these people go and what happens to them.”
For Cassie, The Cherry Orchard is a wonderful classic, yet she is confident that Andrew Whittle’s version will keep the audience hooked just that little bit tighter.
“I do think with a lot of these plays, with the classics, they’ll have these big endings, but there’s often quite a big chunk in the middle where you kind of lose the audience,” she said.
“But this does keep it going. There’s quite a lot of comedy in it as well, so in between the drama, there’s laughs. So it kind of keeps the audience members engaged, really.”
With Shropshire-based Wild Edric Media on board, the promotional material for The Cherry Orchard has celebrated our picturesque historical landscape. Trailers and teasers have been shot at Stokesay Court – a south Shropshire jewel that, according to Carl, made for the perfect location.
“When the opportunity came up to shoot the trailer, we thought we really need somewhere that kind of looks like or gives an impression of a majestic house – of Lubov’s home – but that we could afford to use as a location,” he said.
“And very kindly, Caroline Magnus, the owner of Stokesay Court, said ‘come and use Stokesay’. We haven’t used the main house, but we’ve used parts of the grounds, plus also one of the stables.
“We spent a day with Cassie and the team, including a stylist and also a delightful young actor called Clara Moakes who was playing the young Madame Lubov. She hadn’t had any camera experience, but my goodness, she nailed it!
“It was wonderful using Stokesay, plus also, for me as a filmmaker, it’s got a lot of movie history because it was the location for Atonement. So I kind of felt like I was walking in the footsteps of other filmmakers, which was very, very exciting.”
The magic of Shropshire has certainly not been lost on Cassie either. Indeed it was a previous experience at one of the county’s most eminent theatres that made her so attracted to her role.
“I did a tour in 2017 and it was a courtroom drama opposite Clive Mantle,” she said. “That was my first foray into the kind of full-scale theatres, if you like.
“We went to the Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury, and when The Cherry Orchard came up and I saw that it was at Theatre Severn, I was like, ‘oh, yeah, I’m going for it’. I really wanted to come back.”
The Cherry Orchard is set to feature across three theatres – The Swan Theatre in Worcester, Hereford Courtyard and Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury – for five performances at each venue. It will play at Theatre Severn from September 11 to 14.
Definitely one for the diary, Cassie cannot wait to bring this new interpretation of Chekhov’s classic work to town. “I’m really excited to get going, and I think generally this one will be really heart-warming for a lot of people in the crowd,” she said.
Tickets for The Cherry Orchard at Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn can be purchased at www.theatresevern.co.uk/shows/
