Reviews

If The Cherry Orchard is a doomsday prophecy, it points to the 21st century disaster before it occurs. A crisis in relationships is particularly prominent in the “screen generation” that grew up in the digital network. Even being in the same physical place, they seem to be split into a different time and space. They live in their own little world, whisper to themselves, and even body and mind can be separated so they are floating in their own clouds. This way, although you stay indoors, you can forget that you are alone. Lazing around in bed, you can hold onto your dreams and snacks, just as Chekhov’s characters Gayev and Ranevskaya stick to their cherry orchard “bubble.” They are the generation that refuses to grow up. They choose to hide in a cocoon, to resist reality. They are seen as “freaks,” and the cherry orchard they live in is also frightening. It is regarded as a murderous house of mirrors, or a maiden’s womb. If The Cherry Orchard is an elegy, it is like one of Neruda’s poems: “Always, always you recede through the evenings towards where the twilight goes erasing statues.” All figures disappear in the twilight of the world. The sound in the sky of the breaking string is also the sound of the broken screen.

About The Cherry Orchard

The story begins with Gayev and his sister Ranevskaya returning to their cherry orchard. The aristocratic manor contains their past as if it were a relative, friend or past lover. Reunion also means separation; they linger and indulge in dreams and memories. But collapse is the inevitable end to the cherry orchard. The cherry orchard is more than just an aristocratic manor. It is something evanescent, fragile or transparent. It is a name that was erased, the long marks on the floors from countless cleanings, and the water vapor on a mirror surface in the winter. It is a ghost or an invisible person. It disappears at a time of transformation. A goodbye is leaving all those things when the world turns away.

Director Sun Xiaoxing and young actors from Tianjin People’s Art Theatre, who portray themselves as Ranevskaya, Gayev and Anya, return to the cherry orchard. They are not just old owners, but new owners. The past is about to pass, whereas the future is not yet here. Standing before the cherry orchard, we are lost.

About Sun Xiaoxing

Sun Xiaoxing is an up-and-coming playwright, director, critic and curator, and he is very notable in China. He established the company en? (What has happened? How has it come to this?) in 2015 and the company launched the Cyber Theatre Project in 2016. His works, to name but a few, include Drift Home, Speed Show: Drift Internet Café, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Here Is the Message You Asked For... Don't Tell Anyone Else ;-), The Cherry Orchard.

He has been invited to Festival/Tokyo, Kyoto Experiment, OzAsia Festival, Wuzhen Theatre Festival, Singapore International Festival of Arts, Shenzhen New Media Art Festival, Shenzhen Contemporary Theatre Biennale, Power Station of Art ReActor, and so on and so forth.

He has also curated a good number of well-known projects, among which are Public Space Performance Series Glitch and Error of Sceno Place Performance Unit in Shenzhen Contemporary Theatre Biennale 2018, and Duàn Céng Zài Zào Public Performance Unit of the Sanxingdui Theatre Festival 2017, Cradle Project of the International Youth Theatre.

Credits

Producer: Wang Weizhong

Playwright: Anton Chekhov

Translator: Tong Daoming

Director: Sun Xiaoxing

Stage Design: Wang Lixin

Cast: Zhang Jingjing, Du Zijun, Fan Fan, Gao Qizheng, Jiang Zhihua, Zhou Hang,  Zhou Miao, Wang Jue

Artistic Director: Zhong Hai

Production Manager: Wang Yadi

Supervising Producer: Li Yang

Supervisor: Luo Jun, Wang Yong

Composer: Joy Ginger

Projection Design: Atomic Visual Studio

Technology Management: Liu Guolin

Sound Design: Wang Yong

Lighting Design: Ren Yi

Costume Design: Xue Lingyan

Make-Up Design: Zhang Peng

Props Design: Li Qing

Art: Yuan Dong

Lighting Manager: Liu Zhenhui

Sound Manager: Zhang Shuliang

Costume Manager: Si Yuan Ruixue

Make-Up Manager: Liang Yingying

Projection Manager: Yuan Dong

Props Manager: Fan Bohao

Stage Coordination: Li Qing

Log Keeper: Zhou Miao

Stage Manager: Wang Jue

Publicity: Li Yang

Graphic Design: Juque Visual

Publicity: Tianjin People’s Art Theatre Marketing and Publicity Department

About Tianjin People's Art Theatre

Founded in 1951, Tianjin People's Art Theatre has thrived for more than 60 glorious years, its predecessor having been the Blood and Iron Drama Club, established in 1938. Tianjin People's Art Theatre is proud of its long history, rich and varied repertoire, as well as its profoundly talented groups of performing artists. Guo Moruo, the famous dramatist inscriptioned the theatre’s name. Directors Zhao Lu, Fang Chen, actor Kong Xiangyu, directors Xu Ruisheng and Zhong Hai, scene designer Wang Weizhong have all successively served as the President of the theatre. Since the establishment of the theatre, a total of 400 productions have been staged, including classical and modern plays from China and foreign countries. Over the past sixty years, works of high quality have been produced one after another and all have been spoken of highly. They have won the Five-One Project Award, the Splendor (Wenhua) Award and the Golden Lion Award for Modern Drama; and have been nominated for the National Theatre Art Fine Work Project and the Outstanding Repertoire for the Exchange, Performance of New Drama Plays. Individual awards include the Plum Performance Award, Splendor (Wenhua) Award, the Golden Lion Award, the Magnolia Prize and so on. Tianjin people's Art Theatre has always adhered to its mission of creating fine art, and strives to keep moving forward!