The Cherry Orchard
Review by Ernest Goes To The Theatre/Ernest Edwards
I went to the play The Cherry Orchard. It’s a co-production between The Moving Company (MOCO) and The Jungle Theater. The play was written by Anton Chekhov in 1904. This script was translated by Paul Schmidt. It is adapted by the MOCO crew of Steven Epp, Dominque Serrand, and Nathan Keepers.
This play is pure MOCO magic. This is one of the areas where MOCO excels. Taking a classic and putting that MOCO inspiration into it. What you see on stage is simply wonderful.
The story of The Cherry Orchard is about a family that is going to loose their home and the beautiful cherry orchard on the land. The bank is already in the foreclosure process and has set an auction for August. The play begins in May.
The matriarch of the family is Liubov Andreyevna performed by Tracey Maloney. This was a great role for Tracey. Nathan Keepers embodied the role of Lopakhin. I really liked seeing Randy Reyes in this production. I don’t think Randy has done a MOCO production before.
This is not a happy story. Then again, happy is not a term typically associated with Anton Chekhov plays. What I really liked about this production, in addition to the story, was the use of the projections on the back of the stage. MOCO also used every square inch of the Jungle Theater stage. They used the two doors on either side of the front of the stage, the aisles, and also row D in the audience was also used during the play. I was in row D that night, and I had a brush of stardom with Nathan Keepers. As did everyone else in row D.
This cast and this adaption are worth seeing live on stage.
The Cherry Orchard has been extended to November 9, 2025. Check out Jungletheater.org for tickets.
