Review: Kirsikkatarha

Chekhov’s

The Cherry Orchard, directed by Lauri Maijala, is a great success and puts Helsinki City Theatre in a new class.

The Helsinki City Theatre made a successful recruitment when they hired director Lauri Maijala (b. 1986) for two years starting in January this year. Anton Chekhov’s last play, The Cherry Orchard (Cherry Orchard in the Finnish translation by Martti Anhava from 1999), has become in his hands a performance that is clearly the best I have seen in the house on Tokoinranta.
The play, which Chekhov himself described as a comedy with farcical features, but which since Stanislavsky’s first production in Moscow in 1904 has been interpreted more as a tragedy, is a lush depiction of the social changes in Russia in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The upper class gradually loses its status and privileges after slavery is banned and the serfs are freed, but like the protagonist, Ranevskaya, it lives on in the past.
At the beginning of the play, Ranevskaja, interpreted very strongly by Heidi Herala (incidentally Maijala’s mother; her father Seppo Maijala also plays a fine role) returns from Paris, where she moved after her son drowned at the age of seven. The heavily indebted family farm and the famous cherry orchard will be auctioned at the end of the summer. Lopahin (Chike Ohanwe), the newly rich son of a former slave, comes up with an idea to save the farm.
He proposes that the land should be divided into plots and rented out to city residents who want to build a summer cottage. The cherry trees would have to be put on the foot, unfortunately, just like the old house. Ranevskaya and the rest of the nostalgic, unrealistic family flatly refuse, ignore the entire threat of an auction and live on debt. Finally, it goes as you might expect; Yes, it is a tragedy for the aristocracy, but a triumphal march for the former subjugated.

Unrequited love

The Cherry Orchard wouldn’t be a Russian classic if there wasn’t unrequited love. Sanna Majuri’s Dunjasa expresses the most grandiose style, while the adopted daughter and de facto head of the household, Varja (Emi-lia Sinisalo), has the opposite, austere and bitter, attitude. So is her heart’s chosen Lopahin, and the conflict of loyalty is great. In addition, he can’t get the end of the wagon when it comes to proposing.
There are a number of smaller, extraordinary, roles, such as the eternal student with his agitating monologues (Tommi Eronen), the very old faithful servant (Maijala the Elder) and the arrogant young ditto (Heikki Ranta). The crowd on stage is more or less constant, but the impression is not one of chaos but of clear directing control.
The longer the tragedy suffers, the more impressed I become, both by the actors, by Maijala’s interpretation, and by the stage and visuals. Not to mention the fantastic string quartet (composition by Lauri Porra) that makes its entrance towards the end of the second act. What a feeling!
This is the eighth collaboration between Maijala and set designer Janne Vasama, and it is clear that they share visions of aesthetic preference. The whole thing couldn’t work better. While the first scene is sumptuous and takes a long time to take in – the fallen crystal chandeliers in which blossoming cherry trees grow are ingenious – the scene becomes more stripped down as the family falls. The dead son’s presence is constant, and not least the swaying grave that no one sees shows how the past haunts us. A couple of times too much, however, the large walls are rolled back and forth,
There are many scenes that make me gasp: so pretty! The hysterical auctioneer, dressed in a red suit and the subsequent trance-like dance, brings to mind David Lynch. Disco balls and balloons may sound out of place, but I like them sharply. Tiina Kaukanen’s costumes effectively blend styles and time periods to highlight class differences.
The only thing I have a hard time knowing how to relate to is the fact that the only non-white actor plays the son of a slave. It’s certainly not a coincidence, but how should we interpret it? Admittedly, he will be the one who gets the last word and emerges from the drama as the winner, but the choice is still not straightforward.
With Maijala’s Cherry Orchard, we are currently spoiled in Helsinki with two strong interpretations of Chekhov; Paavo Westerberg’s Three Sisters at the National Theatre will continue to play throughout the spring.