I’ve seen Chekhov’s Cherry Orchard 20 times – and it blossoms when tended by the British | Michael Billington

Michael Billington, having seen approximately 20 productions of Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard," argues that British theatre generally performs the play effectively due to a shared dramatic heritage that embraces a blend of comedy and tragedy. He refutes the common critical assertion that British interpretations often sentimentalize the play, treating it as a lament for a declining aristocracy. Billington notes that Chekhov himself considered the play a "comedy, in places almost a farce," a view that contrasted sharply with Konstantin Stanislavski's direction of the Moscow premiere in 1904, where he insisted it was a "tragedy." The author suggests that the British capacity to appreciate dramatic impurity, exemplified by plays like Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," allows for a nuanced understanding of "The Cherry Orchard's" mixed tones. He expresses hope that the upcoming Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) production, starring Helen Hunt and Kenneth Branagh, will not fall into the cliché of claiming to restore the play's comedic elements, as this is a mischaracterization of typical British stagings. Billington implies that the play's inherent mix of humor and pathos resonates with a theatrical tradition that does not rigidly separate tragic and comic genres, unlike some other national theatrical approaches.