To further understand Uncle Vanya and The Cherry Orchard, we’ve gotta roll the tape back to the 19th century and understand the larger societal change that was at play in Russia while Chekhov was writing these now-famous plays. The budding relationship between Anya and Trofimov in this production manifests as a fast-paced swing dance much like their quick and intense love affair, while Dunyasha hysterically laughs off Yepikhodov’s marriage proposal and continues to make light of his hopeless love-obsession with her. The Wilma’s Cherry Orchard portrays fewer romantic connections, but they continue to pulse in the undercurrent of the story. And even the jealousy-infused desire Vanya harbored for Yelena resonated for me. Campbell O’Hare as Sonya pined over the smooth stylings of Ross Beschler as Astrov.
If you joined us for Minor Character in the fall, you witnessed the characters’ immense longing and desire as they dreamed hopelessly for their crushes to blossom into more. I’m a big time RomCom girl, and, boy, does Uncle Vanya fit right in there. In both Uncle Vanya and The Cherry Orchard, I connect most to the failed attempts at love and the varying stages of romantic relationships. Finding those parallels and connections between his stories, which otherwise feel so distant to my own life, thrust them back into perspective and make them incredibly pertinent to my everyday struggles, relationships, and understanding of the world. While that can lead to the “Which-play-is-that?” game, I’m an absolute sucker for the thematic similarities in Chekhov. My good man, Anton (I can call you Anton, right?), just loved to focus on the same themes over and OVER again. I really can’t blame them for their confusion. Then everyone turns to me looking for approval of their botched summaries, while all I can do is smile and nod and work to not launch into a full oratory thesis correcting their assumed plotlines. But there is definitely a love triangle- and a gun- in The Cherry Orchard. And Vanya has the reallllly wealthy family, but also there are some workers who are just, like, hangin out? No, Three Sisters they lose their home and in The Cherry Orchard they’re desperate to get to Moscow! So, which Chekhov is that one, again? Vanya is the one where they lose their home? Both are adaptations of the original plays, but the approaches are very different and unique and– Wait… You all are producing two Chekhov plays in one season? We’re doing, Minor Character, which is a new examination of Uncle Vanya, followed by and The Cherry Orchard, and. The conversation inevitably proceeds in some version of the below script: The past couple of months as the Wilma has been making a return to in-person theater, many of my friends have been asking the, “So, what is the Wilma producing this year?,” question. By Wilma Artistic Administrator Mariah Ghant
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