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| Charlene Baldridge Photo by Ken Howard |
The Cherry Orchard at UCSD
Defining the word thesis.
A thesis is what an individual thinks about a given subject. Hopefully, a thesis posits, or shines light on a matter that may be approached from many directions, such as a play by Chekhov, which for more than a century of opinions by directors and scholars that have tried to define it as tragedy or comedy or something other. Proposing and exploring a play’s many facets allows interpreters and audiences alike to find something new.
Pulitzer Prize winning playwright David Mamet provides new avenues with his adaptation of The Cherry Orchard. UCSD third-year MFA candidate, director Emilie Whelan takes on Chekhov’s final play in Mamet’s clear and clean adaptation, as her MFA III thesis project.
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| Theodore Shank as Firs All photos by Jim Carmody |
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| Caroline Stewart as Lyubov |
Like so many at the time, Lyubov (and her aristocratic family) live in a state of denial and inertia, unable to run an estate effectively without slave labor. Despite an offer from a now wealthy former serf, Lopakin (Terrance White), Lyubov is unable to accommodate new ideas for utilizing the estate and its renowned cherry orchard. Her mind won’t stretch that far. So everything is lost, on the larger scale Russia itself, a whole way of life. Lyubov returns to an erstwhile lover, and everyone else is headed for the uncertainty of sociopolitical revolution, all save Firs, whose destiny is sealed. It’s a sad, funny and tragic play.
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| The company dances on Justin Humphres' set |
The company of 14 comports itself in period style and impressively effects similarity of speech according to each set of circumstances. The former servant-class men and potential revolutionaries are particularly fine, never out of tune even when dissolute with power.
Scenic designer Justin Humphres captures the scale, the former grandeur, and the current seediness of the estate. Costume designer Dominique Hill’s creations are reflective of that, particularly Luybov’s party gown of mauve with chardonnay bows – utterly delicious, but totally impractical and not long for this world. One also observes the dust that permeates all else from gramophone recordings to Firs’s livery. Lighting and sound are well executed by Alex Miller-Long and Andrew Vargas respectively.
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| Firs, faithful till the end |
Whelan did impressive pondering when researching and applying her thesis. How its minutiae affect the future and current generation of theatregoers remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, how glorious that the UCSD Department of Theatre and Dance still affords us the opportunity to observe such important work. Closes tonight at 7:30 p.m. at UCSD, The Potiker Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse campus.