The Journal Messenger Manassas, Va. Thurs. May 26, 1988 Page Bl
Arena Production Brings New Life to 'The Cherry Orchard'
By SHARON KENNEDY
JM Special Writer

What would you do if you lost your family fortune and estate due to the stock market crash? What would you do if, as a southern plantation owner, you lose your country plan­tation to the spoils of civil war? Would you jump off a bridge in an attempt to commit suicide or would you laugh away your plight and with hope strike out for a new life?

In "The Cherry Orchard" Anton Chekhov explores behavior of characters in a social structure where illiterate and unrefined man encroaches upon the social structure of the cultured upper class. It is a time when surfs recently eman­cipated become merchants and can afford to purchase all the status symbols previously available only to the upper class.

To erode our expectations of re­alism to class status symbols; Pin-tilie applies the absence of realism to his stage setting. An armoire loaded with children's toys and ghosts of past memories stands to one side of the stage upon a phosphorescent spotted floor. The only other furnishings are old school chairs that might have been pur­chased at some garage sale. The very emptiness, by leaving the stage bare of furnishings, suggests that Madame Ranevskaya's family has had to sell off the family's fur­nishings to help pay off the estate debts.

Though the stage is empty of furnishings, the cast feel right at home. Dunyasha (Marissa Copeland) a maid makes her space on the floor seem like a well fur­nished boudoir. Likewise when Firs (W. Benson Terry), the butler, serves tea from the silver tea ser­vice to Madame Ranevskaya's family — all seated in old school chairs; the cast make the space look like a drawing room with comfor­table brocade settees.

Rather than make the audience endure hours of grief and dispair at the hands of Madame Ranevskaya's family; Pintilie chooses to have his cast laugh away their dispair. Madame Ranevskaya's (Shirley Knight) daughter Anya (Rebecca Ellens) has a lilting laughter easily contagious. Charlotta (Zelda Rubinstein), the governess likened to a court jester easily keeps dispair away with her magic and magic tricks. Rubinstein's presence is perfect for Pintilie's approach.

Though these characters manage to laugh away their plight for the most part, there are moments when dispair and tears seep in. Ellens ably brings on the tears and a feel­ing of helplessness in coping with her mother and Charlotta's tendency to be spendthrifts. With a right mix of worry and tears Ellens leans on Varya's (Tana Hicken) shoulders in telling of her return trip home. When Anya finds her mother in Paris, her mother has sold the family's villa to pay off debts. She was surrounded by all sorts of Frenchmen and ladies in a dismal smoke filled room.

Of her mother; Yasha (Brian Cousins), a valet; Anya laments that they will never understand their financial plight. They paid for the most expensive dishes during their return trip to Russia. At Lopakhin's (Stanley Anderson) announcement that the estate with its cherry or­chard will be put up for auction unless the family can pay off their debts, Anya feels helpless in holding on to her cherry orchard of her childhood dreams.

In contrast to Madame Ranevskaya's family who will always remain spendthrifts; Stanley Anderson as Lopakhin, the mer­chant, represents the encroachment of a new social structure. Lopakhin knows how to manage his money to the point of becoming Madame Ranevskaya's dispossessor by his purchase of her estate at the public auction.

Throughout the production Pin­tilie's cast ably laugh away their dispair at their fate and loss of their estate with its cherry orchard. On the eve of the public aucton Madame Ranevskaya's family hold a ball with a lively carnival atmosphere as if to ward off their fate. The costumes designed by Miruna Boruzsescu make it appear as if one is attending a circus.

Besides the use of laughter and children's games as defense mechanisms against seeing reality, characters are somewhat am­bivalent about hanging on to the family estate with its cherry or­chard. Henry Stram as Trofimov, the student gives Anya a persuasive argument that all of Russia is their cherry orchard.