As Sam Mendes’ highly-anticipated Bridge Project reaches London, his ambitions of transatlantic collaboration reach their latest test: a West End audience.

In The Cherry Orchard, Mendes has sensibly chosen a classic play with far-reaching relevance and scope for an ensemble cast to show off their talents. With generous, spacious staging, he also has the benefit of a new translation by Tom Stoppard. Vastly faithful to the original, even literal at times, this version is clear and lucid, although with fewer Stoppardian puns than you would perhaps expect. It is clear that this text is far more Chekhov than Stoppard.

Considering the aims of this project, you might well expect the cast to be the key strength and attraction. And Simon Russell-Beale as Lopakhin goes a long way to support this hypothesis. His successful "son of a peasant" is marginalised, humiliated but ultimately triumphant, and a joy to watch. His pragmatism and awkwardness is fascinatingly at odds with the decayed grandeur of the aristocratic milieu and he is the most interesting social comment of the production. If anything, Russell-Beale is a little too sympathetic as the force who lays waste to the old values and household with his business acumen.

However, many of the other actors struggle to make a similar impression in the sprawling cast. Rebecca Hall’s Varya in drab, " ;nun" ;-like clothes, is convincingly downtrodden but lacks a certain chemistry with Russell-Beale. When their relationship fades into emptiness, it is all too believable. Sinead Cusack’s Ranevskaya portrays the extreme self-involvement of the part but without enough captivating charm to mitigate this and instead relies on blinkered girlishness to enchant her entourage. Ethan Hawke has a rather slight part as Trofimov, the student with "mangy" look and thick, gravelly voice.

Nevertheless, there were also some pleasant surprises of impressive acting: Josh Hamilton’s genial Yasha, the "catastrophe corner" with a healthy dose of slapstick humour, Richard Easton’s muttering, affectionately superannuated Firs and Selina Cadell’s blunt Charlotta Ivanovna with magical prowess and quasi-existential attitudes.

Although this Cherry Orchard is accomplished, it doesn’t quite live up to the high expectations commanded by Mendes and the Bridge Project. The emotional connection between the cast is not wholly there, nor is there really the sense that each and every one of the actors are the crème de la crème of the stage talent in the US and the UK. After all the logistical obstacles admirably overcome to create this unique theatrical opportunity, I can only hope that this is the foundation stone for an even more dynamic subsequent season.


Cast and credits as below
Box Office: 0844 871 7628
Booking to 15 August 2009
Reviewed by Cassie Robinson on 10th June 2009 performance at The Old Vic, The Cut, London SE1 (Rail/Tube: Waterloo)