oh this was so gorgeous and i wept horribly and i love the theatre!!!
augh not to do earnest theatre blogging but i cannot stop thinking about this one
such a lovely version by laura wade, totally respecting the structural perfection and unity of the russian text which means you are willing to trust its interventions (i loved what it did with the passer-by!)
an almost perfect ensemble which is only going to get stronger
the live music was so beautiful, and the way it was used in act three i especially found so moving - the fluent sequence of waltzes through the space and then the sense of music coming from another room
gorgeous lighting design (aideen i owe you my life, again), gorgeous understated set, gorgeous costumes, where are my production photos
i am essentially a kenneth branagh agnostic but he was tbf so wonderful and did something very near to the end that made the whole theatre do a sort of single collective pained intake of breath. magical!
chumisa a star as always, i'd been curious about her in a straight play but she can sooooo do it and i found her anya deeply moving ... put her in the seagull next i guess
very seriously thought i wasn't going to cry on account of knowing what happens in the cherry orchard lol but it did completely organically creep up on and Get Me and i spent the last few minutes just weeping freely and worried i was going to make some kind of horrible involuntary noise <3
