Learn about the production history of 'The Cherry Orchard'

Chekhov's last play, first performed in 1904, receives a new West End production adapted by Conor McPherson and starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Stephen Mangan.

Summary

• The Cherry Orchard premiered in Moscow in 1904
• It received its first English-language production in London in 1911
• It has been staged five times at the National Theatre and three times by the RSC
• Ian Rickson's new production adapted by Conor McPherson stars Kristin Scott Thomas and Stephen Mangan

Chekhov’s final play The Cherry Orchard was first performed in 1904 at Moscow Art Theatre and has been a fixture of classical theatre since the 1960s. It has been performed in London on many occasions, including stagings by the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Old Vic, and Young Vic.

As you will see, several actors have returned to the play at different stages in their lives due to the intergenerational cast of characters. And numerous celebrated playwrights have penned their own “adaptations” or “versions”, including Michael Frayn, Tom Stoppard, and Simon Stephens. Many productions stick with the “traditional” cream-linen-and-samovar aesthetic, while others are more contemporary and expressionistic.

This play has certainly born extensive fruit and it will be interesting to see what kind of approach this new West End production directed by Ian Rickson — and starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Stephen Mangan — takes!

Book The Cherry Orchard tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk.

Original production (1904)

The Cherry Orchard premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre on 17 January 1904, which happened to be the 41st birthday of director Konstantin Stanislavski, who also played Gaev. Chekhov’s wife Olga Knipper, who had previously originated the role of Masha in Three Sisters, played Ranevskaya.

The production was troubled as Chekhov, who envisioned the play as a comedy, was dismayed by the way in which Stanislavski treated it as a tragedy. Balancing the play’s comic and tragic elements has been a challenge for all subsequent productions. The premiere took place a year before the Russian Revolution of 1905, which resulted in the end of absolute monarchy. Chekhov died in the same year at the age of 44.

First English-language production (1911)

The Cherry Orchard received its English-language premiere at the West End’s Aldwych Theatre in 1911. The show was produced by the Stage Society, which also staged the English-language premieres of works by Henrik Ibsen, Jean Cocteau, Franz Wedekind, and others. The translation was by Constance Garnett, a doyenne of Russian-to-English literary translation who also brought the works of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Gogol, and Turgenev to English speakers.

Broadway premiere (1928)

The Cherry Orchard was first performed on Broadway’s Bijou Theatre in 1928, directed by J.B. Fagan (director of the Court Theatre, which later became the Royal Court), where it played a short run of matinee performances. Fagan first directed the play at the Oxford Playhouse and Lyric Hammersmith in 1925, which featured John Gielgud as the eternal student Trofimov.

More recently, Diane Lane portrayed Ranevskaya at the Roundabout Theatre in 2016.

Old Vic (1933)

Tyrone Guthrie’s production at the Old Vic accentuated the play’s comic potential. The cast was led by Athene Seyler (Ranevskaya), Charles Laughton (Lopakhin), and Flora Robson (Varya).

Royal Shakespeare Company (1961, 1996, 2026)

The RSC staged the play for the first time at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, followed by a London transfer at the Aldwych Theatre, where the play had received its first English-language production 50 years earlier.

Michel Saint-Denis's production featured a translation by the aforementioned John Gielgud, who also played Gaev. Peggy Ashcroft was Ranevskaya and Judi Dench and Dorothy Tutin played her daughters Anya and Varya (both went on to play Ranevskaya – Dench in a 1981 BBC film directed by Richard Eyre).

The RSC returned to the play in 1996 starring Penelope Wilton, which transferred to the Albery Theatre (now the Noël Coward Theatre).

Thirty years on, the RSC is currently staging the play with Helen Hunt and Kenneth Branagh. Co-artistic director Tamara Harvey directs a version by Laura Wade. It’s a year of two hugely fruitful revivals!

National Theatre (1973, 1978, 1985, 2000, 2011)

The National Theatre’s first production of The Cherry Orchard was directed by Michael Blakemore and starred Constance Cummings (you might remember her as Ruth in the 1945 film version of Blithe Spirit). Michael Hordern was Gaev and Denis Quilley was Lopakhin.

The venue staged the play again five years later, directed by Peter Hall and translated by Michael Frayn. The starry cast was led by the aforementioned Dorothy Tutin as Ranevskaya, Robert Stephens as Gaev, Albert Finney as Lopakhin, Ben Kingsley as Trofimov, plus the luxury casting of Ralph Richardson as Firs.

The play was remounted a decade later, directed and translated by Mike Alfreds. The cast included Sheila Hancock (Ranevskaya), Edward Petherbridge (Gaev), Ian McKellen (Lopakhin), and Eleanor Bron (Varya).

Vanessa Redgrave played Ranevskaya in the Cottesloe in 2000, which transferred to the Olivier. Her real-life brother Corin Redgrave played Ranevskaya’s brother Gaev, with Roger Allam as Lopakhin and Eve Best as Varya. Trevor Nunn directed.

The Cherry Orchard was most recently seen at the National Theatre in 2011, directed by Howard Davies and translated by Andrew Upton. Zoe Wanamaker starred as Ranevskaya. LondonTheatre.co.uk’s reviewer commented that “Wanamaker is simply first-class as the passionate and occasionally fiery Madame Ranyevskaya... the play has tangible atmosphere and there's a well-defined balance between comedy and the inevitable pathos of the ending.”

Old Vic (2009)

Helmed by Sam Mendes, the transatlantic “Bridge Project” presented The Cherry Orchard in rep with Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. The ensemble included Sinéad Cusack as Ranevskaya/Paulina, Simon Russell Beale as Lopakhin/Leontes, Rebecca Hall as Varya/Hermione, and Hollywood's Ethan Hawke as Trofimov/Autolycus. Tom Stoppard provided the adaptation.

Young Vic (2014)

Katie Mitchell is known for her deconstructed productions with bold cinematic qualities. LondonTheatre.co.uk’s reviewer called her version, translated by Simon Stephens, “immediate and modern, and superbly played”. The cast was led by Mitchell’s frequent collaborator Kate Duchêne, who previously played Varya to Penelope Wilton’s Ranevskaya.

Yard Theatre (2022)

Even more daring was Vinay Patel’s reimagining for East London’s Yard Theatre, which set the play in space! Performed by a South Asian cast, Ranevskaya became Captain Ramesh, a space explorer searching for an inhabitable planet to colonise; senile retainer Firs was a robot approaching the end of his usefulness, and the maid Dunyasha was a new computer with newfangled ideas.

Donmar Warehouse (2024)

The play was most recently seen in London two years ago at the Donmar Warehouse, in a controversially sweary production. In a five-star rave, LondonTheatre.co.uk’s reviewer noted that Nina Hoss was “in blinding form as a particularly beautiful Ranevskaya who nonetheless seems more than once on the verge of losing her mind” and concluded that Andrews’s “electrifying staging grabs Chekhov's play by the scruff of the neck”.

West End (2026)

Ian Rickson’s production of The Cherry Orchard begins performances on 3 October and runs until 9 January 2027. While the play has been performed in London on many occasions, this is unusual in being a major commercial production rather than being produced by a subsidised venue or company. Conor McPherson (The Weir, Girl from the North Country) provides a new adaptation and Kristin Scott Thomas and Stephen Mangan star as the aristocratic Ranevskaya and nouveau riche Lopakhin.

Scott Thomas said: “Returning to The Pinter with Chekhov is like coming home to a piece of theatre that is endlessly alive. Conor McPherson’s new adaptation brings a fresh, urgent energy to The Cherry Orchard; and I am excited to be exploring Chekhov’s utterly brilliant and beautiful examination of the human heart with our director Ian Rickson.”

Book The Cherry Orchard tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk.

Photo credit: The Cherry Orchard artwork. (Courtesy of production)