Compiled
by the Editorial Board
The review which appeared
in the Province on February 19, 1957 was not kind
to either Chekhov or the
production. Mike Tytherleigh wrote: "If anyone
has helped to close up theatres and turn them into
supermarkets it is the Russian playwright Anton
Chekhov. Last night the UBC Players Club alumni
staged "The Cherry Orchard" at the Fredric
Wood theatre and once again confirmed in my own
mind that Chekhov is best left alone. Read him
in bed or at play readings but keep him off the
stage. For his messages and truths are too out
of-date to have any impact today...Frankly I think
the time has come for a moratorium on Chekhov and
the Orchard should
not only be chopped down but be buried for I fear
that some rama students may catch something from
it and we'll be even further from pulling today's
theatre out of the doldrums."
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Martha
Robinson's review which appeared in the Vancouver
Sun two days later saw the production in a much
more favorable light. The headline read, "Actors
in UBC Play Perform Like Orchestra". The reviewer
wrote: "The latest and greatest of the Russian
novelist's plays, it has no 'plot' in the traditional
sense of the word. Its effectiveness rests on the
actors' ability to infect an audience with subtle
contrasts of mood...the Frederic Wood Theatre Workshop
cast proved equal to the author's challenge. They
carried the subject to its logical conclusion like
players in an integrated orchestra."
the Frederic
Wood Theatre Workshop cast proved equal to the
author's challenge. They carried the subject to
its logical conclusion like players in an integrated
orchestra
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