Burjesta Theatre Workshop – Russian Season – The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov
Wednesday 22nd February, 7pm @ The Casa, Hope Street, Liverpool, £3/£2
This week we look at the last play by Anton Chekhov, written in 1903 the year before his death. It is an exquisite play and, we think, has a claim to be considered as one of the greatest plays of the 20th century. It is also full of artistic intuition and prophecy as it reveals the dilemmas of a landowning class doomed to extinction caught between the forces of bourgeois capitalism and a nascent socialist movement.
Though socially conservative and certainly no radical, Chekhov nevertheless, maybe greater than any Russian intellectual of pre-revolutionary Russia manages to reveal ‘the coming storm’ which was to break out a year after his death with the 1905 revolution.
We’ll be examing and performing elements of the play as well as considering how we may use its example to make similar estimations of the way things are going in 21st century Britain.
All welcome beginner or experienced. Each session is a stand alone session.
Regards Burjesta
PS – We’ll also be finishing off the last scene from Tolstoy’s ‘Power of Darkness’ which we didn’t quite manage to finish last week!