After living in Paris for years, a woman, played by French star actress Isabelle Huppert, returns to the family estate where she grew up with her brother. It is about to be sold because of debts.

Portuguese director Tiago Rodrigues is known for his simple but effective theatrical language. With few elements, on a minimalist stage set, the focus is on the actors and the heart of their story. He likes to break with existing rules of theatre like the fourth wall and has actors address the audience directly. This is the first time Rodrigues is working with an existing, classic text. Anton Chekhov wrote his tragicomic classic The Cherry Orchard in 1904.

Though the piece is about giving up a centuries-old orchard during the early rise of capitalism, for Rodrigues it is at its core about the dawn of a new world no one understands yet. The world is changing faster than the family can keep up with, and each character reacts to the situation in a different way. Ljoebov (played by Huppert) clings to the past, radical in her nostalgia and melancholy, while for example the businessman Lopachin (played by Adama Diop) is more adaptive to the changes that are underway.

Isabelle Huppert

Cast
Isabelle Huppert
Isabel Abreu
Nadim Ahmed
Marcel Bozonnet
Océane Caïraty
Alex Descas
Adama Diop
Lola Felouzis
Thomas Gendronneau
David Geselson
Grégoire Monsaingeon
Alison Valence