Tina Eberhardt, Georg Clementi, Maximilian Paier, Marco Dott
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Leyla Bischoff, Nikola Jaritz-Rudle, Larissa Enzi, Marco Dott
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Marco Dott
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Matthias Hermann
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Nikola Jaritz-Rudle
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Tina Eberhardt, Matthias Hermann
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Nikola Jaritz-Rudle, Matthias Hermann
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Nikola Jaritz-Rudle, Matthias Hermann, Leyla Bischoff
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Marco Dott, Nikola Jaritz-Rudle, Matthias Hermann, Leyla Bischoff
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Ensemble
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Tina Eberhardt, Maximilian Paier, Gregor Schulz, Nikola Jaritz-Rudle
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Gregor Schulz, Oskar Widmer
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Larissa Enzi, Georg Clementi, Thomas Wegscheider
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Thomas Wegscheider, Larissa Enzi, Georg Clementi
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Larissa Enzi, Thomas Wegscheider, Tina Eberhardt, Matthias Hermann, Maximilian Paier
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Thomas Wegscheider, Tina Eberhardt, Maximilian Paier, Matthias Hermann
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Nikola Jaritz-Rudle, Maximilian Paier
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Gregor Schulz, Leyla Bischoff
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Maximilian Paier, Gregor Schulz, Leyla Bischoff, Nikola Jaritz-Rudle
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Tina Eberhardt, Leyla Bischoff
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Georg Clementi
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Matthias Hermann, Leyla Bischoff, Georg Clementi, Tina Eberhardt
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Maximilian Paier, Nikola Jaritz-Rudle, Georg Clementi, Tina Eberhardt
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Ensemble
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Maximilian Paier
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Nikola Jaritz-Rudle, Georg Clementi, Leyla Bischoff, Larissa Enzi
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Tina Eberhardt
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Tina Eberhardt, Gregor Schulz, Leyla Bischoff, Maximilian Paier
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Tina Eberhardt, Maximilian Paier und Ensemble
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Emil Knam
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Larissa Enzi, Maximilian Paier, Georg Clementi
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Marco Dott
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Marco Dott, Emil Knam
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Der Kirschgarten

Anton Pawlowitsch Tschechow

Premiere: 07. April 2024 / Landestheater

Synopsis

The Salzburg State Theatre presents Chekhov’s bittersweet comedy on stage for the first time since Peter Stein’s legendary production. The masterful play is impressive for its light atmosphere and the keen perceptiveness with which it carves out the contrast between a nostalgic longing for the “good old times” and an openness for the necessary innovations of times ahead. After having spent several years in France, Lyubov Andreievna Ranevskaya returns to her Russian estate, which is surrounded by a huge cherry orchard.

Heavily in debt, she will need to sell her property. Painfully aware of the looming loss of this overwhelmingly beautiful place, which is filled with so many memories, she and her family spend one last summer in the cherry orchard – which will eventually be cut down to make way for holiday homes. Chekhov, who calls his play a comedy, holds up a mirror to the morbid world of the Russian aristocracy while alluding to coming changes in society. In an atmosphere oscillating between nostalgia and expectations, the author paints a portrait of an era in which individual and social developments are closely entwined. The play’s appeal lies in the characters’ inner conflicts and contradictions: The poet outlines the highly individual features of his broken figures in a sensitive yet ironic style.

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904) grew up in humble circumstances and studied medicine in Moscow on a scholarship. He worked as a practitioner only briefly – the success of his theatre plays and short stories soon made him financially independent. His tuberculosis forced him to spend more and more time in a southern climate, which is why he moved to Crimea and took on arduous journeys for the sake of his theatrical work in Moscow. Alexandra Liedtke has directed many music theatre and drama productions for the Salzburg State Theatre as well as for the Theater in der Josefstadt, the Theater Kiel and the Vienna State Opera. Together with stage designer Philip Rubner, she presented “Buddenbrooks” as the first premiere after the Salzburg State Theatre’s reopening in the autumn of 2022. Philip Rubner is currently head of stage design at the German National Theatre in Weimar.

Durarion: 2 h 25 min with one intermission

Reviews

„Da herrscht Angst vor dem Aufbruch. Unentwegt verpassen die Figuren Chancen der Reifung, vernebeln sich stattdessen, lachend und feiernd, die „gute alte Zeit“ hochhaltend, die Realität. Theaterkönig Tschechow, ewig aktuell, bekommt in dieser Inszenierung ein funkelndes Krönchen aufgesetzt.“

Reichenhaller Tagblatt

„Liedtkes Inszenierung besticht durch viele kleine Aufmerksamkeiten, die jede einzelne Figur als Individuum auszeichnen. Die Realitätsverweigerung hat viele Gesichter.“

Nachtkritik

„Fesselnd werden die Konfliktfelder einer im Niedergang begriffenen Gesellschaft in klugen Dialogen nachgezeichnet. […] „Man muss die Vergangenheit besser sehen als sie war, um an der Gegenwart nicht zu verzweifeln“, legt Tschechow einer seiner Figuren in den Mund. […]Die schauspielerischen Leitungen sind herausragend.“

Plus Leben

„Resolut überschreitet die Regisseurin Genre-Grenzen und kreierte eine Produktion, die dennoch nie die allgemein verdauliche Bodenhaftung verliert. Von tragisch-komisch über ungeschönt zu klug pointiert, dabei aber konstant gesellschaftskritisch richtete Liedke ihren Kirschgarten im zeitlosen Dazwischen ein und nimmt den Adel ins Visier. Das Resultat ist rotzig, frech und melancholisch – ohne dabei aber je sein breites Publikum aus dem Blickfeld zu verlieren.“

What I saw from the cheap seats