Culture
Ohio Valley Summer Theater Presents “The Cherry Orchard”
By: Bryan Gibson
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Ohio Valley Summer Theater (OVST) kicks off its 2012 season on June 21 with a new translation of Anton Chekhov’s classic The Cherry Orchard, being performed in Ohio University’s Forum Theater through July 1.
The new translation is by local thespian Lyrr Descy, who is also directing and acting in the play.
The Cherry Orchard was Chekhov’s final play, staged just months before he died in 1904. The comedy, which concerns a household of lovable Russian eccentrics in financial difficulties, has been translated and adapted into many languages.
According to an OVST press release, Descy worked up her new translaton to “look at the play with a new set of eyes.”
Descy’s goal was to have something that was concise, but not too colloquial in a contemporary sense.
“It’s spoken language, not literary language,” she said. “I’ve brought to this process my long experience as a translator, but also as an actor and director, making sure that characters are not talking at cross purposes, that every line comes from some inner impulse and is not just the next line on the page. I really tried to get under their skins and see everything in context.”
The Cherry Orchard will run June 21-24 and June 28-30 at 8 p.m. with a 2 p.m. matinee on July 1. For details, visit www.ovst.org or call the OVST ticket office at 740-593-9696. OVST’s season will continue with the musical Ragtime on July 12-29.