La Cerisaie at the TNP, Isabelle Huppert as mistress of the place
© Christophe Raynaud De Lage
The revival of the staging of Anton Chekhov’s work, The Cherry Orchard, by Tiago Rodrigues, recently promoted to the direction of the festival of Avignon, is the event of this theatrical return. At the TNP, with Isabelle Huppert, at the heart of a large cast.
On July 5, 2021, Portuguese director Tiago Rodrigues was appointed head of the Avignon festival. He will succeed Olivier Py during the 2023 edition.
This is the first time that a foreign artist has reached the highest position at this prestigious event. This shows the importance of this appointment.
But Tiago Rodrigues does not arrive without experience; end of 2014, before presenting his show By heart in Paris, he was appointed artistic director of the Dona Maria II National Theater in Lisbon, one of the oldest and most prestigious theatrical institutions in Portugal, the equivalent of the Comédie-Française. A hell of a journey for the one who had joined the Portuguese conservatory ric-rac (received thirtieth out of thirty), and to whom his teachers said: “You have to follow your nature, maybe, but the theater is not for you!”
He was able to persist, chart his course, multiply enriching experiences. Like joining the collective of Antwerp actors Tg Stan, in 1997, the year of his 20th birthday, which seduced him by his way of refusing hierarchies and respecting the freedom of actors.
This did not prevent him from directing many critically acclaimed shows (By Heart, Bovary, Antoine and Cleopatra, Occupation Bastille… to name only the best known). In Lyon, we discovered him last season at the Célestins with The Lovers’ Choir, a poignant piece that describes the life of a couple over time. A show he wrote and directed with mind-blowing precision.
The Cherry Orchard, a farce…
But if he has often produced contemporary texts, including his own, he does not shrink from the classics. As long as he can slip his paw there and make them resonate with our news. That’s what he did on the way up The Cherry Orchard during the Avignon 2021 festival (the play was broadcast by the Arte channel), in the main courtyard.
It is this version that we will see, adapted to the TNP set, from September 6 to 16. Tiago Rodrigues wanted a reading faithful to the will of Anton Chekhov who, until his last days, claimed to have written above all a farce, a comedy. A black comedy but a comedy…
Despite its tragic dimension, its dark depth… We will therefore find this estate and its cherry orchard, the beauty of which is praised everywhere in Russia. Unfortunately, the debts accumulate and the owner must sell his property.
The mistress of the place is Lioubov Andreevna Ranevskava, played by a certain Isabelle Huppert, totally invested in this new capital role. Around her, a whole gallery of characters evolves to the rhythm of a rock band playing live. Like the Titanic orchestra. A moment of grace and poetry before everything collapses.
The Cherry Orchard – From September 6 to 16 at NTP