Moscow Theater Center "Cherry Orchard": address, repertoire, reviews

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Moscow is famous for its rich theatrical life. Every day, many theaters hospitably open their doors to residents and guests of the capital. In recent years, the Cherry Orchard Moscow Theater Center has become one of the favorites among fans of dramatic art.

History of the creation of the theater

The creator of the Cherry Orchard ITC and its permanent artistic director is director Alexander Mikhailovich Vilkin. His creative activity includes more than a hundred productions, which were successfully staged on the stages of many Russian theaters. Vilkin founded his troupe in 1995. The Cherry Orchard Theater did not have its own premises for a long time, and only in 2015, just in time for its 20th anniversary, the team got its own building, located in the very center of the capital. If you do not know where the Cherry Orchard Moscow Theater Center is located, address: Moscow, Malaya Sukharevskaya Square, 10. The theater got its name for a reason. Alexander Mikhailovich wanted his work to containmoral and civil principles inherent in the works of the great Chekhov. The theater is a budget institution.

Cherry Orchard ITC building

The construction of the theater center was carried out at the expense of investors. The building covers an area of almost 19 thousand square meters. It has a very conspicuous appearance - diagonal glass plates, mounted on a strict stone lattice, attract attention, standing out among the buildings of the Garden Ring, in which two architectural styles are mixed:

• modern, referring to the period of the leadership of the city by Yuri Luzhkov;
• petty-bourgeois, including buildings of the 19th century.

Most of the building (12,000 sqm) is occupied by the business center of the main investor. The theater part of the building and the office part are separated. Both the theater and the office have separate entrances. The building also contains premises that are the property of the city. Moscow theater center "Cherry Orchard" includes eight floors. The plates of glass, which were mentioned above, carry their semantic load. Those plates on which trees are depicted are the symbols of the "Cherry Orchard", and the plates, which are fixed at different angles, according to the architect's intention, represent an imaginary theatrical curtain.

Main Theater Hall

The Cherry Orchard Moscow Theater Center occupies the first five floors. On the first floor and one underground tier below it are technical rooms. And the floors from the secondthe fifth is occupied by the Main Theater Hall, made in strict black tones. Such a performance of the hall helps the viewer to focus their attention as much as possible on what is happening on the stage.

• The ceiling and the stage box are painted black, the upholstery of the chairs is matched to them.
• The cladding of the balconies is made of curved wooden panels.
• The parterre and the mezzanine are decorated with load-bearing columns lined up in a semicircle of the same copper color as the balconies lining.
• In the author's grisaille curtain by Maria Solopova-Polyakova, we see the presence of both black and brown tones. In the drawing applied to the curtain, viewers can see tree branches, stairs, windows. And the planes on the curtain turned at different angles resemble the facade of a theater.

Theatrical buffet

The Cherry Orchard Moscow Theater Center surprises its guests not only with its halls, but also with a theatrical buffet, which deserves special attention. Its walls and ceilings are completely made of wood. Along the entire perimeter, visitors see wooden lattices, which are an angular asymmetrical pattern. They are somewhat similar to acoustic panels. In fact, their function is purely decorative, maintaining the general style of the theater. The stone floor and bar can be compared to a stone facade. Laconic round shades brightly and at the same time softly illuminate the entire room.

Moscow Theater Center Cherry Orchard: repertoire

Since its foundation, the repertoire of the theater center has been composed of the best works of both classics andcontemporary dramaturgy. The authors of the plays based on which performances were staged are Molière, Chekhov, Williams, Ionesco, Ostrovsky, Dostoevsky, Ulitskaya and others. Both the director and the actors consider it their task to preach the best human qualities in their works, to convey to the audience how important moral values are in the life of every person. To date, the theater's repertoire includes 19 productions, including those for children. For the performances Tartuffe, The Glass Menagerie, How Quickly Life Ends, the artistic director was awarded the Government Prize.

Performance "Russian jam"

I would especially like to note the play "Russian Jam" staged by director Nikolai Popkov. The author of the play of the same name, Lyudmila Ulitskaya, dedicated her work to the fate of the Russian intelligentsia. The choice of this particular play at the Vilkin Theater is not accidental. After all, being written a hundred years after Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, it is also comedic and ironic. At the same time, one can trace the piercing pain of the author, who understands how hopeless and futile the hopes of the intelligentsia are to somehow influence the course of development of Russian society. The content of the performance is as follows: a typical Moscow family, representatives of the intelligentsia, are unsuccessfully trying to prevent the destruction of the family home and save the family. After watching this performance, here each viewer can draw a parallel with himself, regretting what is left in the past, and afraid of the unknown that awaits in the future. A subtle and witty play calls people to the main thing - to keep things cleanand thoughts, to be heard by each other, to try to give yourself an answer that you can change in your home for the better. In the performance you can see the leading actors of the theater Vadim Raikin, Sergey Kovalev, Lyudmila Kozhevnikova and others.

Reviews of the audience about theatrical productions

The Cherry Orchard Moscow Theater Center receives the most positive feedback from its fans.

• Very convenient location of the theater, less than a minute walk from the Sukharevskaya metro station to the entrance.
• A modern innovation has been introduced in the theater - when entering the theater, you first pass through a magnetic frame.
• The theater has an unusual interesting interior, affordable tickets.
• You need to climb a beautiful spiral staircase to the floor you need.
• There are many portraits of honored artists who played here on the walls of the theater.
• Lots of mirrors in small spaces, which makes it possible to visually enlarge the space, and it seems huge.
• There are several elevators in the theater.
• In the hall, the seats are arranged in a semicircle, the rows are located at different levels, so the stage is clearly visible from any seat.
• The theater has a wonderful cast, young talented directors. Fans of theatrical art celebrate the colorful, with excellent musical accompaniment, performances by V. Annenkova, as well as the production of "Johnny and Hes" directed by A. Troshin.
• In the play "Tartuffe" based on the play by Moliere, beautiful scenery and costumes, the inspired play of the actors is impressive.
• In the Cherry Orchard you can also seeperformances from other theatres. For example, the audience was impressed by the play "Three Nights" based on Gogol's story "Viy", staged by the State Theater for Young Spectators of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).
• The theater itself has a very warm and pleasant atmosphere.

Also, regular visitors to the Cherry Orchard recommend buying tickets in advance, as the theater is always sold out on the day of the performance.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to note that the Cherry Orchard has succeeded in what some theaters have not been able to do until now – coexistence with a business center. The architects were able to achieve harmony in the neighborhood of the theater and offices. Being in the same building, they exist absolutely independently. In addition, the favorable location and the unusual design of the facade attract both Muscovites and guests of the city. If you have not visited the Cherry Orchard Moscow Theater Center yet, how to get there by public transport - see below:

• by metro to Sukharevskaya station - 80 meters to the theater;
• trolleybuses to the street. Meshchanskaya - 200 meters to the theater;
• by buses to Mira Avenue - 310 meters to the theater.