The Cherry Orchard

Book excerpt: Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet, in this unique adaptation of one of the great masterpieces of the theater, allows us to see Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" in totally new and surprising ways. As Mamet explains in his introduction, he views the play "as a series of scenes about sexuality and, particularly, frustrated sexuality" rather than about a dying Russia. The result, said 'The Sentinel,' "blows a gust of fresh air into the old play" while the Chicago Sun-Times called it "audacious [and] consistently arresting." "Mamet the adaptor has turned Chekhov's Cherry Orchard into a Mamet play. Mamet's ear is famously impeccable, the dialogue is always authentic and convincing . . . . This is a tribute to its strong point of view and clear point of departure. If nothing else, it will help to undermine our silly critical notions of 'definitive' Chekhov. Mamet has made me rethink the play." - Robert Brustein, 'The New Republic'