Arts Reviews

Irish Times writers review The Cherry Orchard , the Whelan, O'Brien, Milne, Irish Baroque Orchestra/Huggett performance and the Dara McGrath exhibition By the Way

The Cherry Orchard

The Abbey Theatre

Helen Meany

If the history of Russia in the 20th century had been completely different, we would still be moved by Chekhov's plays. It is not only hindsight's awareness of the ensuing destruction and suffering, the purges and the gulag, that lends the optimism of the young characters in The Cherry Orchard such poignancy today, and it is a mistake to credit Chekhov with excessive prescience. He was not a seer, but he was an extraordinarily sympathetic observer of the human comedy.

Sympathetic but detached, presenting his characters without judgement. And in Tom Murphy's new version of The Cherry Orchard, the characters - masters and servants - speak to us in a language that is supple, clear and fresh, with Irish inflections that seem unforced. This is pre-Revolutionary Russia but it is also here, now, and immediately calls to mind Murphy's own play, The House. The hopeful speech by the "eternal student" Trofimov (Michael Colgan) about the need to atone for the past in order to live fully in the present is resonant without being didactic.

The businessman Lopakhin (Lorcan Cranitch) is the most recognisably contemporary figure, with his plan to buy the country estate from its feckless aristocratic owner Lyobov (Donna Dent) and her brother Gayev (Nick Dunning), to cut down the cherry orchard and build holiday cottages. But he is not demonised as a gombeen man - by Chekhov, Murphy or by Patrick Mason's direction. Even in his triumphant dance after the house's auction, he is painfully aware of the end of an era, the passing of things. And, while he was frustrated in his attempts to galvanise the owners of the estate into any action to save it, he too was overcome by inertia in his attempts to speak his heart to Lyobov's adopted daughter Varya (Alison McKenna).

As they drift through the beautifully stripped rooms of Joe Vanek's interior, these characters are suspended, waiting for the inevitable. The pace in the second act is slowed to such an extent that time seems to have stopped. Lyobov is savouring the moment, the last days with her family, friends and servants and appears to be passively surrendering to her fate as an impoverished exile in Paris. Only in her impassioned exchange with Trofimov, in defence of love, do we see her true strength of character, wonderfully portrayed by Donna Dent.

Her performance, and that of Nick Dunning, Clara Simpson as the eccentric governess, and Simon O'Gorman as a tramp, stand out from an excellent ensemble, supported by Conor Linehan's score, Cormac Carroll's sound design, Paul Keogan's lighting, and all delicately orchestrated by Patrick Mason to create a mood that is both elegiac and celebratory. Runs until March 13th.

Whelan, O'Brien, Milne, Irish Baroque Orchestra/Huggett

St Peter's Church of Ireland, Drogheda

Martin Adams

Corelli - Concerto Grosso in F Op 6 No 2.

Biber - Battalia.

Muffat - Sonata No 2 in G minor (Armonico Tributo).

Vivaldi - Bassoon Concerto in C.

Telemann - Concerto in A minor for alto recorder and bass viol.

Vivaldi - Summer.

This concert opened the Irish Baroque Orchestra's spring tour. It also opened an important venture by Drogheda Borough Council - an eleven-concert series throughout the year in the fine surroundings and excellent acoustics of St Peter's Church of Ireland.

The tour is the culmination of a week of intensive rehearsals with the early-music specialist Monica Huggett. The programmes vary, but most focus on concertos from a wide range of composers.

Ever since the IBO (formerly Christ Church Baroque) was founded around seven years ago, the main challenge has been to establish standards and identity.

That requires clear-headed policy, a regular corps of string players, and extended contact with the best early-music specialists. A week of rehearsals is not really enough.

But this concert suggests that Ireland's only regular period-instrument orchestra is heading in the right direction.

Monica Huggett has a knack of inspiring confidence even as she presses things to the edge. In the all-string concertos by Corelli and Vivaldi and in Biber's astonishing Battalia, the playing of this almost entirely Irish orchestra had élan and certainty.One of the most important reasons for this was the concentration on unanimity of articulation and gesture. Ensemble was occasionally ragged, but that has little importance compared with collective certainty about the techniques to use, the sounds to make, and why.

It was rewarding and encouraging to see Irish soloists meet the standards set by Monica Huggett's gripping solo work in Summer from Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Peter Whelan showed humane insouciance and apt variety of gesture in the astonishing virtuosity of Vivaldi's Bassoon Concerto in C. In Telemann's Concerto in A minor for alto recorder and bass viol, Laoise O'Brien and Nicholas Milne were the respective soloists, and did full justice to music brimming with calculated eloquence.

The IBO and Monica Huggett play at the National Gallery this evening (6.30 p.m.), Kings Inns Dublin on Saturday, St Nicholas Collegiate Church Galway on Sunday.

For details telephone (01) 6337283.

Dara McGrath

By the Way

Mark Ewart

Dara McGrath's photographs at the Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, Cork, are striking for their simple, matter-of-fact recording of our everyday surroundings. Specifically, his choice of subject focuses on on the development of our road network, and its subsequent effect upon the landscape and surrounding communities.

What we get then is a series of images that are essentially documentary in their ambition, showing views of trenches, waste land, bridges, bollard's etc. There is nothing particularly remarkable about these subjects themselves and this follows through into the artists' depiction, as he avoids seducing the viewer with atmospheric light conditions or dramatic tensions.

Why is it then, that these photographs turn out to be quite arresting, with a beguiling, understated beauty that seems to grow the longer you spend with them? The main reason is that even though there's no conventional aesthetic sensibility in operation, there is nonetheless a subtle discernment at work. Elements of pattern and texture become more noticeable, as does a rather elegant and considered awareness of linear perspective and arrangement in space.

Another reason why these photographs are so engaging is that there is a reflective motive for documenting the roadways and their surroundings. This comes from the artist making a statement about the urgency of the transition from old to new and a concern that as a consequence; important aspects of our identity and heritage might be left by the wayside. This is not however necessarily a yearning for the "good old days", as the photographs almost seem energised by the changes under way and the optimism that might bring with it.

Runs until March 6th.