Galleon Theatre Presents THE CHERRY ORCHARD, March 30-April 25

In 2010, internationally acclaimed Galleon Theatre Company celebrates its second decade of presenting exceptional theatre; whilst the Greenwich Playhouse enjoys the 15th anniversary of its inception; and it is 150 years since the birthday of Anton Chekhov. To mark this triple celebration, Galleon is delighted to present Chekhov's last play - The Cherry Orchard.

The Cherry Orchard opens with the return of an aristocratic Russian woman and her family to their estate, which includes a large cherry orchard, and just before it is auctioned to pay the mortgage. Even though,they are presented with opportunities to save their home they fail to act and the play ends with theproperty being sold to the son of a former serf, and with them leaving to the sound of the cherry orchardbeing destroyed. The Cherry Orchard exposes both the failure of the aristocracy to maintain its status and the ineptitude of the bourgeoisie to find a worthwhile purpose for their newly found materialism. The play further revealsthe socio-economic forces at work in Russia at the turn of the 20th century, such as the rise of the middleclasses after the abolition of serfdom (mid-19th century) and the annihilation of the aristocracy.

The Cherry Orchard will play the Greenwich Playhouse from 30th March - 25th April 2010. Performance times are as follows: Tues-Sat @ 7.30pm - Sun @ 4pm. Tickets: £12, £10 (concs.). Box Office: 020 8858 9256 - boxoffice@galleontheatre.co.uk. The Greenwich Playhouse is locatd at Greenwich Station Forecourt, 189 Greenwich High Road LONDON SE10 8JA. For more information visit www.galleontheatre.co.uk.

The hugely talented and versatile cast includes: MAGGIE DANIELS (Ranyevskaia); ASHLEY DAVID (Yasha); JASON DENYER (Gayev); NIK DRAKE (Trofimov); SUZAnne GoldBERG (Varia); TARA HART (Charlotta); NICHOLASKARPENKO (Yepihodov); CLARE MCMAHON (Ania); ROBERT PAUL (Lopakhin); FLEUR SHEPHERD (Dooniasha); RICHARD UNWIN (Pishchik).

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was born in Russia and came to be regarded as one of its most celebrated of writers. Few playwrights have had a more remarkable impact on theatre and his five full length plays haveundisputedly secured his place alongside the world's greatest dramatists. Chekhov also wrote farces, comicsketches, one-act plays, made regular contributions as a journalist and is further considered to be anexcellent short story writer.

The Cherry Orchard is creatively spearheaded by a very experienced and award winning team.

The Director - BRUCE JAMIESON has previously directed thirty highly successful Galleon theatre productions and played leading roles in some sixty stage plays. As an actor, his televisionand film credits also include The Oxford Murders (Odeon); Murphy's Law (Tiger Aspect); Monarch of the Glen (Ecosse); Ali G-Inda House (Universal); Roughnecks (BBC); In Suspicious Circumstances (Granada); Crime Solver (BBC); and Spongebob (BBC). He is the co-founder of the Greenwich Playhouse, Galleon Theatre Company and Galleon Films.

The Producer is multi-award winner ALICE DE SOUSA who in 2009 won two prestigious international awards, including the Portuguese government's ‘Premio de Talento' in recognition of her 25 year career in the theatre. She has created over seventy stage productions; played leadingroles in some thirty theatre plays; and written many highly acclaimed stage and screen scripts. In 2005 the American Biographical Institute awarded her with ‘ Great Women of the 21 st Century ' and‘ Woman of the Year 2005' . (These awards exclusively recognise the impact on society of the work of 1000 prolific women worldwide). The translation by ELISAVETA FEN still stands as one of the very best because of its poetical use of the English language, its judicious sense of period, formidable ability to create for the reader and the audience a rich and complex sense of Russia whilst avoiding the tendency, often found inmore recent translations, to unnecessarily Anglicise and modernise Chekhov's painstakingly drawn Russia.

The Company - Galleon Theatre Company has staged over the last twenty years a uniquely diverse body or work which has included quality new writing, full scale musicals, World Premières of neglected European writers and large cast revivals of the classics.

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