Project Detail

The Orchard

Synopsis

A unique take on the world's most performed play The Cherry Orchard. The film explores Chekhov's play and Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author creating a new space between narrative and documentary.

Six actors are brought together in a country house over one weekend to put on an improvised version of The Cherry Orchard. They are pleased to see each other again and begin to explore the house and talk about old times. They chat about the play and what they feel needs to be done during this weekend but as they cast themselves as suitable characters cracks begin to appear. They discuss the dramatic themes - longing for things past, decay, regret, loss, spite and jealousy which slowly and imperceptibly begin to take over the actors and their characters. Little do the actors realise they will be consumed by the play both as the characters, over which they argue, bitch, make alliances and betrayals, and as themselves, loving, jealous, spiteful, bullying human beings. What begins as a light-hearted weekend of theatrical fun gradually turns into a self-doubting and destructive scenario.
As they gather in the garden to make their theatrical entrance will they ever be able to be friends again?

Details

Year
2013
Type of film
Features
Running time
104 mins
Format
EXDCAM
Director
Lynda Myer-Bennett, Clive Myer 1st Feature
Producer
Lynda Myer-Bennett, Clive Myer
Executive Producer
Allan Niblo
Editor
Lynda Myer-Bennett, Clive Myer
Screenwriter
Lynda Myer-Bennett, Clive Myer
Director of Photography
Clive Myer
Production Designer
Lynda Myer-Bennett, Clive Myer
Sound
Lynda Myer-Bennett
Music
Andy Saunders
Principal cast
Lucy Black, Paul Currier, Daisy Douglas, Dorothea Myer-Bennett, Richard Neale, Dan Winter
Second Unit Camera
George Myer
Sound Design
Carl Boland
Sound Re-recordist
Jules Woods
Postproduction Sound Facility
Technicolor Sound Services

Production Status

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