"... the director formulates, during the show, through means of expression typical of his theatrical universe, a plethora of answers to this question. Many of them shall shock the Bucharest audience – I am inclined to believe that it is an enactment for which we are not yet fully prepared: we shall welcome with repeated calls on stage a mainly young cast, we, the spectators coming to the theatre specially to applaud our great actors, whom we only allow majestic, idol-like performances? We shall tolerate scenes of masculine frontal nudity (non-erotic) or the suite of ironies incorporating a „drag queen” role into a classic text? Or shall we borrow the words of Anton Pavlovich, after the 1896 premiere of „The Seagull” – „the play collapsed with noise, a heavy tension, perplexity and awkwardness were persisting inside the theatre. The actors performed badly and infamous.”? Will the chromatic Manichaeism of the fabulous costumes from the plays of this director, passionate about fashion design fool us and shall we divide shows, simplistically, into good and bad ones?

I myself, as an old theatre spectator, have been troubled, have felt, but I ended up seduced by the Doiashvilian interpretation of the Chekhovian text. Hence, I urge you not to lodge your axe into the risqué „Cherry Orchard” of David Doiașvili, which connects us to contemporary theatre through a fecund reading of the classic Chekhov.

...For Ioan Andrei Ionescu, Lopahin is the opportunity of his career on the country’s greatest stage and he does not miss it, Irina Movilă achieves a memorable Ranevskaia and Mihai Constantin’s performance (in the role of old Firs), with his Quasimodo gait, shall haunt us for a long time."

Horia Ghibutiu, Blog – Do not Lodge the Axe into Doiashvili’s “Cherry Orchard” at NTB

"...The Georgian director proposes a surprising interpretation of Chekhov’s last play, on a very poetic note, in a stage design with images of a beauty sticking to your retina, an anti-trend beauty I dare say, an almost stifling poetry, although justified to a large extent, and which, entailing a just rhythm of the show, makes this „Cherry Orchard” have, at least in the first part, a real seductive force.

The characters are themselves created in an interesting way, all the time at the border between pathos and the bantering of one’s own pathos. Ranevskaia, performed by Irina Movilă, is an overwhelming presence for all men around her – overwhelming through her irresistible femininity, like a volcano ready to erupt at any moment, mysterious, slightly insecure sometimes, bearing with her the burden of sufferings betrayed by her glances and especially by her smile.

In a flattering role, Ioan Andrei Ionescu is a Lopahin in whom one can strongly feel the rough force of progress, of the new world, the peasant building his life on his own, but who, without truly understanding, remains torn between two worlds.

Raluca Aprodu turns Varia into a character who does not stray too far from the consecrated Varia, is very self-confident, confers a repressed femininity and a sadness often erupting into shimmers of a childhood passed not long ago, like soap bubbles bursting, whereas she remained trapped in some kind of chronic incapacity to act towards her own happiness. Crina Semciuc is a surprising Ania, she is childish, a powerful appearance in her white, lace dress like a doll from another century, with her angels out of rags, which resembles her a little, she has humour and was not yet contaminated by the pathos around her."

Monica Andronescu, Yorick.ro – When The Cherry Orchard is a Stunt  

"Photograms of laughter, sadness, irony and a storm of feelings is what Georgian director David Doiashvili has created on the stage of the National Theatre of Bucharest, in ”The Cherry Orchard” by A.P. Chekhov, as in a kind of reversed and inner spyglass. A show which you can only attend with an open mind and this not only because the show contains scenes of nudity, but also because this family chronicle offered to you, in the stage format of a paraphrased reality show, is breaking your heart, dragging you through all life stages. In a world where everything seems on show and for sale, the ones on the stage and from the hall become the consumers of voyeuristic and interchangeable nostalgias.

...Monica Davidescu is shining in the role of Liubova Andreevna Ranevskaia."

Simona Ioniță, AgențiadeCarte.ro – An Orchard with Voyeuristic Nostalgias    

Festivals & Tours

2017 - Tbilisi International Theatre Festival, Georgia (October 8 and 9)