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CHERRY GARDEN

This is our first show inspired by a great theatre classic. A chorus of female figures suspended between variety and melodrama.

etude pour un vaudeville en travesti plein de paillettes

"In every tree of this garden, in every leaflet, in every trunk,
there are human beings watching us.
Don't you hear their voices?"

Il giardino delle ciligie
Cherry Garden: etude pour un vaudeville en travesti plein de paillettes

This is our first show inspired by a great theatre classic.
A chorus of female figures suspended between variety and melodrama.

THE SHOW
The Cherry Orchard is a borderland, a far horizon in spacetime.
The Cherry Orchard is a crossroad of opposite worlds.
The Cherry Orchard is is a forest full of ghosts, too soon forgotten.
The Cherry Orchard is a syncopated symphony.
The Cherry Orchard is a drag queen.
Francesco Micheli

The Cherry Orchard by Chekhov is a small family saga, set during an era of great change. The characters of the play struggle against everyday situations which seem meaningless, such as unrequited loves, deserted parties, long walks among the cherry trees.

In our version, six women wait for the end. Around them, a group of men, a chorus of male voices invoking the sale of the garden, the inevitable countdown. From Checkov’s lines emerges a feeling, a kind of nostalgia for a lost world, a childhood that would never return but which hasn’t been forgotten. The female world of Chekhov is varied and intriguing: ladies, sisters, mothers, daughters and stepdaughters, caregivers, waitresses, maids, housekeepers, tricksters, lovers, would-be girlfriends, city women, country women.

They are travelers without a passport, divas without a stage, tragic heroines without a tragedy. And they laugh, they laugh all the time. But always through their tears.

CREDITS

CHERRY GARDEN
etude pour un vaudeville en travesti plein de paillettes
adaptation and direction Francesco Micheli
with Alessio Calciolari, Gianluca Di Lauro, Sax Nicosia,
Stefano Orlandi, Lorenzo Piccolo, Ulisse Romanò
scenes Clara Storti, Selena Zanrosso
costumes Giada Masi
lights Giulia Pastore
sound Giuliana Ginger Rienzi
assistant director Luisa Costi

production Nina’s Drag Queens
in collaboration with Atir Teatro Ringhiera, Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera – Biennio Specialistico in Scenografia Teatrale

scenes e costumes realization Omar Abu Fakher, Giulia Bassani, Alice Damiani, Marco Faffini, Du Jiao, Clementina Laura Manzi, Petra Nacmias Indri, Soyoun Park, Giulia Piazza, Elena Rossetti, Riccardo Rossi, Cristina Russo, Giulia Simonetti, Miriam Tritto, Yi Wu, Marianna Zarini, Jessica Zisa, Chiara Barlassina, Alessandra Locatelli, Alice Rossi, Duan YanYan, Mu Xiuja

thanks to Prof.ssa Grazia Manigrasso, Prof.ssa Francesca Biral, Prof.ssa Paola Giorgi, Prof. Angelo Lodi, Prof.ssa Donatella Mondani, Prof.ssa Maria Antonietta Tovini, Prof.ssa Berina Kokona, Tecnico didattico Beatrice Laurora; per il supporto nell’elaborazione dei costumi, gli studenti Gerlando Dispenza, Eloisa Libutti, Sara Mezzanzanica

PRESS REVIEW
No more time for the whining. Today, finally, Chekhov make us laugh. A Chekhov as you have never seen before, almost a discovery. These wonderful queens of resistance, led by Francesco Micheli, have transformed the cherry trees into cherries, female characters. (…) Gorgeous, delicious cherries.
Fausto Malcovati, Hystrio

Grotesque, light and melodramatic: that is Nina’s Drag Queens’ Checov.
Sara Chiappori, Repubblica

Nina’s Drag Queens successfully build a world apart where even Chekhov utopias find space ( … ), thanks also to the great sense of proportion and balance of Micheli’s direction. Literally a triumph: will see them again soon.
Maurizio Porro, Corriere della Sera

A skillful mix of languages and techniques,
built on a clear and clever writing.
Paolo Schiavi , La Libertà

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