Arts Club Theatre Presents The Orchard (After Chekhov)

March 15, 2019

With the bank calling and money low, will the Basrans be able to save their beloved orchard? Sarena Parmar’s The Orchard (After Chekhov) is an adaptation of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard as told through the lens of a Punjabi-Sikh family living in the Okanagan Valley.

Inspired by the playwright’s own childhood, this fresh adaptation confronts life, loss and the Canadian immigrant experience with both humour and beauty.

[Munish Sharma, Laara Sadiq, Andrew Cownden]

Parmar was born in Prince George and raised in Kelowna (her family is originally from Punjab, India). She has extensive film, television and theatre acting credits and became the first South Asian playwright to be produced by the Shaw Festival when The Orchard (After Chekhov) premiered last summer.

A graduate of the National Theatre School and the Birmingham Conservatory of Classical Theatre, Parmar is also a recipient of the Elliott Hayes Playwright Development Fund awarded by the Stratford Festival.

[Laara Sadiq]

According to Artistic Director Ashlie Corcoran, “I have always loved Chekhov’s writing—and The Cherry Orchard in particular— but what grabbed me about Sarena’s play was its particular sense of place. The play has a great sense of longing and melancholy, infused with contemporary humour and humanity which transposes Chekhov’s writing for our Arts Club audience, in our time.”

Director Jovanni Sy added, “This play really spoke to me—it’s about people in search of identity and the factors out of their control that keep them disoriented.”

Arts Club Theatre Presents The Orchard (After Chekhov)

Dates: March 21 to April 21; Tuesday to Thursday, 7:30 pm; Friday, Saturday, 8 pm; Wednesday, 1:30 pm; Saturday, Sunday, 2 pm
Venue: Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage, 2750 Granville Street, Vancouver
Tickets: From $29; available online or via 604.687.1644

Photos by David Cooper.