Kristin Scott Thomas brings modern steel to Chekhov's Orchard

Kristin Scott Thomas opened as Madame Ranevskaya at the Harold Pinter theatre, London, in a new adaptation of The Cherry Orchard by Conor McPherson. The verdict from the Guardian's review: she convinces as a matriarch of our time, but the production doesn't always land its emotional punches.

The role has drawn starry competition lately. Nina Hoss played the prodigal Russian landowner searingly in 2024; Helen Hunt took the part this summer with, in the reviewer's words, "a disappointing lack of sparkle." Scott Thomas splits the difference. The Guardian writes that she "brings a hard-edged modernity that you believe in."

That modernity is the production's sharpest asset. Despite the script's references to dachas and peasants, this Ranevskaya "feels of our time," the review notes. She could pass for an upper-middle-class Chelsea mother or a minister's wife, stewing in regret and an unfulfilled life.

Who made it, and what does it look like?

Ian Rickson directs. He and McPherson have Chekhov form: six years ago they brought a pitch-perfect Uncle Vanya to the West End, also at the Harold Pinter. The reunion follows the same recipe — elegant direction, plain-speaking text, a handsome surface.

Chloe Lamford's set design carries the metaphor. The crumbling drawing room bears damp patches and a faded grandeur, a decaying country house rendered without fuss. The review calls the whole "handsome and engaging."

What doesn't quite work?

Emotional force. McPherson's plain-speaking adaptation, co-starring Stephen Mangan, "doesn't always hit you emotionally," the Guardian finds. Ranevskaya, the landowner returning to her beloved estate and cherry orchard, deserves a production that breaks your heart as well as it dresses the stage.

Scott Thomas's performance supplies the edge. What the surrounding production supplies is polish. Whether that balance shifts as the run beds in will decide whether this Orchard joins the 2024 Hoss version in memory, or the Hunt one.