The Cherry Orchard

A double dose of both Anton Chekhov and Judi Dench, this two-disc set includes a pair of full performances of the writer's final play, The Cherry Orchard (1904), both featuring the Oscar-winning actress. The play—which is representative of what Gorky called Chekhov's portrayal of “the tragedy of life's trivialities”—centers on an impoverished aristocratic family trying to save their rural estate and an adjoining orchard (both representing the traditional Russian way of life) from middle-class entrepreneurs. In a 1962 Royal Shakespeare Company production, taped in black-and-white, Dench plays Anya in a cast that also includes Peggy Ashcroft as Anya's mother Madame Ranevsky (as well as Ian Holm and John Gielgud, with the latter also responsible for the translation), while in a 1981 BBC color version, directed by Richard Eyre, Dench stars as Ranevsky, with Suzanne Burden as Anya (costarring Bill Paterson and Timothy Spall). Both are good mountings of an important play, although the earlier version is technically very much of its time, stage bound and marked by blurry video, while the 1981 reading is more visually striking and subtly played. DVD extras include an hour-long conversation between Dench and Eyre (who also directed Dench in 2006's Notes on a Scandal), covering not only The Cherry Orchard but the actress' entire career, with well-chosen excerpts from her stage and television work. Highly recommended. [Note: this title is also included in the eight-disc The Judi Dench Collection, compiling an additional seven BBC productions, priced at $99.98.] (F. Swietek)