‘Cherry Orchard’ has pits but still palatable

Director Larason Guthrie knows that Anton Chekhov meant for “The Cherry Orchard” to be a comedy. When Guthrie makes introductory remarks at the Belfast Maskers Railroad Theater, where the production is being staged through May 26, he assures audiences that it’s OK to laugh.

And laugh is what we’re prepared to do when the sun comes up on the estate of Madame Ranevskaya in turn-of-the-century Russia. We learn she is broke and must sell her famous cherry orchard if she intends to be solvent. Lopakhin, a merchant, tries to advise her, but Ranevskaya can’t be bothered with the technicalities. A frivolous landowner, she is neither interested in nor accustomed to money matters.

Although it may not sound like comedic material, “The Cherry Orchard” is so completely textured with human foibles and relationships that it can’t help but be intrinsically funny. Jean-Claude van Itallie’s English translation of the script gives the actors plenty of room for infusing the play’s characters and situations with onstage humor.

But Chekhov is not easy stuff to perform, and the high demands of the style are just beyond the reach of this community cast. It’s clear that Guthrie intends the humor to be there and that the actors are having a good time. That’s always fun to watch. But many of the lines are delivered with such deliberation or pensiveness that they lose their comic potential and the fluidity of Chekhov’s vision. Chekhov was a naturalistic writer, after all, and that quality gets compromised too often in this production.

That’s not to say that there aren’t fine performances among these actors. Basil Burwell takes on the role of Firs, an 87-year-old valet who’s like the freed slave unable to adjust to a life without the needs of his master. An inveterate professional, Burwell brings grace and hilarity to this bit part of a mumbling old man tied to his lifelong profession.

Ron Cowan, as Ranevskaya’s brother Gayev, is another gem in this cast. A true storyteller, Cowan is lively and melodic in his line delivery. William Nelson is also entertaining as Simeonov-Pishchik, a neighboring landowner who’s constantly finagling for cash handouts from his once-wealthy friends.

In the lead role of Madame Ranevskaya, Lisa Goodridge is spacey and dismissive, as if her character had little human complexity left in her outmoded and loopy head. Her Ranevskaya is pert, but not terribly sympathetic. Peter Conant, as the upwardly mobile son of serfs, could have more finesse, too.

Decent performances are given in supporting roles played by Jenn Hall, Jennifer Oakes, Christine Millet, Josh Pelletier and Michael Fletcher, all of whom uphold the Maskers tradition of theatrical sincerity that so often works its magic in this company.

Susan Weinz’s set, made up of movable pieces that suggest a country estate and its environs, is awash in the subdued colors of summer and fall. Kathleen P. Brown’s lovely Victorian clothes in sepia tones blend nicely with Gail Savitz’s lighting design, and both help to create the pastoral mood of this rural setting.

So often, Chekhov is staged in a stodgy style and becomes a bore. That’s not the case in the Maskers production. Yes, the pace is too slow and lines get tossed into the orchard, but this production does not fall victim to typecasting all things Russian as dark and dreary.

We may not laugh as often as Guthrie and Chekhov intend, but we can appreciate the difficulty of the task the Maskers have taken on, and sense the delight that the company obviously takes in performing this piece.

“The Cherry Orchard” will be performed 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 5 p.m. Sunday through May 26 at the Railroad Theater. For tickets, call 338-9668.