The first-night notices for The Cherry Orchard are warm on the whole, though far from unanimous. Ian Rickson directs Chekhov’s last play in a new version by Conor McPherson, with Kristin Scott Thomas as Ranevskaya, the landowner who comes home from Paris to an estate she can no longer afford, and Stephen Mangan as Lopakhin, the former serf’s son who offers to save it. Most critics find Scott Thomas riveting, and the Telegraph calls her hypnotic. Mangan divides them more sharply: Time Out hails a career best, while The Times and the Guardian find him less convincing. McPherson’s plain-spoken, often sweary script draws both the warmest praise and the strongest objections, with the Daily Mail almost alone in disliking the evening. The one thing nearly everyone agrees on is Karl Johnson’s Firs.
The verdict: ten reviews in so far: six four-star notices, two at three stars and one at two, plus The Times, whose rating sits behind its paywall. Among the nine that score, the average is 3.6 out of 5. The critics part company over Stephen Mangan’s Lopakhin and over how well Conor McPherson’s plain-spoken version suits the play, but nearly all of them single out Karl Johnson’s Firs.
What are critics saying about THE CHERRY ORCHARD?
The Independent
"Kristin Scott Thomas is compelling in a Chekhov play that’s very, very funny... until it’s not"
Reviewer: Alice Saville
Saville finds the house itself the real antagonist of Ian Rickson’s claustrophobic staging, and she is warm about almost everyone living in it: Stephen Mangan’s Lopakhin is a damaged man still in awe of the family, and Karl Johnson’s Firs gets some of the sharpest lines.
"Kristin Scott Thomas plays lady of the house Ranevskaya with a compelling kind of apathy."
Her one reservation is that the production is so determinedly plain that it misses a little splendour, but she credits Rickson with a real command of the play’s comedy, right up to the point where it stops being funny.
WhatsOnStage
"A smart and salty West End revival"
Reviewer: Alun Hood
Hood rates this Ranevskaya above Scott Thomas’s celebrated Arkadina for the same director: a woman far more fragile than her regal manner suggests, still marked by the loss of a child. He thinks Mangan just as memorable, and finds no weak link anywhere in the supporting cast.
"Rickson’s direction is masterful, alive to every nuance, confidently embracing the dualities in Chekhov’s text…"
He concedes that not every element of the update lands, but calls that a minor point against one of the strongest ensembles currently on a London stage.
Time Out
"A career best performance from Stephen Mangan"
Reviewer: Andrzej Lukowski
After several unconventional London Chekhovs, Lukowski welcomes Rickson’s more classical hand, and he enjoys the extra laughs that Conor McPherson’s adaptation finds, not least in Karl Johnson’s foul-mouthed Firs.
"…an absolutely storming performance – dare I say career best – from the perennially underestimated Stephen Mangan…"
His Lopakhin stays devoted to the family rather than turning on them, which the critic finds unusually moving. Scott Thomas is very good too, and his only puzzle is costumes that seem to drift towards the 1960s as the evening goes on.
LondonTheatre.co.uk
"Kristin Scott Thomas is remarkable in this gorgeous, elegiac production"
Reviewer: Marianka Swain
Swain sees the house as a place full of ghosts and praises Scott Thomas for giving Ranevskaya both authority and a believable grief, so that her refusal to sell becomes understandable rather than merely foolish.
"Mangan is brilliantly excruciating as his socially awkward character keeps putting his foot in it."
She also likes the way McPherson’s script mixes romance with blunt modern phrasing, and names a long list of the company, from Peter Wight’s Gaev to Vinette Robinson’s Varya, as part of a superb ensemble.
The Guardian
"Kristin Scott Thomas makes a modern matriarch in trad, earthy Chekhov"
Reviewer: Arifa Akbar
Akbar believes in this Ranevskaya as a thoroughly modern woman and calls the production handsome and engaging, with plenty of humour in McPherson’s frank, sometimes sweary text.
"Scott Thomas looks the part as the matriarch, wearing an emotional armour."
Her complaint is that the edges have been softened: the drama never reaches tragic depth, and she finds Mangan’s powerless Lopakhin only half convincing. The moments that do land for her belong to Robinson’s Varya and to Johnson’s abandoned Firs.
All That Dazzles
"Conor McPherson’s adaptation of the Anton Chekhov classic is a mixed bag, proving very hit and miss"
Reviewer: Daz Gale
Gale lays the problems at the adaptation’s door: an uncertain tone, a heavy reliance on swearing and a stage gun that is introduced and never used. He credits Rickson with keeping it lively, and admires Chloe Lamford’s set and Bruno Poet’s lighting.
"…a production full of sharp-shooting ideas that more often than not ended up firing blanks."
He finds Scott Thomas spellbinding at her best but sometimes eclipsed, thinks Mangan is underused after a strong start, and names Johnson’s Firs the standout performance.
Daily Mail
"Kristin’s bite at this listless Cherry has missed the historical mark"
Reviewer: Patrick Marmion
Marmion is the outlier. He objects to a staging that seems to have moved to the 1980s and to dialogue rewritten in everyday modern idiom, and argues that without a sense of history there is little at stake.
"…in Conor McPherson's hollowed-out 'reimagining' of the play, any sense of place or class struggle has all but vanished."
He finds Scott Thomas aloof and Mangan too polished for a peasant’s son, and the only things he enjoys are Johnson’s Firs and the party scene after the interval.
Also reviewed by: The Telegraph (Dominic Cavendish, "Kristin Scott Thomas is hypnotic in a riveting Cherry Orchard") and The Stage (Dave Fargnoli, "Refreshing, clear and unfussy"), both at four stars, and The Times (Clive Davis, "All eyes on a chilling Kristin Scott Thomas"), whose reviews sit behind paywalls.
For more on the production, see our first look at the company in rehearsal and the first production photos, which came with news of £30 front-row seats for under-30s.
The Cherry Orchard is booking at the Harold Pinter Theatre until Saturday 9 January 2027.
