The West End kicks off another tantalising season this month, with the opening of a classic play with mega star power. The wildly witty The Cherry Orchard is the sharp Kristin Scott Thomas comedy every Slow Horses fan must see. Set in the backdrop of a changing Russia in the early 20th century, this British adaptation – by Olivier Award-winning playwright Conor McPherson (The Weir) and directed by Olivier and Tony Award nominee Ian Rickson (Uncle Vanya) – reminds us that just because a play may be old (about 120 years old, to be exact) doesn’t mean it’s dated. It rings familiar bells and invokes endless chuckles for audiences today.
In the iconic Chekov dark comedy, Kristin Scott Thomas (Slow Horses, Fleabag, Four Weddings And A Funeral) returns to the stage as an eccentric prodigal Russian landowner, oozing in charm and representing a time and place quickly slipping away. We find ourselves in the safe comedic hands of Stephen Mangan (The Split, Episodes, Green Wing) as the two go head-to-head in this story of love, family, ambition and neglect. They’re joined by a dazzling and energetic cast, showing us that theatre can be both funny, charming and dramatically stirring all in one neat two-hour show.
Here’s everything you need to know about this new production, where and when to catch it and if it’s worth leaving the house for.
What’s The Cherry Orchard about?
Anton Chekhov’s final play is a bittersweet comedy about a family watching its old way of life disappear. Set in a changing Russia, it follows an aristocratic household struggling to keep hold of its ancestral estate as debts mount and the future closes in.
Madame Lyubov Ranevskaya (Kristin Scott Thomas) returns from Paris to find the family’s home in disrepair and close to being sold. Lopakhin (Stephen Mangan), a wealthy businessman, whose father and grandfather were peasants who spent their lives working for the eccentric family, offers a way to save it: cut down the famous cherry orchard and divide the land into holiday cottages. But for Ranevskaya and her brother, Leonid Gaev (Peter Wight, Uncle Vanya and Early Doors), the orchard is bound up with their childhood, the joys and the traumas, as well as everything they’re about to lose.
As auction day approaches, the family must face a difficult choice: cling to the past or accept the changes that might secure their future. Chekhov sets this surprisingly comedic tragedy against a country in flux, making the play as much about a changing country at the precipice of unknown movement as it is about a family’s quirky relations. We meet characters as they navigate new love, old losses, family ties and the shift of the power dynamics they once defined themselves by.
Who’s in the cast of The Cherry Orchard?
This superb cast is headed up by the one and only Kristen Scott Thomas as the leading lady Lyubov Ranevskaya. Fresh from her piercing portrayal of Diana Taverner in the recent Series 6 of Slow Horses, she’s joined on stage by fellow familiar face Stephen Mangan (who’ll be a guest speaker at next month’s Good Housekeeping Live 2026) as the ambitious Lopakhin.
The cast list also includes Poldark and Industry actress Ruby Bentall as Sharlotta, the hilarious German governess; Call The Midwife’s Megan Cusack as Dunyasha, the flirtatious housemaid; stage acting legend Karl Johnson as the loveable yet geriatric valet Firs (a real highlight of the play); and a punchy extended ensemble of actors, whose performances hold up the humour and energy of this story through their wit and chemistry.
Where and when is The Cherry Orchard showing?
The Ian Rickson production is playing at London’s Harold Pinter Theatre from 3 October 2026 until 9 January 2027. No news has been announced yet regarding its UK touring capabilities, nor has a streaming deal been confirmed. But if we’re using our best judgement, with this calibre of talent involved, we’d recommend keeping your eyes peeled for a potential NTLive cinema slot in the coming months, ideal for those unable to get down to the capital in time – fingers crossed.
Is The Cherry Orchard worth seeing?
We begin in a room that might be a living room, dining room or even a ballroom. Its precise purpose is left delightfully unclear, but its former grandeur is obvious. Now it feels like a place people pass through on their way to the next thing: the next class, the next chapter, the next version of Russia. It’s a clever first impression of a family whose old world is slipping away.
If Chekhov sounds a little daunting, Conor McPherson’s wonderfully dry, sarcastic and unapologetically British adaptation is a reassuringly funny way in. Stephen Mangan gets the comedy going almost immediately, with effortless charm, physical humour and just the right amount of self-deprecation. But there’s a rawness beneath Lopakhin’s jokes: his desperation to belong to the world he once had to serve. ‘We could be giants,’ he says. ‘But giants scare people,’ they respond, reminding us there’s something deeper beneath the laughs.
Kristin Scott Thomas is a joy to watch. She brings such zest to the Madame that you can feel her having fun with the role, playing off the cast and letting the character’s nerves bubble just beneath her sunny surface so much that they’re almost visible. ‘She has an allergy when it comes to all the basic facts of life’ is a line that rather neatly captures her. The whole ensemble has an easy, finely tuned chemistry that makes this mismatched family feel real, while Ian Rickson’s nimble direction keeps the exchanges sparkling.
The Harold Pinter Theatre’s intimate staging helps, too. You feel close enough to be caught up in the family reunion, while the room’s quiet sense of decay keeps the larger story in view. Class, revolution and cultural change are all there, but the play doesn’t stop to lecture you about them. The witty exchanges and darker undertones simply mingle, and the just-over-two-hour running time flies by.
Then comes a brief, unsettling final scene that leaves the laughter hanging in the air. Beneath the family comedy is a sharper question about what happens when privilege lets good fortune go to ruin, and the ripple effects such carelessness can cause. I’d recommend it for the performances, the pace and the surprising warmth. For a lovely view of the stage, I’d choose the front of the dress circle (perfectly located near the bar and the loos, too). Go for the wit and Kristin Scott Thomas’s sparkling turn; stay for the moment the laughter catches in your throat.