Ivo Saraiva e Silva directs The Cherry Orchard for FITEI, with ESAP students

It’s the last call to say our goodbyes. The Cherry Orchard, Anton Chekhov’s final work, presents us with a family burdened by debt as their estate faces bankruptcy: the grand cherry orchard that was once beautiful and lush, but is now a thing of the past. Saying goodbye to it means bidding farewell to memories, to what has become history but no longer makes history. All of this at a rapid pace because there is no time for goodbyes these days. Tonight, Chekhov’s pauses are reversed and time is accelerated. In this flurry of farewells, we try to counteract nostalgia and deal with the frustration of a future that is slow to materialize. If bodies have memory, then it is no longer clear whether these are faithful recollections of the past. Probably, the bodies have become stylized mementos of a moment that begins and ends here: that of performativity.

Amid theatrical scenes that intertwine like multiplied information, the irony of discourse is explored—sometimes through the suspension of intentions, sometimes through the malleability with which they metamorphose in an instant. In this way, the act of saying goodbye is examined in all its variations: from sadness to anxiety, from nostalgia to frustration, from pain to laughter used to mask misfortune. Laughter is the best way to cry.

The white of the cherry tree as it collapses merges with the shattering mask of privilege—or is it a privilege that we can still put on a mask to be here?

Watching an aging horizon can be like watching youth slip away. We are kissing Chekhov, yes, but surrendered to the present moment.

THE CHERRY ORCHARD
CAST: Beatriz Magalhães, Beatriz Oliveira, Hélia Viterbo, Lara Ferreira, Bia Ramos, Matilde Neto, and Luísa Loureiro.
TEXT: Anton Chekhov
TRANSLATION: António Pescada
DIRECTION: Ivo Saraiva e Silva
ART DESIGN: José Cruz
SONG WILLE’S SONG PERFORMED LIVE BY: Inês Leal
VOCAL SUPPORT: Sérgio de Brito
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: António Pescada, António Silva, Brígida Santos, Carlos Silva,
Francisco Falcão, Irene Saraiva, Paula Braga, Paula Guzmán Gil,
SillySeason, and Tomás Silva.

FITEI: https://fitei.com/en/evento/o-cerejal-esap-sala-de-bolso-assedio-teatro-2026/