ANTON Chekhov's tragi-comic The Cherry Orchard is to be staged in York for the first time in more than 15 years by the York Settlement Community Players this month.

Last presented in the city with Miriam Margolyes as Madame Ranyevskaya in the late Sir John Mortimer’s new adaptation at the Theatre Royal in October 1999, the play was picked only weeks ago by theatre critic Michael Billington in his personal list of the 101 most important plays.

Directed by Settlement stalwart Helen Wilson at the Friargate Theatre from September 24 to 27, the new production promises to bring out the humour in Chekhov’s 1904 Russian work with its the host of colourful characters grappling with change, both social and financial.

“There’s a governess who used to be in the circus and does magic tricks, a character who drops everything and walks into doors and another who has a ridiculous catchphrase," says Helen. “Russians have a different social code, they’re very demonstrative and if you ask them how they are they’ll tell you.” She points out that Chekhov was a doctor as well as a playwright, a profession that gave him access to a variety of people on many social levels. “He began to notice their different speech rhythms and in this sense he was a forerunner of Alan Bennett and Alan Ayckbourn, both writers concerned with the human condition and the comic potential this affords," says Helen. "The Cherry Orchard describes what happens when a colourful bunch of people are faced with inevitable change. It’s tragic but there’s laughter through the tears.”

Performances will start at 7.30pm on September 24 to 26 and at 2.30pm on September 26 and 27. Box office: 01904 613000 or online at ridinglights.org