Some of the finest talents of New York and London theatre converge at the Old Vic theatre to launch the London leg of an extraordinary venture – The Bridge Project – an unprecedented three-year, transatlantic partnership uniting the Old Vic theatre with Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Neal Street Productions.

The transatlantic company take to the stage in Laurence Olivier Award-winner Tom Stoppard’s (Arcadia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour) new version of The Cherry Orchard, Anton Chekhov’s daring, droll meditation on bourgeois materialism and what remains in its wake.

The Cherry Orchard was Chekhov’s last play and tells the tragic story of an aristocratic Russian family who return one last time to their family estate before it is auctioned off.

Sam Mendes was founder and Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse for a decade and has directed theatre at the RSC, National Theatre, plus both in the West End and on Broadway. His film directorial credits include Road to Perdition and the upcoming Revolutionary Road. He won an Academy Award for his debut film American Beauty.

The cast of The Cherry Orchard at the Old Vic theatre includes Laurence Olivier Award-winner Simon Russell Beale, Sinead Cusack, Ethan Hawke, Richard Easton, Josh Hamilton and Rebecca Hall. It plays in rep with The Winter’s Tale.

For more about The Cherry Orchard at the Old Vic, read the First Night Feature.