Being totally unfamiliar with Chekov's plays, I at first thought I'd made a terrible mistake coming to watch Miracle Theatre's The Cherry Orchard at the Princess Pavilion rather than lounging on the sofa flicking through Facebook.

But soon enough I started to get an inkling of the depth that lay under the surface of this play and realised that the decision to put my phone down for a few hours had been a good one.

After Peter’s (Daniel Richards) monologue about the futility of human life, it started to become clear that the lighter elements of the play represented a thin veneer of normalcy over the undercurrent of despair about the family’s impending financial ruin.

I’ll leave literary criticism to someone else; Miracle Theatre’s production was excellent. It seems unfair to single out any one cast member as the acting was so good across the board, but Benjamin Dyson’s portrayal of the bumbling clerk Simon stood out as he had the audience cracking up in genuinely laugh out loud moments. The costumes (designed by Jude Munden and Sean Donahoe) were also incredible, to the point where I heard a couple behind me wondering out loud if that was really the same actor playing more than one character.

Miracle clearly made an effort to bring the story closer to home as Parkin the entrepreneur (Ben Kernow) suggested resolving the family’s financial woes by cutting down The Cherry Orchard to put in holiday homes (a theme that Packet readers might recognise after recent events).

If you missed the Pavilion show you can catch it at the Minack Theatre on July 5-6 and Plen-an-Gwarry, St Just on July 10.The performance is without a doubt worth seeing. Facebook can wait.