Four stars.
This is a powerful adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s classic play THREE SISTERS. Whilst there is some platitudinous humour in it, Chekhov’s dark view of human nature and relationships comes through. And yet, the three sisters somehow endure.
With the opening scene we are introduced to the four main characters. They are eldest sisters Olga who is single and works as a schoolteacher. The middle sister Masha is the artist of the three, having been trained as a concert pianist, is in the midst of an unhappy marriage to schoolteacher, Feodor Kulygin. Irina, the youngest, is single, looking for meaningful work and for true love. Andrei is their spoilt brother who is gifted academically and hoping to win a professorship in Moscow.
The play starts exactly a year after their father, a general, died and is also the anniversary of Irina’s birth day. The three sisters were enjoying a vibrant life in Moscow when they were forced to return to the family property to settle matters. Their wish is to finally leave the home of their childhood behind, and return to the vibrancy of big city life in Moscow behind. Will they be able to make the break?!
Victor Kalka’s production contemprarises and condenses the play. The stagecraft was good. The set design (Kalka) worked well, and was a good use of the tiny Flight Path space. Transitions were smooth. The costume design revealed character well. Jasmin Barsovsky’s intricate lighting design and Patrick Howard’s edgy soundscape did much to heighten the action.
The performances were uniformly good. First to the two veteran performers, who were both excellent, Barry French as uncle figure Chebutykinie and Alice Livingstone as the devoted, frail housemaid Anfisa.
The three sisters were eloquently played by Meg Bennetts as the pragmatic, down to earth Olga, Sarah Greenwood as the intense Masha, and Nicola Denton as the light spirited Irina. Matt Abotomey plays their self destructive brother Andrey.
Jessie Lancaster was scary as the vile, superbrat Natasha. Mason Phoumirath is Masha’s soft hearted husband, Kulygin. Joseph Tanti plays Baron Tuzenbach who is intent on winning Irina’s heart, though he senses that the love is not reciprocal.
Alex Bryant-Smith gives a strong performance as the self centred, all style and no substance colonel, Vershinin. Ciaran O’Riordan is Staff Captain Solyony, a vindicative misfit who no-one can stand.
Chekhov packs so much in his plays. Romantic rlove doesn’t go well. The scene where Masha clings for dear to Vershinin, and her two sisters have to pries her arms open, as he leaves to return to his battalion…
Chekhov, you master heartbreaker, major dreambuster, harsh realist.
The Chekhov experience.
A Virginia Plain production, Anton Chekhov’s THREE SISTERS, adapted and directed by Victor Kalks, is currently playing the Flight Path Theatre, 142 Addison Road, Marrickvile.
