Three Sisters

It’s not often that one of the great plays of literature, by Anton Chekhov in his 1901 prime, is presented in your local theatre. If you live in the vicinity, I recommend that you hasten to the cute little theatre in the middle of Marrickville before it has gone, just like the teetering lives of the three Prozorov sisters in the play. Olga, Marsha and Irina pine to return to their hometown, Moscow, but everything seems to stop them. Don’t delay your visit to these ‘Three Sisters’.

Many thanks to Victor Kalka, first for writing an undated version of the play, and then for producing/staging it so effectively with a fine cast of eleven on a solid setting. The great play springs to renewed life.

Here is Irina (Nicola Denton) on her 21^st birthday, one year since the death of her father, now expectant and happy, in white. Here is Masha (Sarah Greenwood), thin and wiry, bored by the party until the arrival of a new officer of the Russian forces stationed nearby. And here is Olga (Meg Bennetts), taking over the running of the local school. Meanwhile their brother Andry (Matt Abotomey), a secretary at the local council, is dealing with his disturbed girlfriend Natasha (Jessie Lancaster). He ends up proposing to her.

Later, and with the introduction of new characters, we see the addition of much bitterness and worry. For one thing Natasha now wears a pink t-shirt announcing BAD REPUTATION and lets the sisters know that she needs a room, probably more, for her growing family. In fact, Natasha has become their worst enemy.

There are very fine performances from Alex Bryant-Smith as Vershinin, the late-blossoming partner of Masha; Alice Livingstone as the long-suffering maid Anfisa; and Barry French as Chebutykin, the elderly doctor, no longer in charge of anything.

The three sisters, the dream of Moscow slowly dwindling, eventually knuckle down to an unsatisfactory life in their country town. 

Of course, Victor Kalka’s idea to make things contemporary has an effect on the budget. Clothes and props are far easier to come by. But the soldiers marching in the region, the local fights and killings need extra thought. Kalka’s setting is exciting – a complete room with seating round the edges – but it is hardly dressed, with painted clouds and no indication of the locality.

This is a masterful play of misdirected love, in which everyone is partnered by the wrong person. See it.

Frank Hatherley

Photographer: Samuel Webster