"The Three Sisters" is as tragic and depressing as most of Chekov's plays, but in this performance the acting is strong, and lots of comic moments provide some relief against the oppressive boredom and suffering that takes up the rest of the play.

Initially there is awkwardness as you get used to the play, tuning in to the characters and their situation in a small Russian town. With so little action and so much festering life in the drawing room, where nothing really happens or gets resolved, it takes a while to understand what the play is getting at. But after the first act you tune in to Chekov, becoming emotionally involved with the characters and the desperate state of their lives.

To summarize the situation: three sisters are living in a small town in Russia, dreaming of going to Moscow but never succeeding. One sister (Masha, played by Jeany Spark) is in an unhappy marriage with the local school teacher. She later falls in love with Vershinin, a visiting soldier, only to be tragically separated from him when he has to leave. Olga (played by Sarah Teacher) is also a teacher, but does not seem to enjoy it; by the end of the play she has been promoted to head teacher, although this is not what she wants either. Irina (played by Helena Johnson) dreams of love and Moscow. She eventually agrees to marry Tuzenbach the Baron as a way of escaping, but he is later killed in a duel. The three sisters are left alone at the end of the play, still determined to live and to work, even if they cannot uncover the purpose of life and a reason for their suffering.

With graphic displays of emotion and strong characters, this is a very good, if heavy night's entertainment. Not a feel-good play, but one to make you philosophize and appreciate the condition of suffering which seems to be part of life on earth. It shows the strong human will for survival and the need for hope, however desperate things seem. I find that Chekov is good in small doses, and during the last act I started to feel that it had gone on too long, and I still didn't know where it was all leading or if there would be any closure at the end.

Chekov aimed to show the mundane condition of everyday life, of people merely existing, eating, sleeping and dying: "People eat their dinner, just eat their dinner, and yet at the same time their happiness is taking shape or their lives are being smashed" (Chekov in 1889). I think this performance showed that point well, a very emotional play from beginning to end; it cannot fail to leave a lasting impression on you.
Rather heavy but well worth going to see!

Sarah Vanstone, 11.03.04