The Three Sisters - Royal Exchange - 15/09/08 by Julia Taylor

The Three Sisters, Chekhov’s classic play set in a small military town in Russia is about something and nothing. The something concerns the aspirations of three sisters and their brother who are sick to death of provincial life. The writer illustrates their different characteristics as they share the common, unattainable goal of moving to the bright lights of Moscow.

We listen to the conversations in the family home, well set by the backstage staff and making good use of the theatre in the round by creating a dining room and lounge as well as two other scene changes. We quickly pick up the underlying frustrations and desires among the intelligent siblings, condemned to a life of predictable routine. There is much talk about unattainable happiness

The nothing is just that. Nothing happens. There is no action, just conversation. It’s all jaw, jaw, without war except for the bickering of the sisters about their sister-in-law (Polly Findlay). The exception to this rule is the arrival of Lt Colonel Vershinin who brings the girls the chance of romance even though he is married. The one he singles out and who falls in love with him is the married sister, Masha.

Mark Bonnar gives a dynamic performance as the dashing young Lieutenant Colonel. Eventually, he and Masha have to part, and, as they cling together, she weeps uncontrollably and he, with sudden determination, strides out of her life forever.

All these sad and lonely people capture you with their individuality. You couldn’t mix up Lucy Black’s reliable Olga, a school teacher, with the lively Masha. As the latter, Emma Cunniffe illustrates well the boredom of a 25-year-old who has been married for seven long years to a tedious man whose life is his work and she discovers love too late.

Neither could you mistake the restless Irina (Beth Cooke) who settles for a loveless marriage, with her intellectual brother, Andrey (Joseph Kloska). The play is not all unremitting gloom. There are lighter moments such as the opening scene where Irina, dressed in a lovely white dress, celebrates her name day dinner. It introduces the audience to the characters they will get to know as the play progresses and to appreciate Chekhov’s undoubted wit. The army officers who attend are a breath of fresh air.

The Three Sisters is a slow moving play. Were it not for a superb cast, the direction of Sarah Frankcom and the easy-on-the-ear translation by Michael Frayne, it could have become tedious. But it didn’t. The ending is not happy and yet it leaves hope for the future.