Three Sisters

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You'd be hard put to find a better script to work with than this translation by Michael Frayn . . . It sticks rigorously to the inner thrust of the play while giving it a fresh, crisp clarity that makes it not just accessible but compelling to watch. The underlying tragedy . . . is intact. It is made more moving, not less, by the way Frayn's ineffably light touch has caught too the comedy of Andrey and his three sisters.' GUARDIAN

'Frayn puts well the central statement of this most moving of dramas: it is about the irony of the hopes by which people live and the way their destiny mocks them. Chekhov shows how life is both nourished and poisoned by the act of hope itself' DAILY TELEGRAPH

Following their father's death, life for sisters Olga, Masha and Irina in a Russian provincial garrison town has become unbearably dull. They feel they have become culturally, romantically and intellectually starved. To these sisters, Moscow, where they once lived and in spite of its sad memories, has become a symbol of unfulfilled hope, promises and opportunity, and one which contrasts with the tedium of their own lives and circumstances. The sisters' main hope of moving to Moscow depends on their brother, Andrey, with his ambitions to work in academia in Moscow.

Set over three and a half years at the turn of the twentieth century, and premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre in 1901, Chekhov's play has become among the most iconic in modern theatre.

This translation is by Michael Frayn, one of today's most eminent British playwrights and translators of Russian drama.

Commentary and notes by Nick Worrall.

Introduction
Timeline
Inua Ellams
Social and Political Context
The Berlin Conference (1884-1885)
Indirect Rule/Administration
The Formation of Nigeria
The Nigeria Civil War/Biafra War
Ethnicity
Anton Chekhov
Adaptations
Post-colonialism/post-colonial theatre/neo-colonialism
Commentary
Structure/Time
Fate and Duty
Tradition vs Modernity
Symbolism
Main Characters
Critical Reception
Glossary
Selected texts on the Biafran War
Texts Cited
Three Sisters: After Chekhov
Notes

A punky, funny, furious takedown of the cult of the classic... the piece never denies that Chekhov still speaks to us, it also questions its existence... loud, rude, provocative and, yes, messy - that's all part of its glorious defiance. Don't go expecting the pretty, predictable or polite. But do go. ????
A gloriously playful evening, stuffed with musical richness. If you know the original you will note how the company both honour its structure and smash it... it understands that each generation must take what they need from a play and that it must speak not to the past but to the millions of Olgas, Irinas and Mashas of today. Otherwise, why bother? ????
Less a take on the play than a music and movement-fuelled examination of why plays like this continue to be staged... some of the basic features of Chekhov's play remain, but RashDash push at its edges and mess with its mechanics... RashDash incisively skewers the privileged ennui of Chekhov's characters and the limited horizons the playwright imagined for his female protagonists. If the classics aren't for everyone, RashDash ask, then what are they for? ????
'Funny, furious - loud, rude, provocative and messy.'