Anton Chekhov's bleak and masterful Three Sisters opened at the Berkeley Repertory Theater last night, and for three bold hours, held the audience suspended in the liminal space between hope and despair; love and utter ambivalence as well as a bit of humor. Playwright Sarah Ruhl's new version is based on a literal translation by Elise Thoron with Natalya Paramonova and Kristin Johnsen-Neshati and it is magnificent. Directed with consummate skill by Les Waters and performed by a splendid ensemble cast, Berkeley Rep's "Three Sisters" is a powerful adaptation of Chekhov's classic that captures the lyricism and ennui of his work in an accessible and compelling production that is sure to be talked about for years to come.
Originally written by Chekhov in 1901 during a time of great upheaval in Russia, Three Sisters takes the fragmented hopes and dreams of the time, together with the great disappointments that followed, and focuses them into the lives of Olga, Masha and Irina Prozorov. Not content where they are they try to escape the studied dreariness of their lives and their provincial garrison town, and move to Moscow, the city of their dreams.
But their burgeoning hopes of changing their fate through hard work, love and a move to Moscow are dashed time and time again, much to the sister's surprised dismay. Though they long for change, their circumstances, much like the overarching situation of the times, will not allow it.
Olga, the oldest and most loving of the sisters (played wonderfully by Wendy Rich Stetson) opens the play by remembering better times in Moscow, where they lived eleven years before. Her wistful reminiscences are echoed by her youngest sister, the beautiful Irina (Heather Wood), whose birthday is being celebrated that evening with some of the soldiers who knew their father before he died. Irina is almost giddy with happiness at first, but slowly, disappointment with work and life take their toll. Throughout the story, Irina tries valiantly to make sense of it all. "One day, the time will come when we will know why we suffer. I'll work...I will work," she says with sad determination. Wood's timing and cadence is measured and sure, infusing Irina with youthful hope and resolve that are tried time and time again.
Scenic Designer Annie Smart uses the small space well, giving us a large dining room, sitting room and upstairs walkway that are beautifully decorated and that capture the period perfectly. The birch trees outside help set location and the falling snow, visible through the two upstairs windows truly set the stage. Ilona Somogyi's costumes are beautifully rendered and add immeasurably to this period piece.
Rounding out the trio of sisters is Masha (Natalia Payne), the middle sister, whose bitter outrage at her lot in life finds some measure of relief in an affair with aging and married, lieutenant-Colonel Vershinin (eloquently played by Bruce McKenzie). Vershinin is forever waxing philosophical, at one point saying that, "In two or three hundred years, life on earth will be unimaginably beautiful, marvelous" - small comfort for them here and now. Masha's long-suffering husband, Kulygin (Keith Reddin) never wavers in his love for his wife though he knows of her affair and her diminishing regard for him.
The sisters have a brother named Andrei (Alex Moggridge) who is the pride and hope of the family, raised as he was to be an intellectual. But he is ineffectual and bland; eventually marrying Natasha (Emily Kitchens), whose obsessive need for control poisons the entire household. Kitchens is perfect as the uptight, controlling Natasha who cannot understand why none of them have the same cares and concerns that she does. When she seeks to have the old servant Anfisa (Barbara Oliver) thrown out because she is now useless we see the theme of "work," as the highest ideal, played out to its fullest.
Like the slow movement through the seasons, Chekhov's themes slowly repeat themselves through each act; why do we live, why do we suffer, how can we find happiness? Work, Moscow, love and hope are exposed and explored, carelessly tossed aside by certain characters and embraced by others. Each of them grapples with loss, indifference, soul-weary exhaustion and despair. In the end, nothing is settled. Perhaps Irina says it best. "Oh, I have so dreamed of love, I've been dreaming of it for years, day and night, but my soul is like a wonderful piano which is locked and the key has been lost." Still, the sisters persist, pushing through their pain as they struggle to make sense of it all even when it seems like nothing matters and it's all the same.
