~ 'The Three Sisters', Anton Chekov ~

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The Three Sisters


 [The script we are using is translated and adapted for a modern audience by Benedict Andrews.]

Week One


We started to read through the opening scene as a group. Our teacher told us about the events of the play, and the characters. Of the three sisters, Olga is the eldest at 28, Masha is 23, and Irina is the youngest at 20 (at the opening of the play).

We decided that some of the themes in the play are:
  • Family
  • Conflict
  • Relationships
  • Politics
  • Dissatisfaction (of their own lives)
  • Class

We read through the first scene a couple of times, discussing potential blocking for the scene. We then decided to get up and figure out the blocking of the scene through trial and error. We discussed characterisation, so when I read the part of Irina, using the stage direction 'Irina staring out the window' to decide to give her a faraway, almost vacant look in her eyes. I also played the line 'why bring it all back?' as irritated. I chose this because she is being reminded of her father's death on her birthday, which is supposed to be a happy day. As a group we discussed the mannerisms, gestures or tones of voice we could use to show the audience or achieve these objections.

Rehearsals


I was given the part of Olga in a scene in Act 3. This scene is set after a house fire, where an entire road was on fire. One of their friends lost everything, and many friends, neighbours and acquaintances are staying at the sisters' house for the night. There are not enough rooms for everyone and so some have to share and stay in rooms such as the dining room and the hall. In this scene Olga is very upset by the fire and is quite stressed because she has to care for all of these people when she does not have enough space for them. 

In the beginning of the scene Olga is pulling clothes out of a wardrobe to give to the girls to replace some of the clothes they lost. Her first line is 'Here... The grey one... And this one too... The jacket... And this dress... My God, what a thing to happen... Kirsanovsky Lane is gone - burned to the ground.'
At first I played it quite quickly, almost frantically in order to show the stress and panic that Olga is feeling in the scene. However, I decided that this was too fast-paced and that it needed to be a little slower. So I tried it slower and I found that it worked better if I paused and mimed rummaging through the wardrobe in between lines. 

Once Olga gives the clothes to Ferapont, a house maid, to give away she relaxes. I decided to show this by taking a deep breath before turning to the other actor in the scene and continuing with my lines. When Olga is talking to Anfisa, the nanny, she lists where people can sleep for the night. During this speech I paused, furrowed my eyebrows with a confused expression on my face to show that Olga is working hard to make sure everything gets done so the guests are comfortable. 

While the others were rehearsing I focused on learning my lines, stepping in to read in for a character if someone was not there. 


{3rd week of rehearsals}

I looked at the given circumstances of the scene using the above format:
  • Where are they? ~ In the Pozorov household at 2am.
  • What happens? ~ Olga finds and gives some clothes for the guests. Anfisa is worried that she'll be thrown out so Olga reassures her. Natasha enters and is annoyed that Anfisa is sitting, and calls her lazy, Olga gets offended by this. Kulygin enters, and confesses that he would have liked to marry Olga rather than Masha. Finally Chebutykin, the doctor, then enters drunk and does a monologue about self-realisation and failure. 

I used the given circumstances of the scene to help me decide on how to play certain moments of the script. For example, the line 'you can't see the fire from here... It's quiet here.' Although Natasha is speaking to her Olga, she isn't paying attention. Originally, I played it as deliberately avoiding Natasha. I achieved this by rolling my eyes as she was talking. However I found this did not fit the situation, so I decided to change it to Olga genuinely not hearing Natasha because she is concerned about the fire and the survivors. Instead, I stood up and moved downstage and mimed moving curtains out of the way to look outside. This worked better for the situation and my classmates said this was very clear.

Context


I did some research and found out that the play was written in 1900, and is set around the same time in a small town in Russia. I learnt that there was a Russian Revolution in February 1905, and that up to this point there were increasingly hostile attitudes towards the leader, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. These reasons included non-Russian nationalities wanting regional autonomy,  the policy of Russification (forbidding the use of local languages and the suppression of religious customs) also created a great deal of resentment against the government. 

[I learnt the above from this website: http://spartacus-educational.com/RUS1900.htm ]

This play is relevant today because it includes themes such as family, relationships and dissatisfaction of their lives. These themes are still important today as relationships are a big part of life and are used, as a theme, in many productions. Dissatisfaction is also relevant in today's theatre industry as dissatisfaction is a big part of developing a character because every person, whether real or fictional, has flaws and insecurities. Thus, dissatisfaction is an important and useful theme to use in a play.

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