Theater: Classic Stage Comp. / 136 East 13th Street, New York, NY, 10003
Synopsis:
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jessica Hecht, and Juliet Rylance star in Chekhov's timeless drama.
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February 4, 2011: It takes a long time to take a picture in the Russian provinces of the late 19th century, when cameras are novelties and exposures are slow. So when the characters of the Classic Stage Company’s wonderfully fresh and affecting production of Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” gather for a group portrait, they hold their poses for what feels like an unblinking eternity.
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February 4, 2011: Be sure to note how the title siblings of Three Sisters are positioned at the end of the play; it says a lot about the production. Most versions have Masha, Olga and Irina in tight formation abreast, gazing tragically into the middle distance of a barren, Moscow-less future. In Austin Pendleton’s shockingly tender and lucid version for Classic Stage Company, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Juliet Rylance and Jessica Hecht huddle in a clump, facing away from the audience with heads bowed, a triple-backed mass of female grief. Lee Strasberg apparently created the same tableau for his 1964 Actors Studio version. Like Strasberg, Pendleton is a consummate actors’ director; he’d rather obscure the performers’ faces, keep their unspeakably painful emotions among themselves.
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February 3, 2011: Chekov's "Three Sisters" is a tough nut to crack. The characters talk and talk about how much they long for life and meaning, and much of the action takes place offstage. Even with stars like Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard -- a compelling lure in a small theater's close quarters -- doing the talking, the Classic Stage Company's wan revival renders idleness and boredom a bit too realistically.
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February 3, 2011: Dreams deferred can easily become totally thwarted, as playwright Anton Chekhov knew so well. Chekhov's characters are known for their struggles with large issues, like mortality, hope, despair, the meaning of life and longing for the unattainable. The intimate, moody production of "Three Sisters" that opened Thursday night at Classic Stage Company is genuinely affecting, with a very talented cast that tackles these large issues with zest.
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February 3, 2011: Widely-believed to have been based on the Bronte sisters, Chekhov’s Three Sisters tells the heartbreaking story of three educated and cultured women’s desperate search for happiness and fulfillment amidst their miserable lives in a small provincial town “where education is as unnecessary as an extra finger” and where people merely “eat, drink, sleep and die”.
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