THE THREE SISTERS
Written by Anton Chekhov
Red Torch Theatre, Novosibirsk
Anton Chekhov's The Three Sisters probes the lives and dreams of Olga, Masha, and Irina, former Muscovites now living in a provincial town from which they're desperate to escape. In this powerful play, a landmark of modern drama, Chekhov masterfully interweaves character and theme in subtle ways that make the work's climax seem as inevitable as it is deeply moving.
Timofey Kulyabin, the artistic director of the Red Torch Theatre in Novosibirsk, has taken this classic work and reinvented it as an epic parable about finding harmony through suffering. The entire cast, save for one, communicate throughout the performance solely in sign language. By doing this, the selfishness, isolation and lack of mutual understanding are dangerous and laden with disaster, the characters defenseless against a huge "sounding" world. Like a score, every scene is composed with sounds and noises. You can hear the wind whistling around the house, shrieking migratory birds, troops marching to marching music.
Kulyabin's sensational and endlessly beautiful Three Sisters, already a hit on the stages of Vienna and Paris, is a feast for the senses, heightening all of them even as we lose some of them.
Language: Russian Sign Language w/ English Subtitles
Running time: 3 hours 46 minutes
"Made with a quality rare for the Russian stage, without any hints of a sketch or unfinished design. There is not a single centimeter, not a single minute, which does not work for a common purpose" – St Petersburg Theatrical Journal (Russia)
"A theatrical performance in which sounds and non-verbal communication form a fantastic, compelling unity in which
the essence of the drama is worked out in beguiling beauty and unbelievable intensity" – Kurier.at (Austria)
Creative Team
Director – Timofey Kulyabin
Set Design – Oleg Golovko
Lighting Designer – Denis Solntsev
Assistant director – Natalya Yarushkina
Cast
Olga – Irina Krivonos
Irina – Linda Akhmetzyanova
Masha – Daria Emelyanova
Vasily Vasilyevich Solyony – Konstantin Telegin
Andrey Sergeyevich Prozorov – Ilya Musyco
Nikolay Lvovich Tuzenbach – Anton Voynalovich
Nataliya Ivanovna – Clavdia Kachusov
Fyodor Ilyich Kulygin – Denis Frank
Aleksey Petrovich Fedotik – Alexey Mezhov
Aleksandr Ignatyevich Vershinin – Pavel Polyakov
Ivan Romanovich Chebutykin – Andrey Chernykh
Vladimir Karlovich Rode – Sergey Bogomolov
Ferapont – Sergey Novikov
Anfisa – Elena Drinevskaya
Press
“Art doesn't exist to be liked" an interview with Russian stage director, Timofey Kulyabin, The Theatre Times
Chekhov play in sign language to be shown on silver screen with English subs, Russia Beyond The Headlines
Tchekhov en langue des signes russe, Lionel Jullien, ARTE.TV
Les Trois sœurs, d’Anton Tchekhov, mise en scène de Timofeï Kouliabine, unfauteuilpourlorchestre.com
Tchekhov Comme On Ne L'avait Jamais Entendu, Anne Diatkine, Liberation
Tchekhov danse avec les mains…, Brigitte Hernandez, Le Point.fr
"Drei Schwestern": Nach Moskau, hin zu Miley Cyrus, Ronald Pohl, DerStandard.at
„Drei Schwestern“: Bei Tschechow ist das Dunkel licht genug, Barbara Petsch, DiePresse.com
Wortloses, großes Theaterglück, Peter Jarolin, kurier.at