Three Sisters Sparkles as First Jewel in Chekhov Celebration Crown

The highly educated and cultured, Moscow-bred Three Sisters have seen the circumstances of their lives reduced. The First Act opens on the one year anniversary of their army father’s passing, which coincidentally is the youngest of the brood Irina’s birthday, the play shows a trio of sisters dissatisfied with their lot in life.  As a result of their father’s military life, the family has decamped to a town so disconnected it is miles from the nearest train station, and enlivened only by the temporary presence of a battalion of soldiers.   The sisters hunger for any contact that can bring their beloved Moscow back to them as cherished yet enlivened memories.

Their brother Andrei is on the fast track at the university and is poised to make a name for himself until he makes a bad choice in spouse, the initially silly then increasingly malevolent Natasha.  The rest of the cast is peopled with visiting soldiers, faithful family retainers and friends.

Fedotik (Adrian Blake Enscoe) delights Irina (Vera Varlamov)

The current Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre’s (PICT) performance sets Irina (Vera Varmalov) in the spotlight as the naïve young adult, relishing in her birthday gifts and cake at the outset to a disenchanted worker in menial positions until she ultimately triumphs by taking control of her fate and heading to Moscow with the impassioned announcement: "I'll go away tomorrow, by myself."

Olga (Nike Doukas), the oldest sister, is seen at first trying to rally the rest of the family with almost brittle chatter as she welcomes a steady stream of visitors and plays the role of gracious hostess.  As the performance moves from act to act, Olga seems to become even more visibly downtrodden, increasingly suffering from headaches as the burdens of her life wear her down.

Vershinin and Masha

Masha (Allison McLemore), the middle sister, is clearly in an unhappy marriage.  She appears to barely tolerate her older, teacher husband. When he gives Irina the same gift for her birthday as he had presented for a previous occasion, she can barely contain her derision.  Upon meeting the foolish romantic artillery battalion officer Vershinin (David Whalen), she and her sisters recall their childish nickname for him, “the Lovesick Major”.  As he drones on about his philosophy on the future, she experiences an attraction that is both dangerous and fruitless. In the end, Vershinin is transferred and Masha unhappily returns to the cuckolded Kulygin.

As dispossessed as the women characters are in Three Sisters, the men are portrayed as elitist, displaying juvenile romantic fantasies and hopelessly naïve and idealistic views of the future.  The gambling Andrei (Christian Conn) squanders the family fortune while Olga frets and Natasha (Megan McDermott)  moves in for the kill.  Baron Tuzenbach (Leo Marks) asserts his “Russianness” to try and woo Irina, while the annoyingly bizarre Solyony (Jonathan Visser) stalks through his scenes.  The most charming of the sycophants, the handsome Vershinin (David Whalen) and the playful Chebutykin (Larry John Meyers) provide the tragic-comedic relief to the male contingent of the play.

I confess the multiple names of any Russian work, and Chekhov is not immune to this, always present a problem for me to follow the storyline.  Chekhov’s style is certainly lighter and more subtle than many of his countrymen.  The decline of the Russian affluent middle class is poignantly portrayed in a story that resonates in any age.

The intimacy of the Henry Heymann Theatre enables the audience to feel as though they are eavesdropping on the family dynamic and the tiny community to which they have been exiled.

Three Sisters is playing at select dates and times at the Henry Heymann Theatre in the Stephen Foster Memorial, Oakland through August 26th.

Photo Credit:  Suellen Fitzsimmons

Reviewed by:
Joyce Kane

Posted on behalf of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates.  Joyce Kane is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company, providing virtual office support, personal and executive assistance, creative design services and light bookkeeping.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.  www.Cybertary.com/Pittsburgh

It's Electric!

Opening night of Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre’s production of Sarah Ruhl’s breakthrough play “In the Next Room or the vibrator play” brought theater goers of multiple generations to experience the birth of electricity at the turn of the century.  The fascination with the new invention and its impact on domestic life is a subtext to the rigid protocols of behavior that characterized the time.

Edison ushers in the possibilities of modern life on the heels of the stifling rules of relationships where euphemisms and unspoken yearnings take precedence over honest and direct communication.  The social mores of the Victorian era are in sharp contrast to the subject matter of the revolutionary treatment of female hysteria.

Dr. Givings, the self-professed man of science is observant of everyone and everything with one major exception – his wife.  While his wife eavesdrops from the next room and laments on her failure as a mother, Dr. Givings (Brad Heberlee) is perfectly oblivious if over indulgent.

Lissa Brennan as Annie, the good doctor’s midwife, perfects the aloof assistant with her deadpan expression, no matter what is transpiring in the operating theater.   The over the top scenes in the operating theater are reminiscent of the deli scene from “When Harry Met Sally”.

The Charity Randall Theatre is perfect for the intimacy of the subject matter.  The audience becomes willing voyeurs into the private moments of husbands and wives.  As the layers of clothing are removed, so are the trappings of society.

Newcomer Denver Milord is well-cast as the effete artist Leo Irving suffering the male version of female hysteria.  Megan McDermott is equally engaging as the loquacious Catherine Givings, longing to break through the perception of her as a china doll.  She tests the bounds of propriety to experience the vibrator treatment that her husband refuses her.    Catherine and patient Sabrina Daldry (Melinda Helfrich) soon form a bond based on self-expression and exploration – actions each had not previously felt free to take. Daldry housekeeper and Givings’ wet nurse Elizabeth (Jessica Frances Dukes) bridges the two families and provides the grounding ah hah moment for both Sabrina and Catherine.  Philip Winters rounds out the cast as Sabrina’s over bearing husband known simply as Mr. Daldry in keeping with the times.

The stage is well done with the overblown Victorian parlor contrasting with the sterile operating theater in the next room.  Since Edison is an unseen cast member, lighting plays a role almost as real as those who tread the boards.  

“In the Next Room or the vibrator play” runs through May 5th, 2012.

Reviewed by Joyce Kane

Joyce Kane is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company, providing virtual office support, personal and executive assistance, creative design services and light bookkeeping.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.  www.Cybertary.com/Pittsburgh