Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov
THE STORY: Somewhere in the backwoods of Russia, the three Prozorov sisters—Olga, Masha and Irina—live in the large, beautiful house their father has left them. Raised to be bastions of refinement and taste, but stranded amongst smalltown folk with no ambition, they cling desperately to memories of the bright, thriving Moscow they left as children. Unable to bear the ordinariness of their lives, tempers flare and all manner of appetites go unchecked, eliciting wild and dangerous responses from those around them and turning the proper Prozorov home into a place where anything can happen. Curt Columbus’ THREE SISTERS is Anton Chekhov’s rich tapestry of heartbreak and bad behavior.
“Chekhov once said that life is both complex and simple, [and] THREE SISTERS, by mining the utter, giggly absurdity of its characters, captures that paradox pristinely. Columbus’ new translation is more economical than lyrical, but it suits [the] black-box aesthetic to hear Masha dryly recall someone as 'Mikhail Something-ovich'…poised between suffering and silliness, striking in its bald honesty and bold emotion.” —Time Out Chicago.
“…intensely appealing…[Columbus’ translation is] unfussy and theatrically adept…fresh, no-nonsense…smoldering sexual energy…if ever there was a THREE SISTERS that thoroughly removed itself from urban sophistication—and its kissing-cousin, pretentious theater—this is the one.” —Chicago Tribune.
