'Three Sisters' review — Chekhov's miniature domestic epic is exquisitely staged in this resonant, candlelit production

Read our review of Three Sisters, starring Michelle Terry, Shannon Tarbet and Ruby Thompson, now in performances at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse to 19 April.

The first Chekhov play to be staged in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Three Sisters is an undoubtedly bleak piece of work and Chekhov certainly makes us feel the grind. Bur there is also much beauty in this intimate and beguilingly staged production by Caroline Steinbeis, which feels like a real miniature domestic epic with universally resonant sentiments. In short: life is one disappointment after another, most work is boring, then we die. Everyone wants to be somewhere more exciting – FOMO is nothing new.

Set in an unnamed provincial town where the Prozorov family has been marooned for 11 years, Olga is a schoolteacher but would marry any man who asked her regardless of love; Masha is disillusioned with her marriage to one of her sister’s colleagues; and 20-year-old Irina longs for good hard work that leaves you worn out at the end of the day. Their brother Andrei (Stuart Thompson), who’s expected to become a celebrated university professor, impulsively marries the grasping Natalya (Natalie Klamar).

The local garrison of soldiers are constantly in and out of the house, leaving plenty of existential anguish in their wake. It’s prophesised that there’s a huge storm coming soon which will change society as the characters know it, yet everything remains the same.

Like Trevor Nunn’s excellent Uncle Vanya at the Orange Tree Theatre last year, it’s beautifully traditional without contemporary deconstruction, yet it feels very fresh and embraces the prevailing sense of absurdity. Oli Townsend provides an enchanting set design with embossed gold-leaf birch trees and detailed period costumes across the social classes (old retainer Anfisa wears a beautiful shawl and kerchief with embroidery). Rory Mullarkey’s supple translation makes frequent use of the endearment “My lovely”, almost as if the characters are constantly trying to remind themselves of their affection for each other.

In the very strong ensemble Michelle Terry’s stiff-upper-lip Olga calls to mind Emma Thompson as Margaret Schlegal in Howards End, garrulous at first but increasingly withdrawn. Shannon Tarbet’s wonderfully snarky Masha, with her piercing yet aloof gaze, resembles Helena Bonham Carter in the same film. Rounding out the trio, Ruby Thompson makes a plucky Irina, who feels as if she’s been working forever at the age of 24.

Paul Ready’s Vershinin is too self-dramatising, bordering on camp, with his philosophising to be truly dashing (that’s meant as a compliment to his performance) and Michael Abubakar is an earnest Tuzenbach who offers a more than a reasonable chance of happiness as a marital prospect in a society where love isn’t a given.

Best of all is Anna Watson’s exquisite candle design, from the sunny brightness of the opening scene at lunch on Irina’s name day, to the scenes in the house after dark filled with secrets and things left unsaid lingering in the shadows. Domestic tragedy is ideally suited to this space – it’s very different in tone, but perhaps a Victorian sensation drama might be on the cards in the future.

Three Sisters is at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse to 19 April. Book Three Sisters tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Photo credit: Three Sisters (Photos by Johan Persson)