Monday, May 18, 2009

A little on the story of life

Anton Chekhov’s play The Three Sisters has all the elements necessary to create a successful Drama of lies, betrayal, and death. It is a story that many people have experienced. The story of regret.
The three Prozorov sisters, Olga, Masha, Irina, and their brother reside in a small provincial Russian town, where there isn’t much excitement. They lounge around with relatives and friends day-dreaming of possibilities and returning to Moscow, where they lived when their father was alive, as if it were some sort of Promised Land.
In life we all yearn to progress, fulfill dreams, accomplish great things and become somebody. These are the same emotions the Prozorov family have, and like most people, they do not take the necessary steps to nourish their dreams, which leads them down a path of regret and of what ifs.
Because of the unique stage design, a combination of arena and thrust, the director, for the most part, made successful blocking choices. I did not understand why the director made the choice, at certain times during the production, to have the actors face the woods, leaving their backs faced towards all the audience. Also I would have appreciated it more if the forest was moved out a little. From where I was sitting it was hard to view the entire forest and the actors in that forest, perhaps it was the “cheap seats”, lol.
Overall it was an incredible production, I very much appreciated the acting and the Directors vision. I definitely recommend this production.

Thank You
James L.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just like in Antigone, when you have an arena stage, you are going to see actors' backs. I thought it was really good movement too.
Heather

Ben said...

I got gyped a bit on the whole forest thing too. I couldn't see half of it! But I like your Promised Land analogy, it fits their situation well. Their longing to return is one that many of us feel at one time or another. But we can't spend too much time on those what-ifs.