Sisters on Stage

The stage that we saw The Three Sisters performed on was a very interesting one. I can honestly say I have never seen anything like it. It consisted of an octagonal stage surrounded on the points by flower pots. The audience sat on three sides of this stage; the fourth side was trees! They weren't real trees of course, but they really did look like the trunks of a forest. There were several entrances and exits from this stage, some out past the audience, others leading into the “forest”. This made it feel like an arena stage, though it wasn't. The only problem I had with this setup was that the ends of the audience arc ended in a wall, and that wall formed a proscenium of sorts around the forest. I was on the end of the arc, and therefore couldn't see half of the trees. At one point I heard a voice and realized that a character had been there for the past... I don't know how long, and I hadn't even known. This was a bit frustrating. But other than that I liked it. The action was centralized, and the actors were able to just about act out from the trees, with the occasional turn to keep the sides happy. The flowers were a nice touch as well, adding a bit of color and, later, time reference. The props and furniture were quite sparse, and definitely only there when needed, so often the stage had a nice open feel and allowed the actors plenty of space. I think that this type of space, provided there aren't any sharp corners hiding the action, would lend itself well to a lot of shows.