“It’s a dreary world we live in, ladies and gentlemen,” but at least there is fantastic theatre on at the moment. Like everything in the news this play is relevant to the credit crunch in its depiction of a decaying, privileged class bored of reassessing meaning in their world.

Rory Mullarkey’s translation is modern, accessible, and engaging. Whilst Three Sisters is a serious piece about the hopes and frustrations of life, Chekhov believed comedy to be at its core. Mullarkey has excelled in this regard, the script clearly benefiting from his comic background. Contemporary vocabulary choices such as “overdose” instead of “poison” are used effectively whilst avoiding destruction of the historical setting.

Praise must go to Georgia De Grey for her engaging set design. As soon as I see a stage laden with structures, and numerous candles, I tend to recoil and fret. “Is this really all necessary?” Thankfully, I worried in vain. The set created mood effectively to correlate with changing spaces and settings. The changes were by no means swift, but made pleasurable by a trio of talented musicians in rustic waistcoats.

“Three Sisters is a play that is about people,” writes David Brown in his Director’s Notes. It is due to his understanding of them that Chekhov is so captivating, demanding that a production’s talent is sufficient to showcase the play’s characters realistically. This is achieved partly due to the fact that casting of the major parts was perceptively executed, often playing to individual actors’ strengths. Misha Verkek played the elder Chebutykin with apt subtlety, Bea Walker played Natasha with precision, and Ed Martineau brought great comic energy to his interpretation of Kulygin. 

The monologues and duologues perceptibly stood out against the busier scenes, where the sense of cohesion, (a probable result of extensive ensemble work), felt occasionally unnatural. Josh Higgot tackled Andrei’s monologue in the final act with impressive dexterity, whilst the scenes between Masha (Stephanie Bain) and Vershinin (Partick Warner) were the sexiest I’ve seen onstage since a scantily-clad Cirque de Soleil.  For a second I wanted to be a restrained woman in a long skirt in provincial Russia to feel the arousal she did from a kiss on the hand.

A new take on a classic with a stellar cast, Three Sisters is not to be missed. By Laura Andrews