By Sarah Pfander
Gargoyle assistant editor
Posted Wednesday, March 7, 2007, The OG, arts

DRAWN TO A story about three sisters' dreams of a better life in a bigger city (seemingly mirroring my own desire to leave Champaign-Urbana), I recently attended Anton Chekhov's “Three Sisters.” Performed at The Station Theatre in Urbana, the play is directed by Karma Ibsen and runs through Saturday.

The play, oddly enough, centers around three sisters, Olga, Masha, and Irina Prozorov, and their brother, Andrey. These characters are played by Debra Duderstadt, Joi Hoffsommer, Rachel Hicks, and Gary Ambler, respectively.

Both parents are dead and the siblings are living in a small, provincial town in Russia.

They mostly find company in the military men, including Colonel Vershinin, Baron Tuzenbach, Captain Solyony, and Doctor Chebutykin, stationed in the town, and their days are spent following a normal, upper middle-class routine.

However, all sisters are incredibly bored with their lives. Sick of the small town, they long for life back in their hometown of Moscow. Most of their hopes fall on Andrey, an intellectual, who the sisters hope will become a professor or scientist and thus be their ticket to Moscow.

As the play progresses over a four-year period, the family's hopes of ever getting to Moscow fade. Andrey marries a local girl, Natasha, played by Mindy Manolakes, and Olga becomes headmistress of the local high school.

Unfortunately, any semblance of a plot ends there. Calling this play slow-moving and character-driven would just be a nice way for me to essentially say that it is boring. I was literally falling asleep in my chair.

This was compounded by the fact that the characters aren't likeable, and the actors and actresses weren't strong enough to counteract that.

The three sisters were whiny and helpless, self-centered and annoying. In the first act, all three cried within 12 minutes of each other over their lost life in Moscow.

Duderstadt as Olga gave an especially poor performance. Her monologues were lackluster, and her tendency to direct them to the audience rather than the other characters disrupted the flow of the scene.

One bright spot in the sisters was Hicks' performance. She brought energy to the stage and a human quality to the role. She was also the closest to evoking sympathy from the audience. But, this might only have been the result of her character's younger, more attractive, and lively personality.

Outside of the three sisters, there wasn't much substance. Solyony, played by Lincoln Machula, was worth a few funny one-liners, such as, “If Bobic were my baby, I would have sautéed him in butter and eaten him years ago.”

Manolakes' performance as Natasha was the next best thing. Her character was rude and loud, thus eliciting the only emotion I felt all night — discomfort. However, she was too over the top. Her screeching hurt my ears, and every time she came on stage I tensed up a little, unable to relax until she finally exited.

One last notable performance was John Chandler in the role of Kulygin, Masha's husband. Masha falls in love with Vershinin, played by David Barkley, and shuns her husband. Chandler, quite effectively, portrayed the role of the devoted, unknowing husband. Yet, Chandler too suffered because Kulygin's boring manner rendered the character unsympathetic.

Other than these characters, everyone else on stage merely laughed, made merry, complimented the three sisters, engaged in witty banter that could not compare with Jane Austen, and mourned their small-town life.

So, the question arises, would this play ever be good? With a brilliant cast and marvelous directing, would “Three Sisters” be enjoyable? Or has Chekhov simply created a torturous, three-hour experience? My feeling is that the play is the reason I didn't enjoy the production, not the cast.

Yet, this play, originally performed in 1901, is still considered one of the greatest works of literature in the 20th century. In the eyes of critics, the play's commentary on human life and suffering outweighs its thin storyline.

However, for me, the views on human existence were a little too Russian. Depressed, lost, and pessimistic, the characters talk a lot about the desire to end their lives. Outside of that, their main subject matter consists of human suffering, the future, and the value of work.

One particularly interesting debate was whether society would devolve and come to revere the Russian upper class or develop into a happy utopia, free from suffering and scornful of the previous generations.

Nevertheless, some mildly interesting philosophy does not bring back those three hours of my life. I would suggest avoiding “Three Sisters,” whether it be a production at The Station Theatre or one on Broadway. The story, the characters, the commentary — they are too lacking and depressing to create a worthwhile experience.

RELATED

— Complete text: 1998 English translation of “Three Sisters”

— The Station Theatre: Feb. 22 - March 10 production of “Three Sisters”