Three Sisters
by Anton Chekhov
directed by Falk Richter
Falk Richter’s New Adaptation of Chekhov’s »Three Sisters« based on the translation by Ulrike Zemme
A house in the woods. One year after the death of their father, Andrey (Robert Bayer), Olga (Steffi Kühnert) and Masha (Bibiana Beglau) are celebrating the birthday of their youngest sister Irina (Jule Böwe). It is spring. Life, with all its possibilities and promises, seems to lie before them – if only they could finally succeed in escaping their town, which is full of losers and stagnation. They’ve had their share of parties, and now the sisters are beginning to get on in years. The society they live in has run aground on self-defeating attempts at reform, and as a result is stuck in place. Work is lauded as the coming panacea – only there are no jobs to be had.
The sisters want nothing more than to get out of this world, and fight the inner emptiness and fear which imprison them. They each try a certain way to give life meaning: Olga in work, Masha in love, Andrey with his family. Only these strategies bear no solution. After the failure of these life structures – work, marriage and family – it is only Irina who finally succeeds in gaining her freedom. The freedom to go alone.
Beginning with the 2006-07 season, Falk Richter became a director-in-residence at the Schaubühne. With his new adaptation of Chekhov’s 1901 drama on the fatherless Prozorov siblings and their escape attempts from the tragedy of daily life, Richter builds upon the success of his production of Chekhov’s »The Seagull.«
Direction: Falk Richter
Stage design: Katrin Hoffmann
Music: Malte Beckenbach
Dramaturgy: Jens Hillje
Light design: Carsten Sander
Natalja Iwanowna, his fiancée, later on his wife: Lea Draeger
Olga, his sister: Steffi Kühnert
Mascha, his sister: Bibiana Beglau
Irina, his sister: Jule Böwe
Fjedor Iljitsch Kulygin, teacher and Mascha's husband: Thomas Bading
Alexander Ignatjewitsch, Colonel and commander of the artilleries: Clemens Schick
Wassilij Wassiljewitsch Soliony, Captain: Rafael Stachowiak
Nikolaj Ljowitsch Tusenbach, Baron and lieutenant: Stipe Erceg
Iwan Romanowitsch Tschebutykin, military surgent: Wolf Aniol
Ferapont, envoy of the county administraion, an old man: Erhard Marggraf
Anfissa, Njanja, his 80-year-old wife: Lore Stefanek
Premiered on 1 November 2006