Theatre Alba

The Scotsman:
The Thrie Sisters
by Anton Chekhov
(translated into Scots by David Purves)

Rating * * * * *

Three Sisters doing it for themselves
The Thrie Sisters

Life is breaking down fast for the three sisters and in this
gorgeous Theatre Alba production the actors make you feel the pain. Moving up and down a long and beautifully realised country house in pre-Revolutionary Russia, the women embody the frustration of the soon-to-be powerless. Anne Lannan's Olga sways and bends, pleading for stability while Corinne Harris's Masha rages and grabs for love and Lucinda Baillie's Irena creates an intense stillness in the centre.

Their dream of a life in Moscow is fading just, as their country life is becoming a nightmare.

Their weak willed, brother has brought in a strong-minded wife and, like a vengeful efficiency expert she is cleaning house.

This is vintage Chekhov; it even sounds Russian. It isn't, but David Purves's lyrical translation into old Scottish sounds foreign even to a Scot. And moving the action down the length of the cavernous old hall doesn't help. But pouring new wine into old bottles is Theatre Alba's mission and the acoustic problems keep audiences focused, like a silent film , on what the actors do rather than what they say.

Fortunately the cast is so physically expressive that it wouldn't matter too much if were all in Sanskrit. And they make it impossible not to become involved in lives where everything is about to change and nothing will ever be as it was.

Lee Brady