Reader Reviews
Three Sisters (The Young Vic, Inner London)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | This was one of the most beautiful productions of chekhov I have ever seen. Usual outings to see this play are typically boring and tiresome, this was quite the opposite. The performances were solid throughout. Emily barclay is superb as Natasha and Danny Kirrane as her put upon husband both hilarious and heartbreaking in equal measure. Vanessa kirby, Mariah Gale and Gala Gordon were spot on as the sisters. Get a ticket before this sells out, I'm going again next week. :) - Toby Richardson | 05 Oct 12 |
| Possibly thanks to Katie Mitchell's weird production of The Seagull it took me quite a while to be converted to Chekhov so I have not previously seen Three Sisters and after this I still haven't. Benedict Andrews was responsible for the execrable Gross und Klein and this is almost as self-indulgently awful. I can't be bothered to list all the tiresome effects he throws at the production or the hideously coarse dialogue but he has proved that Chekhov's stifled atmosphere of pre-revolutionary Russia makes very little sense in a modern setting. Like Mitchell, Andrews seems to have very little idea of how to get the best out of his cast and there are a few awful performances. It's also impossible not to still associate Danny Kirrane with Jerusalem making for a rather odd Andrey. Of the sisters, Vanessa Kirby is saddled with the most anachronistic dialogue but Mariah Gale does come closest to a more traditional tragi-comic Chekhovian characterisation. Unlike at the Barbican I did return after the interval - it's a bit like being drawn to watching a car crash. After all the daft business of dismantling the stage leaving a huge open space which is completely wrong for what is supposed to be a claustrophobic house, the play was at last allowed room to breathe and the last 30 minutes or so gave hints of what a great play this must be. Now all I need is to find a production that is actually of Three Sisters. - David Baxter | 04 Oct 12 |
| As soon as you see Danny Kirrane, you know you'll be hearing some loud nihilistic music, and mucho musings on the meaningless of life. Here the piece of loud music is Nirvana's completely appropriate "Smells like Teen Spirit," and a new version of Chekhov is the source of the despair. But this is terrific, and Kirrane's character trajectory, from Jerusalem to Boys to this play, has been to become less and less obnoxious every part he takes. And I'm talking about the parts, not Kirrane himself, who is utterly wonderful in every single appearance, but who here, while still effortlessly funny, effuses a deeply bruised humanity as well. William Houston's marvellous macho seductive silken voiced authoritative lothario wanders off the set of his Chekhov at the Print Room straight into this Chekhov, somehow embuing an extremely modern adaptation (all mobile electronics and toy helicopters) with the feeling of straightforward Chekhovian comedy drama. The three sisters (Gale, Kirby and Gordon) are equally well portrayed, each playing the fiddle of life's futility and tragic hopefulness with absolute abandon. Michael Feast is perfect as the drunken despairing lustful playful baby of a doctor, and Emily Barclay as Kirrane's other half is commendably frightening, as well as funny, in her transition into delusory haughty grandiosity. All in all, while this production seems to run a little long in the second half, it is, for me, the best Three Sisters I have seen. Hurray for Danny Kirrane. :) - steveatplays | 22 Sep 12 |
| The staging was superb, the actors were excellent, the production was modern and kept the attention. - Susan | 18 Sep 12 |
| Nearly as brilliant as Andrews' Barbican production of Big and Small earlier this year, and that's saying something. Truly great. - Ben | 15 Sep 12 |
| Says everything I felt. Spot on Michael. - Richard Lee | 15 Sep 12 |
| Um, forgetting lines? were we there on the same night, Chloe? Because I was there press night and there were no dries. - Jones | 14 Sep 12 |
| Rather Brilliant staging. had a feeling that critics would hate it after the Katie Mitchell SEAGULL debacle, however things are looking up so far! It's a really tough and draining evening of theatre, but with reason, but above all It's a great interpretation. - Cassox | 14 Sep 12 |
| One the worst first nights with actors forgetting their lines....not a promising start. - Chloe Lockley | 09 Sep 12 |
