We Are Three Sisters

Synopsis

Against the backdrop of a dark, remote northern town, three remarkable young women live their lives brightly. Haworth1840s; in a gloomy parsonage where there are neither curtains nor comforts, Charlotte, Anne and Emily Bronte light up their world with outspoken wit, aspirations, dreams and ideas. And throughout their confined lives intensely lived... they write. Anyone who has read a Bronte novel cannot fail to be stirred by their overwhelming humanity, charged emotion and brooding, prescient unease with the status quo. Now come to know the voices behind them. With exquisitely drawn characterizations, a nod to Chekhov and a touch of poetic licence, We Are Three Sisters is a pearl of a play which evokes with piercing clarity the life and distinct personalities of these three spirited individuals.

Our Review:

Gill Kirk - 4 October 2011

Chekhov's 1901 play Three Sisters was reputedly inspired by the Bronte sisters. Writer Blake Morrison, director Barry Rutter and Northern Broadsides have made this notion theatre-flesh, creating a new work about the Brontes, fitted onto Chekhov's template.

As someone once said of The Last Temptation of Christ, we know how this story ends, but Northern Broadsides make it an interesting journey. Three world-renowned writers in-waiting, a Victorian parsonage, a love-struck, debt-stuck brother and the compulsion to write and be published.

The Chekov's in the satellites: suitors and neighbours - the doctor, cleric, school master and Bramwell's mistress, Mrs Robinson (it's true). There are some lovely moments of wit, largely delivered by Sophia Di Martino as gloomy, headstrong Emily ("I like gloom. It bucks me up").

It's a large ensemble, with Rebecca Hutchinson (Anne), Sophia de Martino (Emily) and Catherine Kinsella (Charlotte) providing a...

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