Three Sisters (NHB Classic Plays) E-Book

Anton Chekhov

• Herausgeber: Nick Hern Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

In a room in a house in a provincial town, three sisters wait for their lives to begin. Olga, the eldest. Masha, the middle child. Irina, the youngest. The clock strikes. A candle is lit. The clock stops. Something catches fire. The clock strikes. They wake up. Cordelia Lynn's new version of Chekhov's Three Sisters was first performed at the Almeida Theatre, London, in April 2019, in a production directed by Rebecca Frecknall.

Leseprobe

Anton Chekhov

THREE SISTERS

A Drama in Four Acts

in a new version by

Cordelia Lynn

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Original Production

Play In Between: An Author’s Note

Characters

Note on Text

Three Sisters

About the Authors

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

This version of Three Sisters was first performed at the Almeida Theatre, London, on 16 April 2019 (previews from 6 April), with the following cast:

MASHA SERGEYEVNA

Pearl Chanda

NATASHA IVANOVNA

Lois Chimimba

VASILY VASILEVICH SOLYONY

Alexander Eliot

OLGA SERGEYEVNA

Patsy Ferran

ANFISA

Annie Firbank

FYODOR ILYICH KULYGIN

Elliot Levey

FERAPONT

Eric MacLennan

ALEXANDER IGNATEVICH VERSHININ

Peter McDonald

ANDREY SERGEYEVICH

Freddie Meredith

VLADIMIR

Sonny Poon Tip

NIKOLAY LVOVICH TUZENBACH

Shubham Saraf

ALEXEY (LITTLE ALEX)

Akshay Sharan

IVAN ROMANOVICH CHEBUTYKIN

Alan Williams

IRINA SERGEYEVNA

Ria Zmitrowicz

Direction

Rebecca Frecknall

Design

Hildegard Bechtler

Lighting

Jack Knowles

Sound

George Dennis

Composition

Angus MacRae

Casting

Julia Horan CDG

Costume Supervision

Laura Hunt

Prop Supervision

Lizzie Frankl

Resident Director

Ebenezer Bamgboye

Associate Lighting Designer

Jamie Platt

Play In Between: An Author’s Note

I worked from Helen Rappaport’s literal translation to create this script, which sits somewhere strange between a translation and an adaptation. The idea is to offer Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters to a modern, English-speaking audience while remaining as faithful as possible to his substance and style. Consequently, I haven’t modernised or relocated it but have mostly played with language and rhythm.

The main exception to this is in the quotations which occur throughout the play. I felt that a writer’s use of quotation to indicate meaning to their local audience demanded a culturally relatable alternative for my own audience. The hope is to translate the moment of recognition and subsequent feeling, an idea which sits somewhere strange between being truthful and being faithful. The quotations are marked in the text, with the originals given in an appendix.

This Three Sisters exists in a liminal space between past and present, Russian and Western, foreignising and domesticating, and my choices regarding names reflect that. I didn’t want to rename the characters or cut the patronymics and nicknames altogether, as I believe they are profoundly embedded in the texture of the play. Adaptations I made for ease of Western eyes and ears are as follows: The male characters are called by their given rather than their family names, and Mariya Sergeyevna and Natalya Ivanovna are Masha and Natasha throughout. Some patronymics have been cut to facilitate English speech patterns, and indicate relationships developing from formal to informal. Alexey has been given the nickname ‘Little Alex’ to avoid confusion with Alexander Ignatevich, a choice inspired by his family name in the original, Fedotik, a diminutive meaning ‘Little Fedo’.

C.L.

Characters

PROZOROV FAMILY

ANDREY SERGEYEVICH (Andryusha, Andryushka)

OLGA SERGEYEVNA (Olya, Olechka, Olyushka)

his sisters

MASHA SERGEYEVNA (Mashenka)

IRINA SERGEYEVNA (Irinka)

ANFISA, an old nanny

LOCALS

NATASHA IVANOVNA, Andrey’s lover, later his wife

FYODOR ILYICH KULYGIN (Fedya), Masha’s husband, a teacher

FERAPONT, employee of the local council

THE SOLDIERS

ALEXANDER IGNATEVICH VERSHININ, Lieutenant-Colonel

NIKOLAY LVOVICH TUZENBACH, Lieutenant, a baron

VASILY VASILEVICH SOLYONY, Junior Captain

IVAN ROMANOVICH CHEBUTYKIN, Army Doctor, Prozorov tenant

ALEXEY (Little Alex), Second Lieutenant

VLADIMIR, Second Lieutenant

And a MAID, SOLDIERS, BUSKERS

The action takes place in a provincial town, over a period of roughly three years.

Note on Text

A forward slash (/) indicates an interruption.

This ebook was created before the end of rehearsals and so may differ slightly from the play as performed.

ACT ONE

Midday. Spring. Sun. Light.

The Prozorovs’ house. A living room with a large hall beyond. The table in the hall is being laid for lunch.

In the living room, OLGA in navy, MASHA in black, IRINA in white.

OLGA. Daddy died a year ago today. Exactly a year ago, the fifth of May, on your birthday. Irina. It was cold. It was snowing. You fainted – do you remember? – and I thought I wasn’t going to survive but here we are a whole year later and we can talk about it like it was –

Look at you now. You’re wearing white again. You’re radiant.

The clock strikes twelve.

The clock struck twelve just like that.

Pause.

I remember when they carried him out of the church the military band was playing, and the soldiers fired a salute at the graveside. But even though he was a general there weren’t many people, at the funeral I mean. Though it was raining. Heavy rain and snow /

IRINA. Why are you doing this?

NIKOLAY, IVAN and VASILY come into the hall.

OLGA. No leaves on the birch trees yet, but it’s warm enough to keep the windows open… It was the beginning of May when we left Moscow too but everything was already in bloom. It was so hot, the city was rich in the sunshine. Then Daddy was given his brigade and we had to move here and although it was eleven years ago I remember it like it was yesterday… God! I woke up this morning, I opened my eyes and my room was full of light, my room was full of the spring and I felt like I was filling up too and I longed, I longed to go home.

IVAN (to VASILY). Bollocks!

NIKOLAY (to VASILY). That doesn’t make any sense.

MASHA (whistles her song).1

OLGA. Stop whistling Masha. It’s annoying.

Pause.

It’s just that I get these headaches. I go to school every morning and teach all day and my head aches and aches. My brain feels sort of crippled and my thoughts are sort of dead, like I’m old already… I’ve been working at that school for four years and for four years they’ve bled me dry, drop by drop, every day, but there’s one thought left in me that gets clearer and clearer /

IRINA. Get out of here and go back to Moscow! Sell the house, settle up and go. To Moscow…

OLGA. Yes! Back to Moscow as soon as we can.

IVAN (laughs).    NIKOLAY (laughs).

IRINA. Andrey’s going to be a professor anyway so he can’t live here. The only thing stopping us is Masha…

OLGA. Masha will come and visit us every summer, for the whole summer.

MASHA (softly whistles her song).

IRINA. It’ll all work out, you’ll see. It’s such a lovely day today! I feel like my lungs are expanding. When I woke up I remembered it was my birthday and I was so excited, like on my birthday when I was little and Mummy was still alive. I had such wonderful dreams…

OLGA. You’re glowing today, you look beautiful. Masha is beautiful too. Andrey would be handsome but he’s put on weight and it doesn’t suit him. And I’ve got old and thin, I suppose from being angry at the girls all day… But not today! Today I’m free, I’m at home, I don’t have a headache, I actually feel my age again! I’m only twenty-eight after all… Everything happens for a reason, but sometimes I think I’d be happier if I got married and could stay at home all day.

Pause.

I would have loved my husband.

NIKOLAY (to VASILY). You’re ridiculous, I’m sick of listening to you. (Comes into the living room and sits at the piano.) I’ve been meaning to tell you, our new battery commander is planning to visit today.

OLGA. Really?

IRINA. Is he old?

NIKOLAY. Not very. Mid-forties at most. (Plays the piano as he speaks.) He seems nice. Certainly not stupid, though he does talk a lot.

IRINA. Is he interesting?