For this production, we’ve put together a new adaptation of Chekhov’s Three Sisters. The aim of our new script is to underline the timelessness of the human condition. Chekhov wrote Три Сестры in 1900 for a Russian audience. Today, his words have been translated into almost every language and his messages about the tiring, eternal nature of life and the power of art to provide only a temporary respite are relevant no matter what time it’s presented in or exactly which words are used. Chekhov and many, many other scholars have argued that it’s impossible to make a completely accurate, pure translation, particularly from Russian to English. They may very well be right. Regardless, our aim has not been to create the most accurate, purest translation possible. Instead, we’ve worked on creating an adaptation that deeply respects and draws from Chekhov’s original while allowing room for creative liberties and for utilizing different words than a direct translation may suggest.

 

During our callbacks process, actors were asked to read a scene. Afterwards, they were told the main shifts within the same scene and asks to act it out again used their own words along with whatever they remembered from the script. Hearing their natural interpretation of the script and the language they used inspired me to create a new adaptation. During the beginning of our script process, I met with and talked to many of our actors so that the tone of the script can reflect the voices of our actors. For the rest of our script writing process, I worked on pages ahead of time and then Jeffrey and I met to read through them, fixing, adding, and changing anything that needed to be fixed, added, or changed.

 

Throughout the script, there are many references that we updated. For example, many of the references to old Russian literature and folk tales have been replaced with references to Shakespeare. In most translations, Solyony says something along the lines of “He hadn’t any time to gasp before the bear had him in his grasp,” a reference to a Russian folk tale that is nearly impossible to find in English; instead, he says “What man dare, I dare. Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear,” a line from Macbeth. Additionally, instead of being “silent” like Gogol, Masha says she’ll be “like Hamlet: ‘the rest is silence.’” Throughout the play, characters sing snippets of various different songs, many of these references have been updated as well. Masha typically sings “By a curved sea-shore is a green oak-tree…” In this version, she sings Lilac Wine.

While a script like this can be updated every generation, there were parts of the original that I really didn’t want us to lose. One of those elements is the inherent Russian-ness of Chekhov. In this adaptation of Three Sisters, some of Chekhov’s original Russian language is maintained and utilized as a way to show generational differences as well as culture amongst the characters. The Russian used is chosen strategically so that it acts more as percussion. It’s often included as a way to express love or call another character by a pet name and as a show of extreme emotions during an outburst. Additionally, older characters tend to understand and use much more Russian. For example, Chebutykin, and older doctor stuck in the past uses much more than the sisters. Among them, Olga understands most of what’s being said but typically only uses common phrases herself, Masha only understands and speaks very common phrases, and Irina understands very little and speaks almost no Russian. We hope that using Russian language will help us to pay homage to Chekhov and his original Russian script while also adding a level of depth to the characters’ interpersonal interactions.