Three Sisters, Vaudeville Theatre - ★★★★ - Until June 29, 2019


This is the gold standard for the production of Chekhov. Lev Dodin completely captures the playwright's spirit in this rich and complex rendering. Life is eventful but is it meaningful? This is the question haunting the characters from the play's opening on Irina's name day, the anniversary of the death of the sisters' father, until the day the army leaves the town. Time passes, but does it progress? The moving performances of Irina Tychinina, Elizaveta Boyarskaya and Ekaterina Tarasova were stunning, but the whole ensemble was perfectly cast. The fact that the play is in Russian might be intimidating, but it shouldn't be. We accept the use of subtitles in the cinema and the opera, and they can also work in the theatre. This is an opportunity to hear the sonorous tones of Chekhov's Russian resonate the solemn existential questions of his work. It is a chance to hear Chekhov in the language he intended to be heard in.

 Reviewed by J.C.

 Our Score:  ☆☆☆☆ 

WHEN, WHERE, GETTING THERE:
Tue - Sat: 7:15 pm, Sun: 2:15 pm
Vaudeville Theatre
Nearest tube: Charing Cross
https://www.nimaxtheatres.com/shows/three-sisters/
Map & Location: 404 Strand, Charing Cross, London WC2R 0NH, UK

Most Popular

RAGS The Musical, Park Theatre - ★★★★★ - Until February 8, 2020

Image
This is an American musical for today! Hallmarks of the genre are big production numbers, a compelling story, outstanding music and performances. This production has them all! Director Bronagh Lagan and choreograper Philip Michael Thomas have done a terrific job of bringing the big Broadway feel to a very small space and having the musicians perform on stage works beautifully. The tale of Jewish immigrants coming to America at the turn of the century is a fascinating one and the epic story captures us with its clear but subtle characterisation. However, while using some old tropes like the stories of paired lovers, the show boldly offers a very 21st century version of a happy ending. The music here suggests the melting pot that was New York in those days with echoes of ragtime, klezmer street music and hints of jazz. Songs like "Greenhorns," "Three Sunny Rooms," and "Children of the Wind" become instantly memorable as do some of the performances. Carolyn …
Full Details »

Scrounger, Finborough Theatre - ★★★★ - Until February 1, 2020

Image
Athena Stevens, writer and titular protagonist of Scrounger, begins by making the audience squirm, accusing us, possibly accurately, of patronising or sidelining those with disabilities from behind our glass of Pimm's and copy of The Guardian. However, over a lengthy, unbroken 100 minutes, we are absorbed into Athena's struggle with the world after being removed from an aeroplane due to her large wheelchair and the consequences thereof. Aided by Leigh Quinn cleverly playing a truly astonishing range of other characters, we live through the stresses of Athena's fight for justice. Leigh is tremendous, and often very funny, as she switches roles in a nanosecond. Excellent sound, lighting and an interesting minimalist set all add immensely to the performance. However, the evening belongs to the incomparable Athena Stevens who, almost incidentally, was born with cerebral palsy. It takes time to accustom oneself to her delivery but very soon her stoicism and humanity shine throu…
Full Details »

The Little Prince, The Place - ★★★★★ - Until December 24, 2019

Image
Utterly enchanting describes Luca Silvestrini's interpretation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's classic book, The Little Prince. This is a largely danced version of the story with some of the performers talking directly to the audience as it introduces us to various characters from the allegory about a boy's search for love and friendship. He encounters, among others, a crashed pilot, a mathematician, a fox, and a king. Everyone's favourite is the fox, delightfully danced and spoken by Andrew Gardiner; he really embodies that invisible but essential quality – friendship. The disembodied head of the King without any subjects is perhaps the cleverest image and Donna Lennard is extremely funny here as a talking rose bush. However, dance honours must go to Emily Thompson-Smith and Kip Johnson as the Little Prince and the Pilot. Frequently bewildered Emily wonderfully whirls and clambers over the globes which roll and float around in Yann Seabra's beautiful and spectacular…
Full Details »

Off The Top with Jason Kravits and Special Guests, Brasserie Zédel - ★★★★ - Until January 19, 2020

Image
Jason Kravits' improv show is magic! With the pace and timing of a master magician he takes random words and phrases from the audience and transforms them into a coherent narrative with improvised musical interludes. He does a terrific parody of a supposed singer doing a lounge act which chronicles his career. In our show, it was Matthew Discovery who shared the details of his life with ingratiating intimacy and a pseudo-sincerity that was made totally hilarious by the absurdity of his life story and the songs created by Kravits' random selection of audience suggestions. Our singer's act never missed a trope of the standard one person cabaret while completely sending up the whole genre. The medley from his 'musical' was a masterclass of improv. One marveled that all those random concepts could be strung together and appear to have some order imposed upon them. We also loved his clever riff on the music of Stephen Sondheim. On this occasion he was joined by guest st…
Full Details »

Tom Brown's School Days, The Union Theatre - ★★★ - Until February 2, 2020

Image
Tom Brown's School Days was an enormously popular book when it was published and it created a genre of writing that is echoed in the current cult of Harry Potter. The story shows public school boys experiencing the hardship, bullying and camaraderie of a 'privileged' education in order to learn life values and emerge as great leaders. The notion seemed more than näive after the experience of WW I, but the simple theme of good values honed by the adversity of a harsh educational environment has remained enduring. This version updates the tale to the World War II period, but it also offers a commentary on many current social and political concerns. Bullying has not gone away in the microcosm of our schools nor in the macrocosm of the political arena. Indeed, it seems to have become almost the stock and trade of current politics. Thomas Hughes saw the public school system as a baptism of fire for creating leaders with values and integrity; Phil Wilmott has largely eschewed ir…
Full Details »

Crybabies: Danger Brigade, Soho Theatre - ★★★★ - Until January 11, 2020

Image
We weren't sure what to expect and now we're still debating what we saw. We agree, however, that this was a highly entertaining theatrical experience and not like anything we've seen before. It is absurdist theatre at its best: funny, thought-provoking and a little bewildering. The narrative is more or less set in World War II and there is a story dealing with more Daddy issues than Sylvia Plath, but that barely scratches the surface. The danger brigade take on a Nazi plot in a plot line so complicated we're not sure we always followed it, but it certainly led us on an amusing romp. The humour came out of dreadful puns, absurd situations and objects that had personalities. The pace is literally mind-boggling and the three actors are quite mesmerising as they take on various characters becoming everything from mad Nazi scientists to pregnant tables to children accidentally used as footballs. The cast's timing is inspired and one's mind never wanders as we are co…
Full Details »

Falling In Love Again, King's Head Theatre - ★★★ - Until February 8, 2020

Image
Before the Meghan and Harry 'scandal,' there was the shock of a royal who stepped back from the throne apparently for love. In 1936, the world was enthralled by and enjoyed arguing about the relationship of Edward VIII and his lover, Wallis Simpson. Depending on your point of view the abdication was a triumph of love or an abandonment of duty. This play focuses on the night before Edward's abdication when he is known to have met with Hollywood screen legend, Marlene Dietrich. Their conversation is not recorded but the play makes use of historical information about the two personalities to reconstruct what they might have discussed. Such facts as Dietrich's well-known distaste for the Nazis and Edward's fascination with Hitler are alluded to. The king's attraction to dominant women and Dietrich's femme fatale persona underlie the dynamics of the evening's interaction, and in this play Dietrich tries to seduce Edward and dissuade him from abdicating. The …
Full Details »

Shackleton and his Stowaway, Park Theatre - ★★★ - Until February 1, 2020

Image
Shackleton's antarctic expedition and the survival of his party after the loss of their ship is a story which has continued to fascinate the public. It is an awesome feat of courage and endurance, and Shackleton's character and decisions have continued to provoke speculation and debate. In this version, the character of the proud, unbending and ever-optimistic Shackleton is set against the more realistic, pragmatic and earthy perspective of a youthful stowaway. The latter holds his hero in the highest of esteem yet questions some of Shackleton's views and decisions. While it is interesting to see how the two are played off against each other, the problem is that neither character seems to develop and the interpersonal drama is quite limited in its scope. Nevertheless, Richard Ede creates a credible Shackleton and Elliott Ross is a delightfully cheeky stowaway. As the characters are essentially flat, the dramatic crux of the piece becomes the situation of the crew of the En…
Full Details »

Martha, Josie and the Chinese Elvis, Park Theatre - ★★★★★ - Until January 4, 2020

Image
The title says it all. You know you're in for a lot of fun and this play lives up to its billing. What do you give to your dominatrix when she turns forty? It's a question we've all asked ourselves, and what we get here is an amusing and provocative answer. This is a piece that looks at and laughs at role playing, how it can liberate us and how it can trap us. Everyone from Chinese Elvis to dominatrix, Josie, has an alter ego that either supports them or constrains them. Coming to terms with the authentic self and enjoying the possibility of playing with the notion of other selves is both the challenge and the solution. This is a very funny play with a lot of heart and wisdom that is beautifully performed by a cast which never misses a beat. Sioned Jones is quite wonderful as the obsessive compulsive cleaner who grows into a new persona and Andrew P. Stephen is delightful as the dry cleaner who accepts his complexity. Kellie Batchelor is completely believable as the age-c…
Full Details »

Coming Clean, Trafalgar Studios - ★★★ - Until February 1, 2020

Image
Is it possible for an open gay relationship to work? This is the central question posed in Kevin Elyot's 1982 play Coming Clean; Tony and Greg have been together for five years and don't find the answer easy. Director, Adam Spreadbury-Maher, gives us a straight-forward production of the play in Amanda Mascarenhas's realistic set. Lee Knight's Tony has great charm and some excellent scenes, particularly in the second act. His amoral friend William played by Elliot Hadley received plenty of laughs, but the performance, perhaps because of the writing, struck us as rather reminiscent of the Chuckle Brothers. To balance this, however, the other two principals struck a more realistic note. Stanton Plummer-Cambridge's beautifully spoken Greg was totally mesmeric. His stillness spoke volumes as the most subtle of all the characters. Nevertheless, it was the cuckoo in the nest, Jonah Rzeskiewicz (Robert), who shone; he was entirely believable throughout - a lovely performan…
Full Details »

The City Life Magazine. Reviews and Ratings.