The three sisters play written by Anton Chekhov is about a small Russian town at the turn of the century, moved three sisters Olga, Irina, and Masha and their brother Andrei they dream daily of their return to their home in Moscow, where life is charming and stimulating meaningful. But for now they exist in a malaise of dissatisfaction. Soldiers from the local military post provide them some companionship and society, but nothing can replace Moscow in their hopes. Andrei marries poor girl, Natasha, and begins to settle into a life of much less meaning than he had hoped. Natasha begins to run the family her way. Masha, though married, yearns for the sophisticated life and begins a dalliance with Vershinin, an army officer with a sick and suicidal wife. Olga continuously drives to advise her sisters but needs guidance and love herself. Even Irina, the freshest, most optimistic of the sisters, begins to waver in her dreams until, finally, tragedy strikes.
In the play 'three sisters' I play Olga the oldest. My interpretation of Olga was that she was trying to be a parent figure. I think this is because she wants to take the role of her father who had recently passed away. However while doing this I think her sisters look at her as being too in control of their lives and circumstances. I think Olga yearns for some guidance and love herself, you can notice this when she talks to Irena and advises her to marry the baron even though Irena doesn't love or find him attractive. Olga States that she would marry any man "I would marry any man as long as he was decent.. Id even marry an old man..." This statements shows that she is controlling towards her sisters but actually longs to be in Irenas shoes. She wants passion and love, whatever the man may be or look like.
Olga does not like when over people steel her 'lime light' in parental role. When masha the youngest of the sisters confesses that she's in love with vershinin and tells Irene to marry someone she loves; Olga gets extremely annoyed and twists it to make masha look stupid and naive "you're the silliest person in our family masha forgive me for saying so.." This makes Irene confused on who's advice to take. Overall Olga wants guidance and love but when given she rejects it. Olga just wants a loving partner home and family.
During rehearsals and up to the performance I thought it was good, however I thought the play was challenging as the play never really had a certain storyline, it had all different ones interlinking at the same time. I also found it challenging as none of the characters could really demonstrate how they felt it was all hidden emotions which was hard as you had to show the audience how they felt but not show the characters in the scene.
I also found it challenging to understand masha as a character. It was fun to try and demonstrate an uneasy parental role but also be a child on the inside yearning for attention.
Overall I enjoyed playing Olga as she was challenging and fun.
Stanislavski methods and how they link with key points in three sisters
Given circumstance
This method is when an action is demonstrated in dialogue that gives away incident or action that took place BEFORE the play began or that action demonstrated then. This is known as exposition
Subtext
subtext is hidden emotions about a character and their hidden motives.
Subtext gives something for the actors to do not just through dialogue but also actions and gestures. This is used throughout the play. An example would be when masha tells Olga and Irene she's In love and persuades Irene to follow her heart but stands up in the middle while the two sisters sit looking up showing control and power. (Hidden motive)
Magic if
Magic if method is used through out the play. The method is to allow you to actually be the character, step into their shoes. "How would you feel if this was your situation" "what would you do" magic if.
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov wrote the three sisters he studied medicine for practically his whole life but also a dramatist and author. However he was a extraordinary play write
His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics.
Chekhov renounced the theatre after the disastrous reception of The Seagull in 1896, but the play was revived in 1898 by Constantin Stanislavski's Moscow Art Theatre, which also produced Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and his last two plays, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard. These four plays present a challenge to the acting ensemble as well as to audiences, because in place of conventional action Chekhov offers a "theatre of mood" and a "submerged life in the text."
My relationship between Wendy (masha) and grace (Irene) was very strong as we were all focused on being successful with our scene we all found it challenging but all came together to demonstrate our scene to full potential.
During rehearsal we found it difficult to obtain energy as we all didn't really understand the scene at first and it's hidden emotions
Josh done a exercise with us asking us to all walk in the room as our character but 50 years down the line and haven't seen each other. What would be our actions and thoughts. We all discovered that we were all trying to impress each other and overall each other. Which is exactly what the three sisters are doing.
Overall I enjoyed working on the three sisters as it was challenging and needed a lot of focus and understanding which was fun and intriguing
