*** Invictus Theatre Company, in its new home ,The Windy City Playhouse, is taking on a huge challenge. Imagine doing an Anton Chekhov classic like Three Sisters”, translated into English, in an intimate space, and you will understand the challenge. We are dealing with what is a massive production that in its original form is four acts. The condensed translation is a two act play, but does run close to  three hours with one 15 minute intermission..

The story takes place in Russia. The family, three sisters and a brother are the children of a recently deceased Russian  colonel. One sister, the middle one, Masha ( Katherine Schwartz is divine in this role) is married to a teacher, Kulygin ( the very funny Francis Brady)  who feels honored to have her as his wife and no matter what she does, he loves and worships her, despite the fact that she has no feelings for him. The older sister, Olga ( played to perfection by Maria Stephens) is a school teacher and the younger sister is Irina ( Ellie Duffey is adorable and at the same time quite emotional as the youngest who wants to find love). Their brother Andrey is played by Michael B. Woods. He is what one would call a “loser”. He is married to a woman who is hated by his sisters ,Natasha ( Cat Hermes). He is also is a bad gambler, losing a great deal of money.

This translation by Paul Schmidt is fairly easy to follow and the set by Kevin Rolfs is pretty amazing. Some of the furniture appears to be museum quality, as if taken right from Russia and brought to Irving Park Road. The direction by Charles Askenaizer was smooth, but there were times of confusion when different exits and entrances were made. It was hard to figure where the characters were coming from. The “fire” in the second act was probably the most confusing to me.

There are many little stories within the larger story about this particular family and the cast of players does great work. Masha has a romantic interlude with one of the Russian soldiers, Lt. Cershinin ( deftly handled by Bryan Breau), and Irena decides to wed Baron Tuzenbach ( Charlie Diaz) even through she has no feelings for him. I won’t let the cat out of the bag, but she never gets the happiness she seeks. The rest of the ensemble is composed of: John Wehrmann, Joseph Beal, Colton Smith, Brandon Boler, Frank Nall, Renae Stone, Ophelia Harkness and Kevin Cruz.

The costumes  (Jessie Gowens), sound (Petter Wahlback), lighting (Trey Brazeal) and props (Rachel Livingston) are all truly well done and I have a feeling the tech Jeff nominations will be going towards this production. It is a solid production that might be a little long for the average theater audience. In today’s world, over three hours is more than most will handle. But if you are in fact one that loves the classics, in particular the work of Anton Chekhov, you will find yourself thinking about some of the more modern language and interpretations of the original. The story is about hopes and dreams and family. The yearn to leave the home they have built in order to get back to Moscow where life is far more exciting, but often dreams do not come true.

 

“Three Sisters” will continue thru – Jul 14th with performances as follows: