Lorna Irvine reviews the 'gorgeous, hilarious and really rather moving' production at Oran Mor.
There is a Mighty Boosh sketch parodying Russian theatre in which Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt are swathed in cloaks, pompously braying about poverty and pies. Anton Chekhov's plays are all too often associated with pain, misery and dry academia, so that it can be too easy to mock, which is why this adaptation by Viv Adam is such a blessed relief. It is uproarious with a terrific cast swapping roles with consummate ease and playing live folk melodies.
Irina, Olga and Masha, played by River City’s ain 'three sisters' (Julie Duncanson; Joyce Falconer and Claire Knight, respectively) with support from Barrie Hunter, are often irreverent to the point of impudence—particularly Falconer's predatory swagger as Solony and Hunter's emasculated Andrey, but that's not to say this staging lacks substance. Indeed, the ribald humour of the piece does not preclude Chekhov's philosophical musings on identity, love and questioning of societal norms.
Maggie Kinloch's rich direction presents these themes with a knowing nod and wink to past and present: each woman is searching for meaning in an uncertain world, where both the sound of trains and voices babel to become white noise.
Claire Knight is a revelation- luminous equally as maudlin Masha or bawdy Natasha—her beautiful, crystal singing voice ringing out above the laughter in elegiac song...a reminder that everything is, after all, finite.
A heartfelt Classic Cut: gorgeous, hilarious and really rather moving.
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