Three sisters
by Anton Chekhov
Directed by Maria Magkanari
A production about the search for a Moscow
that is always just out of reach
From 6 March | at the Ziller BuildingΆs Plagia Skini
Anton Chekhov's masterpiece Three sisters, with a superb cast directed by Maria Magkanari, opens at the National Theatre of Greece on 6 March in a surprise venue, the Plagia Skini of the Ziller Building. It is a play that explores expectation, time and memory, but most of all the search for a Moscow that is always just out of reach. It is about people who long to become a better version of themselves but lack the courage to do so.
Three sisters - a single generation in a single family. Three women united by the closest of kinships, but doomed to live separate lives. As the eldest, Olga will always dwell in the past. Masha, the middle sibling, will commit herself to the present. And Irina, the youngest, will dream of the future.
In Chekhov's hands, daily social rituals, birthdays and anniversaries, philosophical discussions and plans, births and disasters, love and rejection, arrivals and departures, and above all, disappointment, are crafted into a precious, often enigmatic play, which leads his characters with underlying humour from extreme joy to utter despair.
This is not the first time that Maria Magkanari has tackled the great Russian dramatist, unlocking the riddles of an emblematic work that for more than a century has served as a perfect metaphor for talking about time. Three sisters is a mosaic of elusive meaningfulness, of moments in our lives that failed to be glorious, successful, or redemptive. But it also stands as a monument to Chekhov's love of humanity.
The three sisters will never stop speaking – even in silence – about desires that have been buried or forgotten; about men who say they love their wives and women who are constantly yearning; about broken clocks and lives left unfulfilled; about all the vitality that is silently suffocated by indolence; about daily household rituals steeped in silence; about infectious tears and laughter; about the confusion felt by those searching for meaning; about the self-deception that holds us all captive; and about the path traced by rivers of tears to explosive joy; in short, about life.
Three sisters has been staged twice by the National Theatre of Greece: in 1951, directed by Karolos Koun, and in 1982, directed by Michael Cacoyannis. Both productions were presented on the main stage of the Ziller Building.
Translation: Giorgos P. Depastas & Alexandros Isaris
Director: Maria Magkanari
Dramaturgical advisor: Sophia Eftychiadou
Set design: Filanthi Bougatsou
Costume design: Pavlos Thanopoulos
Music: Haralambos Gogios
Movement: Cecile Mikroutsikou
Lighting design: Maria Gozadinou
Production dramaturg: Eva Saraga
Directing assistant: Eleni Pappa
Set design assistant: Natasa Lekkou
Costume design assistant: Antonia Michaliou
The cast (in alphabetical order): Maria Georgiadou, Antonis Gritsis, Thanassis Dimou, Dimitris Drossos, Tryfonas Zacharis, Amalia Kavali, Andreas Natsios, Nikolos Douros, Elina Rizou, Nancy Sideri, Maria Skoula, Thaleia Sykioti, Aineias Tsamatis, Giorgis Tsampourakis, Andriana Chalkidi
Photographs: Maria Toultsa
Video: Nikos Pastras
€First performance: Thursday 6 March
Days and times of performances: Wednesdays & Sundays at 9pm | Thursdays & Fridays at 6pm
Ticket prices: Wednesdays & Thursdays €17, Fridays €14, Sundays €22
Students/Young people (up to 28 years) €12, Over 65s: Wednesdays €10, Thursdays, Fridays & Sundays €14, Unemployed, Disabled & companion €5, Parents of large families (Polyteknoi) €10
Tickets from: ticketservices.gr & 2107234567 (with debit/credit card)
