Three Sisters Blow Into Town

On opening night of Porchlight Theatre’s new production of Chekhov’s Three Sisters brought wind that had been building all afternoon. By 7:00, when the play began, it was a full gale. The windows on Steve Decker’s ingenious cantilevered set swung like they were motorized. A prop flower vase blew over. (The old family retainer, played by Candace Brown, stepped in and swept it up.) Actors shouted to be heard over the redwoods’ heavy rustle. And when one of the characters forecast “a wild, elemental storm coming,” he got an unscripted laugh. Nevertheless, in the best theatrical tradition, the show went on, as players and playgoers coped with the conditions.

This is the 8th season for Porchlight, who call themselves “the Merchant-Ivory of Marin” and who stage their works in the amphitheatre behind The Barn in Ross. They are a seasoned group. Of the eleven Core Members, seven performed tonight, four of them Equity, and all struggled along in “the simple magnificence of our natural surroundings.”

Anton Chekhov’s plays are suited to undisciplined nature. His characters are also buffeted about, but don’t really go anywhere, rooted in their own idealism or fecklessness. Yet Three Sisters, which made its debut in 1901, seems surprisingly modern. These people make bad marriages, gamble recklessly, hate their jobs, long for an idealized past, get fat, get old.

The Prozorov sisters in the title share the inherited family home with their brother, Andrey. He’s assigned to be the family intellectual, and the sisters have hopes that he’ll become a professor. The youngest sister, Irina, is celebrating her 20th birthday as the play opens. Irina is excited about the future, longing to start work. The oldest sister, Olga, is still single, worries that she’s getting old, and blames her teaching job. Masha, the one in the middle, sits, reads and smokes. She quietly detests her husband, the high school teacher Kulygin, but comes to life when an army officer, Vershinin, is transferred to this small garrison town. Vershinin is from Moscow, a magic name in the Prozorov home. He has a glowing vision of the beautiful future that awaits them all in another 200 years. He also has a wife and two daughters.

Two years go by, and much is the same, except Olga and Irina are now forced to share a bedroom. Andrey has married a dragon of a young woman, who has installed little Bobik in Irina’s room. Another baby will be along soon, then job changes, followed by failed courtships, dashed hopes, and the recurring theme of exhaustion, of being worn out, alternating with manic visions of the future.

But through all this Russian suffering, Chekhov inserts some bitterly funny lines: “When a man just wants to talk, it’s good to have a deaf person to talk to.” Or many variations on, “I love my wife, but . . .” Director Susannah Martin has chosen this play’s Paul Schmidt translation, which is, she says, “less poetic, more conversational.” And she has used the amphitheatre’s surroundings as part of the set.

Chekhov gives the large cast some excellent speeches to work with: Olga’s (Julia McNeal) declarations of patient despair; Masha’s (Tara Blau) silent contempt for her husband and delight with Vershinin (Nick Sholley;) Irina’s (Thais Harris) gradual collapse of hope; Andrey’s (Jon Wesley Burnett) frozen acceptance of his domestic life; Tuzenbach’s (Craig Neibaur) retreats into clownishness; Kulygin’s (Ryan O’Donnell) exaggerated pride.

The action in Three Sisters is advanced by the villains. Andrey’s grasping wife, Natalya (Rebecca Castelli,) is steadily acquiring both the family home and a lover. Solyony (Michael Barr) determines to be noticed by Irina any way he can. Romanich (John Mercer) dissolves his medical skills in alcohol.

Jarrod Quon and Don Wood share multiple roles throughout the play.

Three Sisters will continue at the amphitheater in the Marin Art & Garden Center through July 11, with no performance July 4 and a special performance on July 6. Ticket prices range from $15 to $25. To order in advance, see www.porchlight.net.

Note: The amphitheater is not easily handicap-accessible. Also, on opening night, besides the high wind, there was only one Porta-Potty in service. Audience members are advised to plan accordingly.