Join us for an online screening of Chekhov's tragicomedy, and a live Q&A with the actresses of the Three Sisters themselves.
Anton Chekhov's The Three Sisters probes the lives and dreams of Olga, Masha, and Irina, former Muscovites now living in a provincial town from which they're desperate to escape. In this powerful play, a landmark of modern drama, Chekhov masterfully interweaves character and theme in subtle ways that make the work's climax seem as inevitable as it is deeply moving.
Timofey Kulyabin, artistic director of the Red Torch Theatre in Novosibirsk, has taken this classic work and reinvented it as an epic parable about finding harmony through suffering. The entire cast, save for one, communicate throughout the performance solely in sign language. By doing this, the selfishness, isolation and lack of mutual understanding are dangerous and laden with disaster, the characters defenceless against a huge "sounding" world.
Join Pushkin House and Stage Russia for an online screening from the comfort of your own home, from Friday 30th April. Then join us live via Zoom at 2pm UK time on Sunday 2nd May for a Q&A with actresses Daria Emelyanova, Irina Krivonos, Linda Akhmetzyanova, speaking to Professor Michael Earley.
Linda Akhmetzyanova graduated from the Novosibirsk Theater Institute in 2011, in the workshop of A. Zykova). That same year she was brought on as an actress of the Red Torch Theater. In 2017, along with her fellow performers, Linda was awarded a Golden Mask Prize for "Best Ensemble Cast". Linda was singled out for her work in the production with a Best Actress Golden Mask nomination. Her roles at the Red Torch include Adela in House of Bernarda Alba by F. G. Lorca, Bert in Hedda Gabler by G. Ibsen, and Godl in Memorial Prayer by G. Gorin.
Daria Emelyanova graduated from the Novosibirsk Theater School in 2004, in the workshop of Izyaslav Borisov and Galina Alekhina. In the same year she was admitted to the troupe of the Red Torch Theatre and has since become one of its leading actresses. She has been thrice nominated for a Golden Mask Award for roles in Onegin (2013), KILL (2014) and Children of the Sun (2020) and won a Golden Mask as a part of the play Three Sisters for "Best Ensemble Cast". Among the roles of the current repertoire, Daria is performing as Betty Dolphit in Career of Arturo Ui by B. Brecht, as the Countess in The Mad Day of Figaro by P. Beaumarchais, as Feli in Heat and Cold, or the Idea of Master of the House by F. Crommelink. Dasha is engaged locally in community projects, and is the initiator and curator of the annual charity event "Be Kind!" in support of a local Novosibirsk orphanage.
Irina Krivonos graduated from the Yekaterinburg Theater Institute in 1995, in the workshop of N. Milchenko. She worked at first in the Izhevsk Drama Theater, and in 1998 was invited to the troupe of the Red Torch Theatre. Irina is a Golden Mask Award winner as part of the play Three Sisters for "Best Ensemble Cast'. She is also a repeated winner of the Novosibirsk Paradise Theatre Prize "Paradise". Her more notable roles at the Red Torch Theatre include Bana in The Kiss by G. Calderon, Angustias in House of Bernarda Alba by FG Lorca and Lisa in Illusion by P. Corneille, Irina was most recently nominated for Golden Mask Award as Best Supporting Actress in Timofey Kulyabin's staging of Maxim Gorky's Children of the Sun.
Michael Earley is Academic Adviser for Stage Russia. He is writing a new book about the relationship between Russian theatre directors and revolutionary innovators Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vsevolod Meyerhold. Currently, Michael is Dean of Performing Arts and Professor of Drama and Theatre at LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore. He was previously Professor of Drama, Principal and Chief Executive Officer of Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance in Sidcup. An American by birth, Michael had an extensive career in the United States where he was Assistant Professor and Director of the undergraduate Theatre Studies Program at Yale University and on the faculty of the Drama Department at the Juilliard School and also at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. As Chief Producer of Plays for BBC Radio Drama he directed over 50 productions for broadcast over Radio 3 and Radio 4.