The current theater season is turning out to be one of revamped and restored plays, as one after the other, Moscow producers regurgitate their past productions. After deciding on a new cast, maybe a new decor, and even changing the basic meaning of the play, they add it to the repertory and wait for the audience's reaction.

Recently, the list of reestablished plays was stretched out to include Anton Chekhov's "Three Sisters" at the Sovremennik, where it has been put on by the theater's chief producer, Galina Volchek.

Many theatergoers still remember the Sovremennik's first-ever production of the "Three Sisters" with its brilliant cast – Marina Neelova, Galina Petrova, Yelena Yakoleva and Valentin Gaft. The atmosphere was subtly built up using that wonderful understanding of the human soul and its innermost secrets that are particularly necessary for staging Chekhov plays. Galina Volchek's production was therefore awaited with bated breath. Unfortunately, we're still waiting, because the present version has none of the first production's qualities.

This time, the producer chose to dispense with the tradition of using stars and instead filled the cast with newcomers. Almost none of them managed the complex material, and not one was able to recreate anything from the previous performance.

Irina Senotova (Masha) is a weak copy of Marina Neelova; Sergei Yushkevich (Vershinin), incapable of being effectual when he speaks, is weak, whining and unable to arouse a woman's passion; and Ilya Drevnob (Tusenbach) looks like an inexperienced student. Probably Chulpan Khamatova's performance as Irina and Ivan Volkova's as Andrei Prosorov could be considered the most successful. They understand the play and manage to convey the tragic confusion felt by the main characters.

But the success of these two actors is more likely to have come in spite of rather than owing to Galina Volchek's direction, since the production itself doesn't make any sense. The disturbing, beautiful and wise Chekhov script does not get a response from either the actors or the audience. It is especially upsetting to see such a lack of attention from a director to one of the world's deepest and most interesting playwrights, whose thoughts today are just as important for society as they were at the time he wrote.

The next performance is on March 15.

SOVREMENNIK THEATER
19 Chistoprudny Bulvar.
Metro: Chisty Prudy
Tel: 921-6473