Friday, April 20, 2012
Theater "Moscow, Moscow, Moscow!" Three Sisters at BAM
Posted by Henry Stewart on Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 8:58 AM
The characters express resignation and cynicism about the present, but also cautious optimism for the future; they often muse on how they will appear to observers 300 years from now—which is us, more or less—and how the only meaning that could ever be found in their suffering will be from the social progress achieved by subsequent generations, building on the accomplishments of those in the play's present. At the beginning, the characters even predict a better future only 30 years away, a utopia of honest work for honest workers. Unspoken historical hindsight provides the irony—Stalin was less than 30 years away—which wasn't lost on the audience at BAM; neither were the wordplay, the wit, or the realistic representations of Russianness in this supertitled, super-Russian production by St. Petersburg's Maly Drama Theatre. The Russian-speaker sitting next to me—one of many throughout the theater—giggled from beginning to end.
Three Sisters is at BAM through April 28. More info here.
Follow Henry Stewart on Twitter @henrycstewart
Full disclosure: The L Magazine publishes the programs for BAM.
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