The Three Sisters (Dover Thrift Editions: Plays) Paperback – Unabridged, May 12, 1993

“The Three Sisters” is a play by Anton Chekhov originally written in 1900 and first performed in 1901. “The Three Sisters” was one of his major works along with others like “The Seagull” and “The Cherry Orchard”. The story follows the three sisters, Olga, Masha, Irina, and their brother Andrei on their estate in the Russian countryside.The story begins on the anniversary of their father’s death and also on Irina’s name day. The sisters are gathered on their estate and are celebrating along with friends and soldiers that used to know their father. There are many reoccurring themes that appear throughout the story, and the 2 most notable are dreams and love. The sisters dream of moving back to Moscow, while Olga, the oldest, wishes to be married and said that would have married “any man, even an old man if he had asked”. Irina wished to return to Moscow where she believed she would find true love. Masha however, has already been married since she was 18, but she falls for another man. Throughout the story they are constantly talking about the things they wish to do, but rarely acting upon them. The best example of this is how the sisters talk of going to Moscow but they end up staying on estate in the countryside for many years even though they appear capable of moving to Moscow any time they wish.Even though it first premiered in 1901 “The Three Sisters” has remained popular throughout the years with showings as recent as April 2017, at The Studio Theatre in Washington, DC.

Good copy. Story is interesting.

Anton Chekhov’s 1900 play titled, “Three Sisters”, told a story about the lives of three women and their brother living in a small Russian town with great aspirations to once again live in Moscow. The book is worth a read for only $2.70; also the ISBN is 1-56663-554-3.Chekhov’s purpose in writing this play is obviously to entertain the audience. He provides the audience, most likely other Russians in the early 1900s with dramatic and relatable characters in plot lines.Three main themes from this play are: dreams, love, and time itself. All three sisters and brother dream of living in Moscow where they once were as children. They each dream of working and living happily. Most notably, Andrey becoming a well-renown professor at the university in Moscow. All, with the exception of Olga (the eldest sister), experience love in some way at some point as well. The Baron and Solyony confess their love for Irina, the younger sister. Masha, who is unsatisfied with her current husband Kulygin, falls in love again with Vershinin. Andrey marries his love, Natasha, but Natasha has an affair with Andrey’s peer, Protopopov. Time is a factor in this play as throughout each Act time goes by and slowly each character gives in to their doubts of living their dreams. Each main character dreams of love and happy living, but as time goes by each character grows unhappy and worrisome.Each main character has their own monologue in which they philosophize and talk about how life is dull and depressing. For example, in Act 3 Irina talks about how unhappy she is and she states, “... and it feels like you’re just walking away, just walking away from a beautiful life, farther and farther, until it disappears.” This was in reference to herself. In Act 1 she talks about how much she will love life in Moscow. It was her Name Day and she explained her dreams. In Act 3 she tells Olga about how she doesn’t have any interest in the Baron and that she thought she’d find her love in Moscow. Well, in the next act, she agrees to marry the Baron because she gave up on her hopes and dreams and decided to settle with him.The book overall deals with a lot of issues. For instance, I will talk about depression and adultery. The play should have been very relatable and useful for other Russians back then. The suicide rates in Russia are very high compared to other countries. So seeing how the characters express their feelings and how they were consoled should helpful for those that can relate. While reading, I felt terrible for Andrey as everyone but him knew about Natasha’s affair. I would have rather one of his sisters to break it to him instead of him slowly growing more stubborn.Anton Chekhov (1860-1904), is a well-known Russian playwright and author. He is the third eldest of six children, and lived with an abusive father and a mother who’s storytelling ability he inherited from.If I can imagine myself as an audience member for this play in Russia in the early 1900s, I can picture the twists and turns that this story’s plot would provide me and the rest in audience. The story follows mainly three sisters and their eldest brother. They all want to go back to Moscow where they lived as kids, but are somehow tied down to their small Russian town and their acquaintances from the army. They experience love, frustration, and death. But the family sticks together and pulls through for each other. This story displays the strength of the three women.

“The Three Sister” by Anton Chekhov is about three sisters who mourn the loss of their father years after he has passed reminiscing about his funeral and their sister’s birth. The three sisters are from Moscow and are now living in a small town in Russia and it really bothers all three of them insane. These girls are used to the broader thinking’s from the big-city of Moscow, the small-town backwards ways are infuriating to them. The entire family being quite intellectual and very well educated, like anyone from a big city, hates the duller side of small-town living with a passion.Olga, the oldest, is a schoolteacher in an all-girls school. Masha, the middle child, eventually ends up marrying a school teacher from the area but realizes too late that he has the small-town mentality of many from their town. Irina, the youngest, was engaged to a man, but on the day of their wedding he is challenged to a duel and was shot dead. Irina fanaticized about the idea of work but never actually worked before, she came to realize that work is, well, hard work.The three sisters have a brother, Andrey, he is married to Natasha who slowly takes over the family’s estate in the small town.Natasha starts by being introduces to the sisters before there was a marriage proposal, so she is just at the girlfriend level. Then Andrey proposes to her after she gets self-conscious at a “family dinner” because she felt like his sisters were mocking her. Andrey and Natasha have a child not too long after their marriage and that’s when Natasha starts to make changes to the estate as she likes. It starts off small but then snowballs into her ultimately taking over the home from Olga, Masha, and Irina.Overall, the play was a little confusing to follow, in my opinion. There were times that I had to go back and reread the entire page because something did not make sense. As an American reading Russian literature, I can appreciate the cultural differences between writing styles. What I loved most was that no matter what, a play is written in the same format no matter the originating language.The purpose of Anton Chekhov writing this play was to show that even if you are considered "aristocracy" it does not beat hard work or working your way to get something. Russians always value the meaning of hard work, like Natasha who is considered to be the image of the working class in this play. Natasha married into a wealthier family and immediately worked her way into taking over the estate. Even though the three sisters were from a wealthier family, they still sought after intelligence and more learning, and I admired them for that. They still had a thirst for knowledge and went after it, with Olga being a teacher, and Masha marrying one, they long for others who are educated.

Dover Thrift editions are brilliant and great value for money. Play arrived well within time before our Playreading Group met.