About the Play:

The Three Sisters has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Female Monologues, Female/Female Scenes, and Female/Male Scenes.

The Three Sisters is a full-length drama by Anton Chekhov, adapted by David Mamet. This poignant story of three provincial sisters who long with all their hearts to go to Moscow is considered by many critics to be the finest drama of the 20th century. It has featured many of the world's great actresses and actors in the roles the three sisters – Olga, Masha and Irina – and their brother Andrei.

The Three Sisters focuses on the lives of three sisters, Olga, Masha, and Irina Prozorov, daughters of a once-prominent but now deceased general. Along with their brother, Andrei, the sisters attempt to carve-out a meaningful existences in their small provincial garrison town in late 19th century Imperial Russia. Hailed as a master at balancing comedy and tragedy, Chekhov explores the emotional life of the Prozoroff family and that of the procession of military men, servants, husbands, suitors, and lovers, all of whom constitute a distraction from the passage of time and from the sisters' ever-present dream to return to their beloved Moscow. In this, his third adaptation of a Chekhov play, Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Mamet offers a contemporary, highly accessible version of Chekhov's The Three Sisters. Working from a literal translation by Vlada Chernomordik, he has rediscovered the characteristically modern chords in this powerful play and breathes new life into a timeless classic. This is Chekhov rendered in direct, colloquial language marked by David Mamet's finely tuned ear for dialogue.

The Three Sisters was written by Anton Chekhov in 1900 and first performed in 1901 at the Moscow Art Theatre. The David Mamet adaptation of The Three Sisters premiered in 1990 at the Atlantic Theater Company in Burlington, Vermont. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and is regularly performed in regional repertory, high school, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 6 female, 9 male

What people say:

"Mamet's ear is famously impeccable, the dialogue is always authentic and convincing ... [This adaptation] will help to undermine our silly critical notions of 'definitive' Chekhov. Mamet has made me rethink the play." — The New Republic

"Audacious, consistently arresting." — Chicago-Sun Times

About the Playwright:

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was the author of hundreds of short stories and several plays and is regarded by many as both the greatest Russian storyteller and the father of modern drama. His plays, including The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, The Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard, are among the most widely performed in the world.

David Mamet is a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter as well as a director, novelist, poet, and essayist. He has written the screenplays for more than twenty films, including the Oscar-nominated The Verdict. His more than twenty plays include the Pulitzer Prize-winning Glengarry Glen Ross. His other awards include a Tony Award, an Academy Award, two OBIE Awards, two New York Drama Critics Circle Awards, and Outer Circle, Society of West End Theatre, and Dramatists Guild Hall-Warriner Awards.