ABSTRACT
The Surry Theater, a summer dramatic organization highly admired by Mr. Dwight Wiman, gave us an unfortunate production of Chekhov's ‘Three Sisters’ Saturday night. On behalf of the earnest players involved it is but fair to note that this is the most difficult and, I think, the least rewarding of all the dramas written by the great Russian, and that it requires unusual resourcefulness in staging to bring it to life in the theater. A subtle study of boredom, frustration and futility, it is written in a studiously minor key and unless it is performed with imagination and expertness it can seem hopelessly dull and monotonous. In fact, there are moments when, if not shrewdly interpreted, it can emerge as almost a classic example of an author burlesquing himself. When, for example, the play opens with the three sisters reclining languorously about the stage and one of them saying with wistful sadness, ‘Father died just a year ago today,’ you are inclined to feel that there is a note of satire somewhere. The play is filled with scenes which can be moving if brilliantly done and merely meaningless if acted and staged routinely, and the Surry Theater is not properly expert. . . .
