Maly Drama Theatre Of St. Petersburg Return To London With THREE SISTERS

Following a critically acclaimed West End Season at the Theatre Royal Haymarket last year, with celebrated productions of Uncle Vanya and Life & Fate (Critics' Choice Guardian, Financial Times, Telegraph, Sunday Times) the Maly Drama Theatre of St. Petersburg return with a luminous retelling of Chekhov's masterpiece, Three Sisters. Playing in London for 10 performances only from June 19th at the Vaudeville Theatre, press nights will be held on June 19th and 20th.

Rediscover the tragicomic story of the Prozorov sisters as they contend with their disillusioned lives in provincial Russia. Renowned director Lev Dodin directs this radiant, complex play with rich insight into Chekhov's eloquent understanding of passion, resignation, longing, and love.

Under the artistic directorship of Lev Dodin - one of the most celebrated theatre practitioners working today - the Maly Drama Theatre of St. Petersburg has become one of the greatest theatres in the world. During his 35-year tenure many of Dodin's shows have won international awards including state prizes of Russian and the USSR, Golden Mask Awards and a Laurence Olivier Award (becoming the first international company to do so for Stars in the Morning Sky, 1989). In 2000 he received the European Theatre Award.

Of Three Sisters, Dodin comments: "Chekhov speaks with passion and eloquence about the hopelessness of our lives, about the tragic discrepancies between our yearnings and reality, about the vital importance of staying true to oneself and preserving your dignity.

"Three Sisters is a play about people with ideals. I think today too many of us - the world over - understand only too well what unfulfilled hopes are and the nature of fallen-through plans, lost illusions and impossible loves. We all unfortunately understand the universal language of loss. We understand the stern language in which life speaks to us - and in this life we must stay true to ourselves and preserve our personal dignity at any cost."

CAST

ANDREI PROSOROV - Alexander Bikovsky

NATASHA, his fiancée, later his wife - Ekaterina Kleopina / Nadezhda Nekrasova

OLGA, his sister - Irina Tychinina

MASHA, his sister - Ksenia Rappoport (19-23 June) | Elizaveta Boyarskaya (25-29 June)

IRINA, his sister - Ekaterina Tarasova

KULIGIN, school teacher, Masha's husband - Sergey Vlasov

VERSHININ, lieutenant-colonel - Igor Chernevich

TUZENBACH, baron, lieutenant in the army - Oleg Ryazanzev

SOLENI, captain - Stanislav Nikolskiy

CHEBUTIKIN, army doctor - Sergey Kuryshev

FEDOTIK, sub-lieutenant - Artur Kozin

RODE, sub-lieutenant - Nikita Sidorov

FERAPONT - Alexander Koshkarev

ANFISA, nurse - Natalia Sokolova (19-23 June)|Natalia Akimova (25-29 June)

MAID - Arina Sumkina

SOLDIER - Sergey Ivanov