There are a few duff notes in a strong ensemble, but the whole thing is anchored by terrific lead performances from Michelle Terry, Shannon Tarbet and Ruby Thompson as the titular Olga, Masha and Irina.
At significant moments Olga’s pain is brought into keen and riveting focus, but otherwise Terry relegates herself to the background, her back ramrod straight, her face strained, bustling about in aid of the main action.
And this particular tale, of three sisters on a rural estate, steadily robbed of all hope, happiness and a future in Moscow, seems particularly well suited to a bitter winter night.
Anton Chekhov’s suffering Russian gentlefolk sit so well in the wooden, candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse it’s a wonder he’s not been staged here before.
Stuart Thompson and Natalie Klamar are very funny and then suddenly horrifying as the sisters’ feckless brother Andrei and his vulgar wife Natalya, who erode the family’s fortune and equilibrium.
