Spruiking a bright and sassy brand of re-invented classics- Cry Havoc returns to Wharf 1 for the second time in the last 12 months. Anton Chekov’s Three Sisters, the third installment of Cry Havoc’s developing body of work. You’ll know Cry Havoc by their flag, by their exquisite website, their tendency to have actors drenched, bruised or covered in dairy products on their marketing materials… You’ll know Cry Havoc by their brutal, unrelenting enthusiasm – and a slogan that declares revolution is afoot. So it is hardly surprising that Artistic Director Kate Revz has taken her team to the home of revolution and the home of Chekov- Russia.

For those who are familiar with ATYP’s Wharf 1 space – you’ll be utterly surprised. Designers Lucilla Smith (Set), Jack Audas Preston (Light) and Caitlin Porter (Sound) have transformed the space into a large modern house, in modern Australia. It’s impressive. Relocated to here and now, wisps of Russia float through – traditional text is transformed, transmogrified and yet salute the origins of the story and its writer. This is not the traditional text though, and for those purists expecting a dutiful Chekhovian production, you’ll need to note that this is “a new translation compiled by Kate Revz and Cry Havoc company based on Lawrence Senelick, David Mamet and Cry Havoc’s recent cultural research in Russia.” Don’t be fooled by the title of “Anton Chekov’s Three Sisters,” this is a contemporary interpretation.

Opening with a beautiful and visually lyrical opening sequence developed by Sam Chester- the tone is set as emotional, even tumultuous and we have a gestural bouquet of ideas- presenting moments to come. The stage fills with actors – and before too long, we launch into the story.

It has been a year since the death of their father, Colonel Prozorov, and it is the twentieth birthday of Irina (Kelly Paterniti)… and suitable quantities of happiness and melancholia collide. Olga (Georgia Adamson), a school teacher
with repeated headaches and Masha (Megan O’Connell) is married to a dull husband she yearns to escape… the house seems an endless flow of visitors and soldiers and philosophical declarations. It’s all very luxurious. Bowls of large flowers, strategic down lights… a contemporary Clive Peeters living hell. The ruminations on life, by those who seem to have everything, seem shallow and at times laughable… best summed up by Irina’s attempt to drown herself in the vase.
The three sisters easily eclipse their mournful brother Andrey (James Mackay) in dynamism – but not in depression… he wanders about with his violin and goggle-glasses letting his brimming potential slide- a cautionary tale if ever there was one.

It is a smart and knowing commentary on the comfortable upper classes- and nearly everyone seems so repugnantly self obssessed… as will happen when navel gazing is your primary sport. This is a play which exposes the compromises individuals make when circumstances impinge on dreams or expectations of love, work and life. Consumerism hums beneath this reading of Chekov, as we see them, drink, eat, demand, gamble and destroy themselves with a hunger for more than they have. It’s a beautiful life they live in – and they are beautiful but ultimately hollow.

If Chekov’s aim was to put life; “real, de-glorified, unglamorous life” on stage, as Kate Revz’s director’s note suggests – Revz exposes the life of the privileged on stage, glamorous, and occasionally hyper-real. At times it seems petty and hysterical. Surprisingly though, some performances poke through this veneer and we see an authentic self – and it is enough for us to care – namely a beautiful performance By Megan O’Connell and Duncan Fellows.

At times some of the staging was a little chunky and unsophisticated – belying the world of the sisters. Perhaps more of the movement introduced from the opening could have solved some of these blocking problems? Unlike Jason Blake’s response, http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/theatre/three-sisters-20101019-16sgp.html , I felt that the movement was essential to tone and introducing more could have eliminated some of the more practical shuffles in the dark. It is a very good looking production – which Cry Havoc never seems to skimp on. At times though, Revz tendency to end on a bang and not a whimper can diffuse the more emotionally charged final moment of the play.

For those who have been following Cry Havoc’s work over this last year – Julius Caesar, Orestes 2.0 and now Three Sisters -you’ll be delighted by the signature vision Revz brings her company- bright, bold, playful, irreverent, contemporary, unapologetic and stylish.