‘Three Sisters’ mired in tedium

TOM TITUS

When Judy Garland sang “I’ve seen more skies of gray than any Russian

play can guarantee,” she (or the composer) probably was referring to

the works of Anton Chekhov, the Gloomy Gus of the 19th century.

Chekhov was not what you’d call a fun guy. His characters were

morose, depressed people who lived futile, unfulfilled lives, and

nowhere are their anxieties and neuroses more pronounced than in “The

Three Sisters,” the current production at Vanguard University in

Costa Mesa.

The sisters of the title -- one married, two single -- are wasting

away in a provincial Russian village, yearning for the chance to

return to their birthplace, Moscow. An observer today might say,

“Well, why don’t they just do it,” but nothing is quite so simple in

a Chekhov play.

The leaden ennui of the sisters’ lives spills over into director

Marianne Savell’s production at Vanguard, where true, emotionally

involving moments are few and far between, separated by a plethora of

pregnant pauses. Her actors pour their hearts out to the audience,

rather to one another, as they declaim their monologues in an overly

presentational style.

The title trio is made up of an overworked schoolteacher (Kathryn

Scott), a brooding married woman (Christi Brixey) and a budding young

lady (Mary Hering) who hopes to escape the boring lifestyle of her

elder siblings. They also have a brother (Andrew Smith), whose

marriage to a shrewish woman (Andrea Carpenter) further roils the

familial waters.

Breaking the monotony temporarily is a regiment of soldiers

stationed near the town, but they are about to be transferred to

another duty station, which is further bad news for Brixey’s

character, who’s emotionally involved with an unhappily married

officer (Justin Merando) while wed to a colorless villager (Jerry

Fuentes).

A baron stationed with the regiment (Jeff Fazakerley) offers some

respite for Hering’s character, but their happiness is imperiled by a

deranged soldier (Jesse Aguilera) whose idiotic outbursts are

unsettling.

The aging company doctor (Mark Parker) is emotionally removed from

the rest until he embarks on a bender and returns for a drunken

harangue (again, mostly played out front to the audience). A pair of

foot soldiers (Ryan Stice and Chris Rushing) and two servants

impaired by age (Shauna Esau) and deafness (Angie Ralston) completes

the picture.

The most impressive performances are delivered by Scott, despite a

tendency to succumb overtly to Chekhov’s melodramatic phrasing;

Hering, reflecting a stark terror at what her life is becoming, and

Merando, bound to an unstable wife and two small children back home,

yet irrevocably drawn to Brixey’s equally unsatisfied character.

Carpenter also has her fine moments, usually at another’s expense.

A curiosity in the production is Smith’s character, described in

the dialogue as embarrassingly heavy, yet quite normal physically in

person. The silly sound effects produced by Stice and Rushing also

are a bit bothersome, though not nearly as off-putting as those

emitted by Aguilera.

Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” is recognized as a classic, and it did

break ground in its day, over a century ago. At Vanguard, however,

it’s shared tedium between actors and audience with few real rewards

for either.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews

appear Fridays.