Three Soldiers
(for Sisters)
Written and Directed by Aaron Sawyer
at Den Theatre, 1333 N. Milwaukee (map)
thru March 23 | tickets: $10-$20 | more info
Check for half-price tickets
Read review
‘Three Sisters’ pastiche confounds at length
Red Theater Chicago presents
Three Soldiers (for Sisters)
Review by Keith Glab
Billed as “an aggressive retelling of Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters,” Red Theater Chicago’s Three Soldiers (for Sisters) surrounds the century-old classic with the so-called war on terror. Character names typically sound similar to the Russian names in Chekhov’s play, and many of the character relationships are similar as well.
Maria (Meredith Ernst) does little to disguise the affair she’s having with Petro (Johnard Washington) from her husband Freddy (Chris Mueller), a diva thespian who somehow bases his theatrical endeavors out of East Africa. The other two soldiers woo Irna (Sarah Liken), though she ultimately rejects both and bizarrely attends Texas Tech as her backup college after being denied admission to Princeton. Olga (Susan Wingerter) focuses more on her teaching job than her romantic relationships, but nevertheless has an offstage love interest and receives some halfhearted affection from Alex (Jim Poole), an aged chief petty officer who had been in love with the sisters’ mother and whose entrances get announced by a PA announcer in each of the four acts. Andrew (Evan Sawdey), the computer nerd brother to these three sisters, gambles away the family money.
That already sounds like a lot, but there’s more. Of the two soldiers interested in Irna, Cookie (Victoria Alvarez-Chacon) is undergoing a transition from female to male while Sully (Mickey O’Sullivan) deals with having been raped by a superior officer a few years back. All the while, actor Gage Wallace, a white male, plays a crippled, elderly Djibouti female servant, and periodically addresses the audience as other characters, such as the officer who raped Sully or a Muslim terrorist. He is bafflingly shirtless in every role, and through no fault of his own, his portrayal is bound to offend some members of the audience.
The characters whirlwind around, often entering and exiting without any motivation other than to serve the needs of a particular scene. Acts one and two span four years of narrative time and 80 minutes of stage time, finally culminating in a big dramatic moment just before intermission. But rather than bring some urgency and focus into the final two acts, the event is completely ignored the rest of the way. A few of the narrative threads find small, sudden resolutions, but there isn’t anything approaching a satisfying resolution to the whole.
This production serves as exhibit A for why playwrights should never direct their own work. Many of the confusing concepts presented here probably make sense in Aaron Sawyer’s head, but without a separate director as an intermediary, the audience isn’t going to understand the majority of what’s being done. Too much emphasis is placed on paralleling Chekhov’s work and not enough on making the current production stand on its own two feet. Sawyer directs his cast to yell the majority of their lines, where another director might better pick and choose the important moments that warrant such verve.
What saves this production from disaster is a talented cast that commits to everything that happens, whether it makes sense or not. Their characters, though predominately unlikeable, are distinct and quirky without becoming caricatures. They take the direction to yell constantly and make it work as best they can. You become interested in their relationships and individual story arcs despite their irrelevance to any apparent central plot, theme, or purpose.
There might be something worth salvaging here if Sawyer is willing to hand his script over to an editor and then a director with a fresh set of eyes, but as produced here, it’s two-and-a-half hours of confusion with no payoff. Red Theater purports to “ask dangerous questions theatrically.” One of the most dangerous things a playwright can do is to trust others to realize their work. But without that trust, there is less collaboration, and collaboration is what makes theater so interesting.
Rating: ★★
Three Soldiers (for Sisters) continues through March 23rd at The Den Theatre, 1333 N. Milwaukee (map), with performances Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30pm, Sundays at 3pm. Tickets are $10-$20, and are available online through their website (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More information at RedTheater.org. (Running time: 2 hours 35 minutes, includes an intermission)
Photos by Austin D. Oie
artists
cast
Sarah Liken (Irna), Susan Wingerter (Olga), Meredith Ernst (Maria), Victoria Alvarez-Chacon (Cookie), Johnard Washington (Petro), Mickey O’Sullivan (Sully), Chris Mueller (Freddy), Evan Sawdey (Andrew), Jim Poole (Alex), Gage Wallace (Misfit), Erin O’Connor (Natasha), Christine Martini (understudy)
behind the scenes
Aaron Sawyer (director, playwright), J.W. Basilo (asst. director), Tiffany Wilson (dramaturg), Thomas Pietrzak (stage manager, carpenter), Erica L. Hohn (costumes), Janette Bauer (lighting, set design:), Scott Dickens (props), Paul Perry (sound design), Brindin Sawyer (executive producer), Jennifer Dorman (graphic design), Austin D. Oie (photos)
14-0252
