Three Sisters, by RashDash, after Chekhov at the Royal Exchange Theatre
Kristy Stott, Theatre Editor
RashDash formed back in 2009 at The University of Hull and their work is a refreshingly raw combination of radical feminist ideas explored through a vivid physical style. It’s a form that RashDash continue to explore, reinvent and explode. Pushing out against traditional narratives and patriarchal language structures, they challenge cultural trends in a thoughtful yet anarchic way. RashDash have now won three Fringe First Awards and they are an associate company of Manchester’s Royal Exchange.
Now they are taking on the revered Chekhov’s Three Sisters in a radical feminist shake-up on the classic masterpiece. This is a period drama with surprises. What if RashDash – Abbi Greenland, Helen Goalen and Becky Wilkie – were the three sisters, Olga, Masha and Irena?
Abbie, Helen and Becky explain, “Three Sisters is one of those shows that most directors want to direct. It is thought of as one of Chekhov’s finest plays and it is one of the most regularly performed pieces from the canon. Our playful approach to a version ‘after Chekhov’ is about the canon, who gets to speak and be heard on our important stages. It neither worships nor attacks the original, it simply asks, what if we were the three sisters? What would we want to say?”.
Join RashDash as they philosophise their heads off in the drawing room and try to figure out why the men in this play have all the lines.
Combining entertainment, chaos and political punch, RashDash always leave their audience with plenty to consider. The Three Sisters, by RashDash, after Chekhov certainly promises to catapult the turn-of-the-century crinolines proudly into 2018.
