Nearly a thousand miles away from their beloved Moscow, Chekhov's Three Sisters live in virtual exile. Olga , a schoolmistress, attempts to support her siblings and the home that is the sole legacy of their late father.
Acting
Joan Plowright's Masha — barely contained volcanic longing.
Direction
Olivier's camera prowls like another restless, trapped soul.
Writing
Chekhov's dialogue: every polite sentence hides a scream.
Director
Laurence Olivier
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Olivier and Plowright were married; their real-life intimacy adds illicit voltage to Masha's suppressed passion.
This 1970 adaptation arrived as British theatre was abandoning the drawing room — Olivier's lavish staging was already a elegy for a vanishing form.
GB
