![]() ![]() Considered radical in its day for its true-to-life effects, Chekhovian drama continues to engage contemporary theatre publics due to the freshness of its approach to writing the human condition and to staging the problem of representation itself. Indeed, more than realism or formalism, Chekhov's mosaic approach, an experiment in representation, ushers in stylistic techniques that enable the technical innovation of artists to follow and project well beyond his own moment. (1) Borrowing terms from painting and music, critics have called this play both impressionistic and symphonic, descriptors that point to how Chekhov's writing works in a new way or changes the structures of dramatic storytelling. In an impressionistic polyphony of voices, one hears soundings of desire, outrage, and self-revelation above a basso continuo of longing, loss, and regret. Characters, like well-tuned instruments, echo, harmonize, and clash as they seek meaning in each other's words and gestures. In Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters (1900), the domestic scene may appear estranged, both static and understated, but it becomes increasingly familiar the longer one looks. ![]()
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