Reviews　

Butusov is representative of the so-called poetic, associative directing, guided not by verisimilitude, but by the development of melody and rhythm. And in Three Sisters as well he is faithful to the principle: when there is a flat, rational explanation, the course is wrong. Only that which is dictated not by linear, but by poetic and musical logic, must be left.

　　– Dmitry Tsilikin, Time of Culture

Here is the power of theatricality and the power of theatre—contagious and encouraging us to live.

　　– Maria Zabaluyeva, Nevsky Theatre-lover

It is covered with lace dresses and thin frock coats, umbrellas and dormer windows, an elegiac haze and a melancholic fog. But with Butusov everything is blazing and bleeding. Passion and heat are generally characteristic of his performances, and he is able to detect them even in Chekhov’s world, without breaking any of its components as a matter of principle.

　　– Natalia Kaminskaya, Scene

About ТРИ СЕСТРЫ (Three Sisters)

The poetry and drama of daily life course through the Prozorov family, hopes and dreams, illusions, ambitions, love and dislike, resentment and forgiveness, unspoken feelings and spoken bitter words - all this fills the action with a special unique atmosphere. Everyone sitting in the auditorium at this performance will surely hear something important about himself, about his relatives, about his unsettled life. As one of Chekhov's contemporaries wrote, “after the presentation of Three Sisters, I wanted to live, write, work — although the play was full of sadness and longing ... Some kind of optimistic sorrow... some kind of comforting longing. Bitterness and consolation at the same time.”

Credits

　　

Director: Yury Butusov

Performers: Anna Kovalchuk, Anna Aleksakhina, Olga Muravitskaya, 

                   Laura Pitskhelauri, Vitaly Kulikov, Grigory Chaban, 

                   Ilya Del, Oleg Andreyev, Roman Kocherzhevsky, 

                   Oleg Fyodorov, Ivan Brovin.

Stage Designer: Alexander Shishkin

Composer: Faustas Latenas

Ballet Master: Nikolay Reutov

Lighting Designer: Alexander Sivaev

Sound Director: Ekaterina Kocherzhevskaya

Stage Supervisor: Yulia Smelkina

Chinese script translator: Jin Xi

About Yury Butusov

Yury Butusov is one of the leaders of stage directing of the Russian theatre. At present, he is a chief director of the Moscow Vakhtangov Theater.

At the St. Petersburg Lensovet Theatre, he has staged a number of brilliant performances over the last 20 years: Woyzeck by Büchner, Waiting for Godot by Beckett, Caligula by Camus, Macbeth. The movie, Shakespeare's Room and Hamlet by Shakespeare, We Are All Wonderful People by Turgenev, Three Sisters and Uncle Vanya by Chekhov, The City. Marriage. Gogol. by Gogol, Cabare Brecht by Brecht and Weill, Dream of Autumn by Fosse. Yury Butusov has often worked in Moscow with great success; among his best productions are Richard III, King Lear, Othello, Measure for Measure and Hamlet by Shakespeare, The Seagull and Ivanov by Chekhov, The Good Person of Szechwan and Drums in the Night by Brecht.

He has staged productions in theaters of South Korea, Poland, Norway, Bulgaria, Denmark, Brazil.

Butusov has won the Russian theater awards: “Golden Mask”, “Golden Sofit”, “Crystal Turandot”, K.S. Stanislavsky Prize and many others.

About St. Petersburg Lensoviet Academic Theatre

The St. Petersburg Lensoviet Academic Theatre traces its history back to November 19, 1933. Over the years, the theatre has been headed by major directors; for 40 years (1960 - 1999), it was directed by outstanding actor and director, Igor Vladimirov. A whole epoch of the city’s theatrical history is associated with his name: the magnificent actors Alisa Freindlich, Mikhail Boyarsky, Elena Solovey—as well as Igor Vladimirov himself--appeared on the theatre’s stage.

The last eight seasons have been associated with the creative personality of one of the leading Russian directors, Yury Butusov. His productions—Macbeth. The movie., We are all beautiful people, LIEBE. Schiller, Three Sisters, Cabaret Brecht, The Сity. Marriage. Gogol., Dream of Autumn, Shakespeare's Room, Uncle Vanya, Hamlet—have all participated in prestigious Russian and foreign festivals. Among the professional theatre awards: “Golden Sofit” and “Golden Mask”.

Over the years, the theatre’s productions have been applauded by audiences not only in many Russian cities (from Moscow to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk), but also by audiences in France, Germany, Italy, Israel, Sweden, Switzerland, Greece, Poland, Czech Republic, Finland, Estonia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. The theatre’s troupe is rightly considered one of the best in Russia; the sign “Sold Out” at the theater’s box office is a common occurrence. The best performances combine clarity of stage decisions with an attitude of attentiveness to the author’s stylistics.

Today, the artistic director of the theatre is People’s Artist of Russia, Larisa Luppian.