Introduction
Gay McAuley’s argument in her 1999 book Space in Performance highlights the dynamic interplay between three key realities in theatre: fictional reality, which encompasses the narrative world of the play; presentational reality, involving the staging techniques and theatrical devices used to convey that narrative; and social reality, referring to the real-world context of the audience, performers, and broader societal influences (McAuley, 1999: 252). She posits that these realities are not isolated but constantly interact, compete for attention, and can be manipulated by directors and companies for various artistic or ideological purposes. This framework is particularly useful for analysing adaptations, where original texts are reimagined to resonate with contemporary issues.
In this essay, I will explore McAuley’s concepts through a comparative analysis of two adaptations of Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters (1901), a play centred on themes of longing, stagnation, and unfulfilled dreams in provincial Russia. The first is Inua Ellams’ 2019 adaptation, Three Sisters, co-produced by Fuel and the National Theatre in London, which relocates the story to Nigeria during the Biafran War (1967-1970). The second is Brace Up! by The Wooster Group, an avant-garde production from the 1990s (premiered in 1991 and revived in 2003), known for its postmodern deconstruction. By examining their presentational choices, I will compare how these realities interact to emphasise themes like miscommunication and cultural identity, ultimately serving purposes such as critiquing colonialism or highlighting theatrical artifice. This analysis, drawn from my studies in drama, reveals how adaptations exploit these interactions to make Chekhov’s work relevant today.
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Case Study #1: Inua Ellams’ Three Sisters (2019)
Inua Ellams’ adaptation of Three Sisters significantly reimagines Chekhov’s original by transposing the setting from early 20th-century Russia to Nigeria during the Biafran Civil War (1967-1970), a conflict that resulted in widespread famine and over a million deaths (Falola and Heaton, 2008). The three sisters—renamed Lolo, Nne Chukwu, and Udo—yearn not for Moscow but for a pre-colonial Lagos, symbolising lost innocence amid ethnic tensions between Igbo people and the Nigerian state. This alteration in fictional reality maintains Chekhov’s core themes of existential frustration and familial bonds but infuses them with postcolonial critiques, such as the impacts of British imperialism and African diaspora experiences. Ellams, a Nigerian-British playwright, draws on his heritage to incorporate elements of Igbo culture, including language, music, and rituals, which blend seamlessly into the dialogue and staging. For instance, the production features traditional African attire, rhythmic drumming, and references to local folklore, creating a vibrant cultural tapestry that contrasts with Chekhov’s more subdued, introspective tone. One striking overarching pattern is the use of a naturalistic yet culturally specific staging, directed by Nadia Fall, with a set designed by Katrina Lindsay that evokes a war-torn Nigerian homestead complete with earthy tones and symbolic props like tribal masks. This approach heightens the social reality by connecting the performance to real historical events, making the audience confront issues of colonialism and civil strife. Unlike more experimental adaptations, Ellams’ version remains relatively faithful to the plot’s emotional arc, though it amplifies themes of displacement through direct references to Biafran independence struggles. Indeed, this staging pattern—rooted in cultural authenticity—serves to make the play accessible and relatable to diverse London audiences, fostering empathy for marginalised narratives.
A deeper dive into specific moments reveals intriguing interactions between the three realities. One notable instance is the incorporation of a “tribal lady” figure, likely representing a spiritual or ancestral presence, which appears in ritualistic scenes. In the original Chekhov, supernatural elements are absent, but here, this character—possibly inspired by Igbo traditions—intrudes into the fictional reality through chants and dances, blending presentational reality with social commentary on African spirituality versus Western rationalism (Ellams, 2019). This exploitation competes for attention: the fictional narrative of the sisters’ domestic woes is momentarily overshadowed by the presentational flair of cultural performance, drawing the audience’s focus to the social reality of postcolonial identity. It arguably serves to empower Igbo heritage, countering historical erasure, though it risks exoticising elements for non-African viewers. Another key moment is the transition into Act 2, where the production uses a stark lighting shift and soundscape of war drums to mark the escalating conflict. In Chekhov’s text, Act 2 depicts growing disillusionment; Ellams heightens this by integrating newsreel-like projections of Biafran war footage, merging fictional events with documentary social reality (National Theatre, 2019). This presentational choice disrupts the narrative flow, forcing interactions where the audience must reconcile the sisters’ personal hopes with the harsh external world of genocide and migration. In my view, these moments exploit the realities to underscore themes of resilience and cultural survival, purposes that educate and provoke reflection on ongoing global inequalities, aligning with McAuley’s idea of competing attentions for sociopolitical ends.
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Case Study #2: The Wooster Group’s Brace Up! (1990s)
The Wooster Group’s Brace Up!, directed by Elizabeth LeCompte and premiered in 1991 (with a 2003 revival), adapts Chekhov’s Three Sisters through a postmodern lens, deconstructing the original text into a fragmented, multimedia spectacle that challenges traditional theatre norms. Unlike Ellams’ culturally immersive and largely linear approach, which relocates the story to emphasise historical specificity, Brace Up! fragments the narrative, condensing it into a shorter runtime (around 90 minutes) and employing techniques like breaking the fourth wall, role-switching, and heavy use of video technology (Savran, 2005). Actors, including Kate Valk as a central Masha figure, perform in a chaotic set filled with television monitors, microphones, and exposed technical equipment, creating a meta-theatrical environment where the process of performance is foregrounded. This adaptation retains key plot elements—such as the sisters’ longing for Moscow and interpersonal miscommunications—but disrupts them with interruptions, repetitions, and anachronistic insertions, like references to contemporary media. A striking difference from Ellams’ production is the overarching pattern of deliberate artifice: while Ellams integrates African culture to ground the story in social reality, Brace Up! uses video feeds (e.g., pre-recorded scenes played on screens) and live sound mixing to highlight presentational reality, often at the expense of narrative coherence. This serves to critique Chekhov’s themes of miscommunication by mirroring them in the staging, where lines are delivered via earpieces or dubbed voices, emphasising disconnection. Furthermore, the production’s avant-garde style, typical of The Wooster Group, contrasts with Ellams’ more conventional naturalism, directing attention to theatre as an artificial construct rather than a vessel for cultural storytelling.
Delving deeper, the opening five minutes set up Kate Valk’s character in a way that exemplifies these interacting realities. Valk enters not as a fully embodied Masha but as an actress preparing, adjusting microphones and interacting with offstage prompts, immediately blending presentational reality (the visible mechanics of theatre) with the fictional world of the Prozorov sisters (Quick, 2007). This competes for attention: the social reality of the performers’ labour intrudes, making the audience aware of the constructed nature of performance, which in my view serves to demystify Chekhov’s realism and question authenticity in art. Another moment is Vershinin’s entrance, reimagined with video projections of the character on multiple screens, while the live actor delivers lines asynchronously. In Chekhov’s original, Vershinin brings philosophical optimism; here, the disjointed presentation—echoing media overload—heightens miscommunication, as fictional dialogue clashes with presentational glitches like static or looped footage. This interaction exploits the realities to reflect social issues of information fragmentation in the 1990s digital age, arguably critiquing how technology alienates human connection. Finally, the transition to Act 2 involves a chaotic montage of video clips, sound effects, and actor improvisations, differing sharply from Ellams’ war-drum shift by fully exposing the seams of production. Fictional progression is interrupted by presentational elements, such as actors breaking character to address the audience, merging all three realities into a commentary on theatrical illusion. In my perspective, these choices serve purposes of innovation and irony, using Chekhov’s text to explore postmodern alienation, though they may alienate viewers seeking emotional depth.
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Conclusion
Through this comparative analysis, several key points emerge regarding the presentational choices in Ellams’ Three Sisters and The Wooster Group’s Brace Up!. Both adaptations interact with McAuley’s fictional, presentational, and social realities, but they do so in contrasting ways. Ellams’ production heightens social reality by relocating the narrative to Biafra, incorporating cultural elements like rituals and war imagery to emphasise themes of colonialism and identity, as seen in the “tribal lady” and Act 2 transition. This approach softens distinctions between realities, blending them to create an empathetic, grounded experience that educates on African histories. In contrast, Brace Up! amplifies presentational reality through multimedia chaos, fourth-wall breaks, and fragmentation, as evident in the opening setup, Vershinin’s entrance, and Act 2 shift, which sharpen distinctions to critique miscommunication and theatrical artifice.
Ultimately, these differences serve distinct purposes. Ellams exploits the interactions to foster cultural representation and social awareness, making Chekhov’s universal themes resonate with contemporary issues like migration and decolonisation, thereby bridging fictional and social worlds for inclusive storytelling. The Wooster Group, however, uses them to deconstruct theatre itself, competing realities to highlight postmodern disconnection and innovate form, often prioritising irony over emotional immersion. In my view, both heighten Chekhov’s relevance: Ellams by contextualising global inequalities, and Brace Up! by questioning narrative reliability in a media-saturated era. This comparison illustrates McAuley’s point that realities can be exploited for diverse ends, from political commentary to artistic experimentation, enriching drama studies by showing adaptation’s potential to evolve classic texts. However, limitations exist; for instance, Brace Up!‘s abstraction might limit accessibility, while Ellams’ specificity could risk cultural stereotyping. Overall, these productions demonstrate theatre’s power to navigate complex realities, encouraging further exploration in performance theory.
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References
- Ellams, I. (2019) Three Sisters. Oberon Books.
- Falola, T. and Heaton, M.M. (2008) A History of Nigeria. Cambridge University Press.
- McAuley, G. (1999) Space in Performance: Making Meaning in the Theatre. University of Michigan Press.
- National Theatre (2019) Production notes for Three Sisters by Inua Ellams. National Theatre Archive. (Note: Specific URL unavailable; accessible via official National Theatre resources.)
- Quick, A. (2007) The Wooster Group Work Book. Routledge.
- Savran, D. (2005) ‘The Wooster Group: A Dictionary of Ideas’, TDR: The Drama Review, 49(2), pp. 71-85.
(Total word count: 2160, including references)
