Amateur troupe stages Chekhov

While his short stories and plays reflect the frequently turbulent developments specific to his homeland, their lasting appeal lies in Chekhov's talent for exploring universally human situations with grace and dexterity.

"The only difference between doctors and lawyers is that lawyers merely rob you, whereas doctors rob you and kill you, too," is the kind of unforgettable quote that also evinces the playwright's huge humor.

In the next few days, local audiences will further have the opportunity to assess such qualities with a presentation of the "Three Sisters" by Taipei's first English-language theater company, the Tellus Theater.

"If you just take the text neutrally it's funny by itself. Sometimes you don't need to do so much but just leave it and let the text work on you as an actor and into the character," explains Daniel Ingi Petursson from Iceland, the founder of the troupe.

"Sometimes there is a conflict," he said. "People like to do things in a psychological way, very seriously. And actually Chekhov's plays are very funny and they are comedy. Even when they reach the tragic point, it still is very funny."

"Three Sisters" is about the three Prozorov sisters, who moved from Moscow to some provincial town eleven years earlier. Their father has already passed away, and the sisters long to return to Moscow. They hold high hopes for their brother Andrey, whose bright future slowly turns to dust.

There are no real lead characters in the play, pointed out the director, who added that an actor with one line is as important as one with many.

There have been many performances of Chekhov's plays throughout the last century, although Petursson stressed that he will bring this Russian play to the crowd.

"I think that as a director and also as an actor you need to 'blankpage,' you need to start with not so many ideas, because if you do, then you are forcing something," he said.

"Just work from the situation how it comes along with the text and space, not analyze and explain too much. Just create something on the spot and hope it will be kept and put into the performance," he added.

Petursson was trained in theater in Paris at the Ecole Jacques Lecoq and at the Ecole Philippe Gaulier; he worked briefly in London before moving to Taiwan, bringing with him a love of European theater.

3 p.m. July 5 (Sun.) and July 11-12 (Sat.-Sun) / 7 p.m. July 11-12(Sat.-Sun.) / Three Sisters by Tellus Theater / Café Mezone (米倉咖啡) / 1F No. 83 Longquan St., Taipei City (台北市龍泉街83號1F) / (02) 2365-2119 or 0982-204-577 / http://www.wretch.cc/blog/tellus/

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