London's Lyric Hammersmith Announces Casting and Tour Dates for Three Sisters

By Mark Shenton
08 Dec 2009

Full casting has been announced for the Lyric Hammersmith and Filter co-production of Chekhov's Three Sisters, that begins performances Jan. 15, 2010, prior to an official opening Jan. 25, for a run through Feb. 20.

The production — to be co-directed by the Lyric's artistic director Sean Holmes and the group Filter — will also tour to Coventry, Salford Quays, Oxford, Northampton and Edinburgh after completing its London run.

Presented in a version by Christopher Hampton, the production will, according to press materials, fuse imaginative staging, evocative physicality and Filter's trademark use of sound to distil Chekhov's classic, stripping the text bare and delving beneath the surface to explore one family's search for elusive happiness, as the Prozorov family, frustrated by their small-town existence, long to return to Moscow.

Holmes and theatre company Filter previously collaborated on Twelfth Night (for the RSC) and Caucasian Chalk Circle (for the National). Filter, formed in 2001 by actors Ferdy Roberts (one of Holmes' new Artistic Associates), Oliver Dimsdale and musician Tim Phillips, create an onstage fusion of live and recorded music. In 2007 they presented their highly acclaimed production Water on the Lyric Hammersmith's main stage. The production is designed by Jon Bausor, with lighting by Paule Constable, music by Chris Branch and sound by Nick Manning.

The cast comprises Paul Brennen as Kulygin (BBC's "The Tudors" and Filter's Twelfth Night); Jonathan Broadbent as Tuzenbach (Grand Guignol at Theatre Royal Plymouth and Filter’s Twelfth Night); Jim Bywater as Ferapont (Uncle Vanya at the Young Vic); Nigel Cooke as Chebutykin (Out of Joint's Dreams of Violence); Clare Dunne as Irina (Nabokov’s Crunch); Romola Garai as Masha (Emma in BBC's "Emma"; King Lear/The Seagull for the RSC and Briony Tallis in "Atonement"); David Judge as Rodé (Irish Pele at Manchester's Contact Theatre); John Lightbody as Vershinin (Headlong’s The English Game); Poppy Miller as Olga (Filter’s Twelfth Night); Ferdy Roberts as Andrei (Filter’s Twelfth Night and Caucasian Chalk Circle); Gemma Saunders as Natasha (Filter's Twelfth Night and ITV's "Law and Order"); Mark Theodore as Solyony (Days Of Significance for the RSC); Sandra Voe as Anfisa (The Man Who Had All The Luck at the Donmar Warehosue) and Paul Woodson as Fedotik (BBC's "The Day of the Triffids").

Following the run at the Lyric Hammersmith, Three Sisters will embark on a U.K. tour to Coventry's Warwick Arts Centre (Feb. 23-27), Salford Quays' The Lowry (March 2-6), Oxford Playhouse (March 9-13), Northampton's Royal and Derngate (March 16-20) and Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre (March 24-27).

To book tickets for the Lyric, contact the box office on 0871 22 117 22, or visit www.lyric.co.uk