"Sweetly
controlled, dismembered chaos" is how I would describe Three
Sisters performed by the Japanese dance theatre company Pappa
Tarahumara. The sisters sing, shriek, laugh and move through an intertwined
narrative that propels the audience through various episodes in their
lives. Set in the Japanese countryside in the 1960s, the three
sisters career through life engulfing time and space in rapid scenes
that leave little time for reflection and pathos.
The work is based on the Chekhov play, The Three Sisters,
first staged in 1901, about three fatherless sisters living the Russian
countryside. They are cultured and ambitious with dreams of a glorious,
fulfilling life in Moscow, yet they are doomed to boredom, fantasy and
frustration as they live out their lives in provincial tedium. In this
version, the original Chekhov play has been condensed into a 60-minute
whirlwind full of wit, humour and surprise that swings between the highs
and lows of young women coming to terms with beauty, aging and disappointment.
The dance theatre piece (directed by Hiroshi Koike) begins in a child's
world where there are toys, games and sisterly bitching about clothes,
looks and possessions. The scenes are confined to the area of the stage
that is marked out in white tape. This simple device creates the claustrophobic
confines of the room where they live, a metaphor for everything that
restricts their lives. The toys remain around the perimeter unless directly
involved in a scene and only the three dancers and three chairs occupy
the space. A male doll is placed at the back of the stage and it watches
them throughout - at the end he is included in the dance and possibly
refers to the character of the weak-willed brother Andrei from the original
play.
What these dancers achieve within this area is a testimony to the best
of highly original and energetic dance choreography. They thump through
unison, rock inspired, percussive movements; strike sudden poses after
frenetic dancing; and manoeuvre acrobatically through the space. It
is complex, disciplined and precise choreography. Performers Sachiko
Shirai, Makie Sekiguchi and Mao Arata capture the essence of their roles
and the audience's hearts with their energy and lust for life.
The movement combines falls, high leg kicks and gestures drawn from
everyday domestic tasks. For example, a scene about cooking involves
a rapid succession of gestures based on chopping, slashing and peeling.
In another scene, the sisters strip down to sexy nightclub outfits of
ripped lycra denoting the decadence of an imagined life in the big city.
They stuff their socks up their bras and gyrate sexily; each picks up
a light bulb on a long chord and swirls them in circles creating a surreal
effect. This is one of many hilarious moments where they sing and cavort
in a self-deprecating manner.
The three dancers also use their varying body sizes dramatically to
create the characters. For instance, Arata as the older sister uses
her long limbs to show an awkward, gangly young woman while the smaller
youngest sister (Sekiguchi) is a cheeky, explosive performer
It is rare to find choreography that incorporates facial expression
as part of the choreography. Here, the dancers poke out their tongues,
twist their mouths and smirk cheekily, contributing to the comedy and
the characterisation for each sister. Every moment counts in this comic/tragic
production that has obviously developed from intense experimentation
and exacting rehearsals - nothing has been left to chance. It is the
tightness of each aspect that really fleshes out the characters and
creates the feeling of the trapped, claustrophobic world they occupy.
In the final scene there is a sense of doom, tiredness and pessimism
as they sink to the floor, resigned to their situation where they will
never escape from their provincial life.
Interestingly, without the programme notes, the audience would not know
that the piece is set in the Japanese countryside in the 1960s as, apart
from the Japanese performers, the staging and adaptation of the script does
not contextualize the work so specifically. Pappa Tarahumara is investigating
the essence of the three sisters' characters in a universal study of young
women growing up in a restricting world - one which is danced superbly and
is extraordinarily engaging and entertaining.
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"The original Chekhov play has been condensed into a 60-minute
whirlwind full of wit, humour and surprise that swings between the highs
and lows of young women coming to terms with beauty, aging and disappointment.
"
Credits
Text, Choreography, Direction: Hiroshi Koike
Music: Junichi Matsumoto
Props: Yuriko Yamaguchi
Costumes: Misuzu Kubozono
Performers: Sachiko Shirai, Makie Sekiguchi and Mao Arata
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