May 8, 1999, Saturday

Article by Imogen Edwards-Jones

(click to move to the section of the article that features Michael)

Purists may react with a theatrical flounce, but Chekhov's Three Sisters has been transformed: dare we mention twentysomething siblings and breakdancing Russians?

One of west London's least desirable residential areas, on a rainy Monday morning, is the last place that you would expect a small theatrical revolution to be taking place. But past the burned-out cars, through the long, wet, unmown grass, in a church hall on Commonwealth Avenue in the heart of the White City estate, the Oxford Stage Company is rehearsing a version of Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters that is likely to send a rocket up the collective posteriors of the West End establishment.

Under the auspices of its new artistic director, the prodigiously talented Dominic Dromgoole, the Oxford Stage Company have burnt the rule book. Not only have they cast this classic play unprecedentedly young, they have also assembled one of the brightest, most exciting collections of emerging talent to appear on a stage together.

"Isn't it fantastic?" grins 35-year-old Dromgoole, formerly director of new plays at the Old Vic with Sir Peter Hall and artistic director of the Bush theatre in west London, where he made his name through the realisation of such controversial plays as Beautiful Thing, Hurlyburly, Trainspotting and Killer Joe. "This cast are astonishing. They have incredible talent," he continues. "In ten years' time if someone looks at this cast list - just so long as they don't all end up with drug problems or have nervous breakdowns -- they will go 'Bloody Nora, how did you ever get that many people, of that quality, together in the same room!' "

Meeting them, it is obvious that Dromgoole has captured the names of the future; for the three sisters, especially, he has found the creme de la creme. Claire Rushbrook, who played Roxanne, the daughter of Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn) in Mike Leigh's Secrets and Lies, has been lured back to the stage after a four-year absence (apart from a short stint at the Manchester Royal Exchange) to play the eldest sister, Olga. He has poached Claudie Blakley from the West Yorkshire Playhouse, where she has been playing opposite Sir Ian McKellen as Miranda in The Tempest, to play the middle sister, Masha. And he has also bravely cast relative newcomer Kelly Reilly, the 21-year-old pouting redhead who starred in the ITV drama Wonderful You with Greg Wise, as the youngest sister, Irina.

Three Sisters is Chekhov's penultimate play and was first performed in 1901. It is set in a garrison town in a remote part of Russia and centres on the frustrations of the three Prozorov sisters, who dream of freedom, sex, romance and returning to Moscow. To your average theatre buff, it is not only the talent that will surprise in Dromgoole's production, but the twentysomething sisters. "Olga's always cast at about 55 and Masha is 45 and then Irina is about 12, just to compensate for the others being so old," explains Dromgoole. "It makes a mockery of the play, because it's a story of a lot of pent-up energy and a lot of sexual excitement and a lot of people bursting their guts to get something more. And if you make the sisters adult, then you make them slightly past that moment, and you lose the story completely." Has he taken a gamble with such a classic play, of which even the most irregular theatregoer has expectations?

"I don't think I've taken a risk at all," he asserts. "I've just done what should be absolutely commonsensical. I'm always doing new plays, I haven't directed an old play like this for centuries, and when you're casting a new play you always cast what's right. How old is this person? And you cast the right age. So, in the play Olga says 'I'm 28', so I've cast Claire who's 27, Masha is 25, so I've cast Claudie who's 26, Irina is 20 so I've cast Kelly who's very young indeed. That's not risk, it's just on the nose," he smiles. "It's the old casting which is part of the reason why people find classics so dull. It's got that veneer of status. Worthiness and self-importance and everyone speaks grandly and the audience starts snoozing within an instant. So I wanted something that was energetic and free and fresh."

It is a week until the company set off on their provincial tour, before hitting the West End's Whitehall theatre at the end of this month. Past the pile of used tea bags, cigarette butts, tabloid newspapers and a dog-eared copy of War and Peace, the first sound is the youthful squeak of trainers on the municipal flooring. Mid-rehearsal for the farewell scene at the beginning of Act IV, the boys are flinging their Adidas bags over their shoulders in place of guns and Kelly Reilly is swinging her hips in a makeshift period skirt that looks as if it is made out of a red curtain.

"D'you know, there is nothing to do here at all," says Michael Fassbender, who plays second lieutenant Fedotik and who, at 22, and straight out of Central, is another of Dromgoole's finds. "This is apparently Dominic's favourite room to rehearse in. I personally can't see the attraction." Indeed, it appears that no one can. The highlight of the day is the lunchtime egg and chips in the cafe round the corner.

Working in such close confines with little, or no, entertainment to relieve the tension, coupled with only a three-and-half week rehearsal period, it is amazing that there have been no tantrums or disputes. "'It's brilliant, and it's full on, and the atmosphere in rehearsal has been fantastic," insists Claudie Blakley. "It's like 'We're doing a play!' Everything's up, it shouldn't be, er, like 'We're doing Chekhov, let's just sit around a table for weeks and discuss it'. It's such fun just getting up and doing it and trying it in different ways." Reilly agrees. "Everyone is up for it and enthusiastic, there's very little head stuff going on, we're just doing work. We give all of ourselves; it's a great place to be creative."

With such harmony created, there seems to be method in Dromgoole's boldness. "It's very nice not to have to deal with everyone's advance sense of themselves," he says. "I have worked with tons of namey folk, and it's delightful, and often they're good at what they do, but you have to get to their talent, past their ego. Past the Doris Bonkers who is famous from film or TV, to the next Doris Bonkers. With this lot you don't have to do that."

The cast certainly attribute the lack of angst and the easy creativity to Dromgoole. "He's creating this atmosphere that's very laid back and generous," says Blakley. "Your biggest scare is finding your character," explains Claire Rushbrook. "The massiveness of the part is a worry, but I feel safe because of Dom. We are timid because Three Sisters is a classic, with a huge reputation, and nervous because of all the great actresses who played the parts before us. I think Lynn Redgrave was the last person to play mine. Playing one of the three sisters is quite like playing Hamlet for a man. But Dominic's great because he says 'Forget all that s***, you've just got to look at the text, and do it yourself.' "

By all accounts, Dromgoole is hands-off. "Dominic creates a very relaxed attitude," says Paul Hilton, 28, who, having just left the RSC and the Almeida, plays Andrei, brother to the three sisters. "At the moment everyone's playing and he's trying things and keeping it very free. He's not planning, fixing anything. So, hopefully, it will have a spontaneity about it. He has a clear vision of what he wants, but he's not imposing it at all. But you really do feel you're in safe hands."

Dromgoole throws his hands up in mock horror. "Nice?" he says. "Laid back? That's it! I'm going to be much more strict! All I'm doing is letting them create their role, I'm letting them create the atmosphere and letting them create the sense of importance. I'm not coming in like an RSC director. I'm just letting the play breathe at the moment. Letting it come naturally." He smiles. "There's nothing worse than a whole lot of English people pretending to be Russian. The men slap their thighs and the women weep. It's a grisly experience. The Russians are quite like us. They are repressed and they are arrogant. Give them vodka," he adds, "and they go bananas. But their humour is very close to ours. The play could very well have been written about English people - it doesn't really need to be played around with too much. It is, however, much more difficult than a new play, where you find the music and the rhythm on about day two, and then everything clicks into place. This one is much more elusive."

Not as elusive, it seems, as the big bonding night out that every theatrical cast is supposed to go through before the first night. "I've never known a cast take so long to get round to a drinking session," complains Rushbrook. "You should come back tomorrow, then you could have some real gossip. Like, um, snogging."

Indira Varma, 23, star of the film Kama Sutra, who plays the wicked sister-in-law, Natasha, grins: "tonight's the night for the vodka thing. I think it's called method." Dromgoole is not so optimistic. "Who knows what will happen? It could all end in some terrible damp squib and we'll all go home at 10pm." His cast, fortunately, has a little more faith. "Lots of vodka and Polish food. With Russian songs. I think it'll be a late one," says Hilton. "And with Russian dancing," adds Fassbender. "I have to do a lot of that in the play," he explains, "but actually it isn't too bad. Did you know, some of the moves are very similar to break dancing?" Chekhov and breakdancing? Bet the West End establishment simply can't wait.