ANTON Chekhov's plays carry a powerful dramatic, impact despite the absence of a clearly defined plot; the action off stage reported as if it were action on stage and the presentation of life as it is, dullness and all.
In The Three Sisters, presented by the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre, Chekhov represents the slow-moving futility of life with the image of migratory birds coming and going throughout the play.
The three Prozorov sisters, Olga, Masha and Irina, live with their brother, Andrey, in a provincial town in Czarist Russia at the end of the last century.
They aspire to return to Moscow where they spent their childhood.
This desperate longing was theatrically portrayed by Joseph Varga.
By using the stage backdrop to present a picture of a distant Moscow scene he showed the audience very graphically how far the city was beyond the sisters' reach.
Liu Hong-dou was convincing as the elder sister Olga, who kept the family together.