down. Cut it down to under two hours without an intermission, that is.
That will end a way of life not only for members of her aristocratic family such as brother Gayev and daughter Anya , but the various servants who work for them from old and loyal Firs to young and resentful Yasha . Chekhov’s an artist associated with naturalism, but Parsa has put his own directorial signature on his production.
For example, the famous sound of the breaking string that disconcerts the characters in the second act here is not a subtle sound in the distance, but a loud alarm accompanied by an unsettling shift in the lights.