3 Sisters on Hope Street – currently playing at Hampstead Theatre – captures the essence of its Chekhovian premise well. Writers Diane Samuels and Tracey-Ann Oberman transport Chekhov’s three sisters from provincial Russia to post-war Liverpool on Hope Street.

But the sisters are as depressingly hopeless in Liverpool as they are in Russia, dreaming of New York rather than Moscow.

While the writers score points for a clever and faithful adaptation of Chekhov’s classic the play’s Jewish diaspora focus feels dated and backward looking.

3 Sisters on Hope Street looks back with all the baggage of hindsight to post-Holocaust bewilderment as the Jewish protagonists pin all their hopes on the soon to be broken promise of Israel.

This leads to nowhere prompting few questions at a time when the terrifying regularity of Israel and Palestine’s relentless, if sporadic killing sprees stump another generation of world leaders.

And against the majestic themes of national identity and post-war grief and disbelief, we meet the Lasky sisters who struggle to dream their way out of Liverpool, their inanity and pointlessness haunting every scene. The characters, uninteresting and snooty, are well-acted and at times delightful to watch.

All the performances shone; Arnold Lasky was as sad as his sisters, and his fiery wife, Rita, enigmatic in her grating bitchiness in the face of middle-class snobbery.

However, the play appeared to me like the American soldiers who arrive on Hope Street, seemingly full of promise but leaving the sisters empty and resigned.

3 Sisters on Hope Street by Hampstead Theatre and Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse. Based on the story by Diane Samuels and Tracy-Ann Oberman, after Chekhov.

From February 21 – March 29, 2008.
Tickets: £35. Call the Box Office on 020 7722 9301.

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