The Stubels three: Camille (left), Celine and Treena

Credit: Itai Erdal

Sisters of Mercy

At last, Theatre SKAM brings all three Stubels together

A t first glance, it seems an odd pairing indeed—why would legendary local mavericks Theatre SKAM be staging an adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s terribly respectable Three Sisters? After all, this is the company who made a much-respected name for themselves by quite literally working outside the box and choosing projects that were frequently edgy (District of Centuries, Lena’s Car), urban (The Wedding Pool, [sic]) and, above all, relevant to contemporary audiences (Hippies and Bolsheviks, Lt. Nun). Of course, they also can’t resist a good laugh and given that three of their frequent collaborators are actually sisters—the very talented Treena (The History of Everything), Camille (The Black Box) and Celine (My Chernobyl) Stubel—well, it just seemed to good an opportunity to pass up.

“It started out as just a purely fun idea,” admits director and My Three Sisters playwright Amiel Gladstone of the concept, which has been kicking around for some time now. “It first came up back before we did The Black Box and without really knowing the original play, which I’d probably read in university. It was more because it was an interesting idea—the Stubels all being performers, and here’s this play called Three Sisters, that kind of thing.”

But given that this is a SKAM show, audiences should in no way be expecting a literal adaptation. Canada has been swapped for Russia, for example, and Montreal for Moscow—and one of the three sisters is now pregnant . . . for real. “Camille is eight months pregnant,” explains Gladstone with one of his characteristically dry chuckles. “Obviously, in the original, Chekhov makes no mention of her character being pregnant; in fact, it creates this whole other dynamic—and whether he would like that or not, I don’t know—but it fits into the framing device of the play and creates something that’s either a bit more hopeful or a bit more depressing, depending on your perspective.”

Gladstone worked from translations of Chekhov’s original Russian text for this adaptation, which preserves the universal themes of war, death, futility and love. “One question I’ve been asking is, does knowing the original enhance this work?” he ponders. “If you don’t know anything, you’re going to be fine, but if you do know the original play, you may think we’re really messing with it in a way that doesn’t seem right. But part of it is the larger question of why do Three Sisters? And then you start to think about what the SKAM version of it is. If we’re going to do a play that’s a hundred years old, we want to put a spin on it that excites us and feeds us. Doing a great big version with all the standard Russian army green costumes felt a bit maybe not what we’re about.”

In addition to the Stubels—appearing together here for the first time as professional actors—the cast includes frequent SKAMmer Lucas Meyers (Unity 1918) and Vancouver’s Billy Marchenski (Battery Opera, My Dad, My Dog), all of whom play multiple roles. “In essence, it’s a memory play,” says Gladstone. “The three sisters and their brother are all looking back on what has happened over the past little while to get them to this point.”

In many ways, this could well be said of SKAM itself, given the creative team’s long list of collaborations that goes back to the early ’90s, when they were students in UVic’s theatre program. But while the project itself had been kicked around for years, Camille’s pregnancy added an urgency on a number of levels. “It became clear that this would be a fairly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that Camille really wanted to do, so it more became a question of how we could facilitate that,” says Gladstone, who will also be directing a mainstage production of Morris Panych’s The Ends of the Earth at the Belfry in April 2009—starring both Meyers and Camille Stubel. “There was definitely a lot of conversations about the timing of it, what sort of precautions we’d have to have in place in case the baby comes early. But enough people were in support of the idea to say they’d step in and be there if we needed them.”

As for the idea of the character herself being pregnant, Gladstone says it was more a question of rethinking than rewriting. “In the play, she’s unhappily married and falls in love with another man . . . but it seemed really crazy that this would happen if she was pregnant,” he explains. “So we started rethinking it all and I think it was Lucas who said it would just be set after the affair, when he’s gone and she’s left pregnant.”

Also, since it’s a SKAM play, audiences should be prepared for some non-traditional staging. “We’re going to do the show in the round, so that’s been exciting,” deadpans Gladstone. “We’re completely reconfiguring the Metro. If we’ve done it the way we’ve imagined it, it will feel like a very different space.”

And given how sisters can be, has there been any on-set sibling rivalry? “Not about lines or anything,” he chuckles. “It’s more just the family dynamic; at times you feel like you’re having dinner at the Stubel house. But they’re a family who really enjoys each others’ company and, with Camille now living in Toronto, they don’t get to spend as much time together at this point in their lives.”

Ultimately, though, will audiences be coming for the SKAM, the Chekhov or the Stubels? “All three, I hope,” concludes Gladstone. “We’ve heard from a lot of people who know the Stubels and love the idea, and hopefully we attract the regular SKAM audience that loves what the company does in terms of innovation and theatricality. And I don’t know the last time Chekhov was done here; he’s dealing with some pretty big themes and some pretty sad stuff, so it’s not everybody’s cup of tea.”

Now that’s an understatement even Chekhov would admire.

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My Three Sisters
8 pm October 1-4
6 pm October 5
Metro Studio, 1411 Quadra
Tickets $15/$20 at door or online at intrepidtheatre.com
(Oct. 1 is pay-what-you-can)
250-383-2663 • skam.ca