Kim Stanley, Geraldine Page, Sandy Dennis - THREE SISTERS - Brilliant Acting

[@susanhorton9492]

so glad to see JAMES OLSON IN A ROMANTIC ROLE SMILING AND LAUGHING

[@SpiderHacksaw]

All these actresses were so profound, Page, Stanley, Winters, and Dennis, all so outstanding in their craft, and as amazing brilliant and beautiful women. Shelly Winters was always one of my favorite human beings. Ever since I saw her as Belle Rosen in The Poseidon Adventure at a drive-in when I was a little kid. She reminded of one of my own strong and beautiful grandmothers.

[@Anthony-hu3rj]

I have a friend who doesn't like to read Chekhov because all the characters are unhappy. I didn't know what to say until it was too late. I wish I'd said, "Yes, it's true. But he has so much compassion for each of them. No judgment. Like a doctor -- like the doctor he was -- he shows them in their pain. And yet -- unlike a doctor -- he is not so foolish as to offer remedies."

[@hugorefraschini5969]

Kim Stanley unforgetable actress of Seance on a wet afternoon, 1964 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@feferosette]

This film has two of my favorite actresses Sandy Dennis and Geraldine Page.🙂👍

[@LannieLord]

No need to take an acting class. Just watch this over and over. My God - there is more talent in this 2 hour and 46 minute play than in the last 40 YEARS of Oscar Awards ! (Not a Chekhov fan either -but I'd watch these ladies read menus from a Greek Diner for 2 hours and LOVE it !)

[@christophepena2212]

Indeed...what a cast!!!!!

[@rachelpagano3223]

Just discovering Chekhov, and this production really breathes life into it.

[@Anthony-hu3rj]

Rachel, I suggest reading his short stories, excellent translations by Pevear and Volokhonksy. I would begin with Stories published in 2000, and then Fifty-Two Stories published in 2020.

[@kerrieannebaker8595]

i just watched the Seagull done by the National Theatre with Emilia Clarke as Nina. One of the best productions of Chekhov I've ever seen. You can view it online with their app.

[@patrickzhao7591]

Thanks. Master piece played master full

[@gretawegener8115]

This is such a great production!!

[@photo161]

I never imagined that Checkov could be so vivid, so compelling... so overflowing with energy, passion, with emotional intensity at times bordering on the brink of violence. A revelation!

[@curtchildress7160]

The rigors of life and reality pit against the needs and desires of the soul. Timeless.

[@dijonstreak]

..the root of the matter exquisitely stated...i absolutely agree..this play is a clear view of the ancient human soul. be it male or female...no mythology here just the wonder of the naked human psyche.....

[@mamecotterportraitsofartis8089]

What a fantastic description in two sentences you nailed it. Chekhov is about the soul 😢

[@peteralfano4278]

thank you for posting this. A master class in acting with Geraldine Page and Kim Stanley....and a very young Shelley Winters!! To be studied....

[@josephdodd5770]

Geraldine page is one of the best actors ever if not the best

[@mardiedodds7562]

I think she's is the best! Dear Heart is my favorite movie and she my favorite actress. The Trip to Bountiful might be the best!

[@sylviaa.reynolds9381]

@@mardiedodds7562 Dear Heart is my favorite movie, too~ I don't know many people who would say that.

[@mardiedodds7562]

@@sylviaa.reynolds9381yes right! Most people have never even heard of it! It’s just so good. I turn it on when I have a long task. Makes the time move along.

[@mamecotterportraitsofartis8089]

She is such a great actress. I saw her in Interiors and never forgot her. One of the best of all time.

[@LannieLord]

"Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice" ? @@mamecotterportraitsofartis8089

[@Teezer44]

YOU ARE AMAZINGGG!!!! I HAVE BEEN SEARCHING FOR THIS FOR EVER!!

[@SymphonyBrahms]

I have wanted to see this performance of Three Sisters for years! And it's great! The acting is superb. Especially Geraldine Page, Kim Stanley, and Luther Adler. Legends of the theater. Thank you for downloading it.

[@simaraft7373]

Wow what a treat. Thank you.

[@anitamiddleton4797]

Sima Raft Z.N9

[@hystericmysteric]

OH MY GOD I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS FOR A DECADE. THANK YOU

[@superhetoric]

you have no idea how desperate I was as a nerd ass high schooler wanting to find this bc I was so fixated on Sandy Dennis. I still am, newly 28. thank you so much!!!!!!

[@michaelbellingham719]

me too she very interesting on film

[@hugorefraschini5969]

It's theater, but how wonderful, 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@teeniebeenie8774]

3 of the greats :::::sandy, geraldine, kim

[@aaronjsnyc]

What a gift. Thank you so much!

[@thomassimmons1950]

There is something extremely magnetic about Kim Stanley. Really outstanding cast. What an era for American acting!

[@jasonhurd4379]

I also have sought this forever; thank you so much! The role of Natasha might have been written for Shelley Winters, so perfectly does she embody it. And Geraldine Page's Olga is heartbreaking. Thank you for making this beautiful production available.

[@Vodkastinger]

Oh thank you for sharing this! I have always wanted to see it! Some brilliant actor's in this!

[@thomassimmons1950]

Watched this twice. It's official. I'm in love with Kim Stanley! (forgive me)...MY YOUTH!!

[@teeniebeenie8774]

bless u for posting this gem!

[@alexsamaras4954]

THANK YOU!

[@leslieepstein4700]

Someone here asked when this was made. According to IMDB it was filmed in 1966. I saw this production on Broadway the summer of 1964. I remember reading some time later that it was going to be taped, but until now I could not find it anywhere on screen or TV. Why I never before thought of checking you tube eludes me, but thanks for posting it. I should note that there were only two major cast changes from the production on Broadway. Irina was played by Shirley Knight, not Sandy Dennis (who seems to have gotten the most pans here) and Barbara Baxley played Natalya, not Shelley Winters. The rest of the cast was exactly as shown here. Lee Strasberg, the head of the Actors Studio was listed as the director for the Broadway production, not Paul Bogart. The Three Sisters is one of my all time favorite plays and at 18 I loved the Actors Studio production so I am anxious to finally see this.

[@AGurian]

I too saw this production live (live meaning I was in the same room as the actors at the same time!). One of my most memorable experiences of any theatrical production. I did see Shirley Knight and Barbara Baxley--both, like everyone else, excellent. At some point Page traded roles and played Masha. I assume Stanley then took on Olga. I only discovered this KZbin version about a year ago so now my friends can watch what I've been screaming about to them for years.

[@kellyfranett1242]

Thank you, thank you, what a treat!

[@dbuddecke]

Best version!!!

[@liesljones5987]

A GIANT THANK YOU to Primativo 7 for posting this Important and Essential example of Great American Theater -which was briefly seen on film and fell into oblivion. No need to EVER sit thru another THREE SISTERS -none of them will be better than this!

[@TotzkeMike]

Kim Stanley is magnificent.

[@dylanbonnar]

And when you consider that this performance of hers was panned by the critics, It makes you realise just how spellbindingly brilliant she must have been when she was at her best. I, too, think she was magnificent.

[@TotzkeMike]

I think the Brits - who have such a strong theatrical heritage - have always distrusted & loathed & made fun of the whole Method approach. Including their actors. As a Canadian, I feel much the same way. When it works - Brando, Stanley - it is awesome & feels immediate & real. Every little moment, every little gesture by Kim Stanley here feels completely lived in & right: she IS Masha. When it doesn't work, it is self-absorbed, pretentious, BORING.

[@dylanbonnar]

Another issue with the method is the damage it can cause to an actor. Stanley was brilliant when using the method but it basically destroyed her- in the three sisters she was essentially in the middle of a nervous breakdown, and was a REALLY severe alcoholic, much of it caused by endlessly delving into her emotional past to use in her work. She later, in the 80's, switched to the Adler as opposed to the Strasberg technique. Adler relies more on imagination, rather than endlessly using past pain to fuel your work.

[@TotzkeMike]

Alcohol & the Method are a deadly combination. Terrible. I love to watch scenes of Stanley in "The Goddess" - you can't BELIEVE what she can do! As a child, I watched all sorts of stuff on the late show that was way over my head. But certain scenes are burned in to my head for their realness & emotion - one being Stanley at the gravesite as her mother's coffin in lowered. UNFORGETTABLE.

[@uhclebrown]

Dylan Bonnar 9

[@stephenrowley7721]

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I have been searching for this everywhere and waiting for it to make it to DVD.

[@michaelcanestraro2849]

I remember my Dramatic Literature teacher in College speaking of this production (which he saw live) and how Sandy Dennis spent the evening blowing spit bubbles through her fingers.....and there she IS, putting her nervous fingers all over her mouth repeatedly. Kim Stanley is brilliant as expected.....the others.....have their moments.

[@BarryCorbett-x9m]

Sandy Dennis is the most irritating actress that ever lived.

[@johnmanno2052]

Absolutely brilliant! Reading the play, it seems incoherent, disjointed, confusing (and I've read a lot of Chekhov). But in the hands of truly great actors, the genius of the text comes vividly to life! An incredible experience, seeing these people create unforgettable characters leading seemingly real lives. Amazing.

[@greengoblin4life]

Is the movie exactly the same as the play? I’m asking because I have trouble understanding the play and I get confused as well.

[@johnmanno2052]

@@greengoblin4life Yes. The movie certainly is. It's the tremendous skill of the actors and directors that give shape and meaning to the words, dialogue and scenes. The reason it's as dense as it is (IMHO) is because Chekhov didn't want to make a certain, solid, undeniable moral judgement about any of the characters. I sincerely think he tried to create a theater that attempted to show us what God might see when looking at us. And so, each character and every line has multiple meanings and multiple ways of approach. It's jaw droppingly brilliant stuff, a welcome relief from the contemporary "good vs bad" that we've seen in both film and theater for a long time (unless you like "weird" "abstract" theater, which hardly anyone watches).

[@greengoblin4life]

@@johnmanno2052 thank you so much for the quick reply. I currently have to read the play for my theatre class but now I’m going to watch this movie to help me understand the story better!

[@johnmanno2052]

@@greengoblin4life Cool! I'm jealous you get to read it in class! Please keep in mind I'm not at all a professional theater guy, I just love reading great works, including important theater. This is just all my humble opinion!

[@ravenbaa7989]

I love u sandy dennis

[@BarryCorbett-x9m]

She is nauseating.

[@Teezer44]

The three greatest American actresses - Kim, Gerry and Sandy. This is truly a gem for acting students.

[@holisticartherapy]

absolutely absorbing & wonderful translation in the spirit of Russia - all the exagerations, quirks & sung lines people criticise below, for me created a compelling alchemy ... could not drag myself away... thank you.

[@zolochnaya]

I am so engrossed. Such believability.

[@michaelmerriam1979]

Wow, this is really vivid. I really like 3 Sisters this way

[@rgrant4530]

In her later years, Kim Stanley did an AMAZING performance in "Frances" co-starring Jessica Lange (1982). Then they reteamed in the 1984 remake of "Cat on a Hit Tin Roof." Jessica was Maggie and Kim was Big Mama. Flawless performances! It was originally on ShowTime--worth looking up if you haven't seen it.

[@vlcobb1]

Also check Kim Stanley out in Séance on a Wet Afternoon with Sir Richard Attenborough.

[@melodiefrances3898]

She was so good in "Frances."

[@cynthialyman2636]

Spectacular: thank you so much!

[@mikeyweaselwhipper3074]

thank you for posting this.

[@markokrunic3887]

Pity we don't have actors and actresses of this calibre any more.

[@photo161]

No, that day is GONE, but ever so gone...

[@nonenoneonenonenone]

We have some. Glenn Close, Kathleen Turner, Isabella Rosselini, Meryl Streep. There would be more if we got rid of method acting and mere performing.

[@Anthony-hu3rj]

This is theater, not television, not movies. I suggest you -- if you don't live too remotely -- go to actual living and breathing theaters. Sadly I live in a godforsaken (but not too ridiculously expensive) outpost where the idea of theater is indeed remote.

[@ChrisHansonCanada]

Agreed. Acting today seems all suited to a daytime soap opera.

[@jettrink7510]

Sandy Dennis🌳🐈🍋🐀🐞🐇🐦🍑... breaks my heart the loss of gentle, polite, tender womanhood.

[@NewsHistorian]

Sandy Dennis brought all her ticks, stutters and mannerisms to every role she played. Why doesn't anyone ever attempt a Sandy Dennis impression?

[@noelephantitis]

Because one is more than enough

[@NoName-vq3zo]

😄@@noelephantitis

[@billslocum9819]

SCTV totally bypassed that opportunity. They had Robin Duke play her role in the fast-talking version of "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf," but she is Sandy Duncan for some reason. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aKqsfnSlrN2slaM

[@Twentythousandlps]

She was not a star for a very long time, later generations don't know who she is.

[@michaelcanestraro2849]

She still exists in Clare Danes.

[@irish66]

wow, Kim stanley, and Geraldine Page together.

[@photo161]

...indeed!

[@mizzmaria522]

I've been searching for this for years. I was almost tempted at one point to pay money to order it. Now that I've seen it, I'm certainly glad I didn't.

[@TotzkeMike]

Tell us more, please?

[@WCWindham3]

Amazing actresses

[@jamessheridan4306]

I learned of the existence of this production from a clip that was used in Rick McKay's "Broadway: The Golden Age." Great to see it in it's entirety.

[@dannybsunday]

What a Gem ***

[@teeniebeenie8774]

sandy dennis: my divinemuse….

[@teeniebeenie8774]

Geraldine page and ms stanely: brilliant and the best.

[@thomassimmons1950]

Man... it's scary how much this reminds me of America today. A listless, neurotic professional class prattling like chickens before the block. Chekov and Dostoevsky saw, or felt in their bones, the end game for the Russian aristocracy. It didn't end prettily, and may not for us.

[@kerrieannebaker8595]

yes. Even more pertinent now. I just watched The Cherry Orchard. So relevant todays financial disaster. Its just the beginning.

[@thomassimmons1950]

@@kerrieannebaker8595 Cheers!

[@jamesanonymous2343]

THE OPRNING MONOLOG, ( GERALDINE PAGE), TURNED ME AWAY IN MINUTES PLUS THE AUDIO QUALITY IS INTOLERABLE !

[@y0us1f]

00:10 act 1 37:27 act 2

[@veraperes5718]

Enable subtitles, please!!

[@LannieLord]

What YEAR is this from ? Sandy Dennis looks fresh from "Virginia Wolf".

[@Marcy2Hollywood]

2:26:07 is when Andrei’s “where has it gone” monologue

[@JamesKeno]

Use to sleep well to this. Now, disturbed with ads. Thank God I have a DVD player

[@nicosiv]

Funny you say that, I love listening to Chekhov's plays at night when falling asleep. I recommend Audible, you can' get the complete major plays in one bundle and they are superb, from Great Britain. No interruptions either.

[@Muttonchop57]

KZbin subscription = no ads. Cough up the funds and your problem will vanish.

[@mirtarodriguezleon4832]

Triste...no hay subtítulos en español. Amo a Chejov, amo a esas actrices impresionantes. ¿Si existen los subtítulos, porqué no los ponen?

[@clivenaylor5392]

For some reason I keep imagining Peter Sellars as Kulygin.

[@快乐王子关]

I can see many similar sparkling times when Sandy dennis plays in both three sisters and Who's afraid of Virginia Wolf：her diction、her crying.......so similar

[@ChrisHansonCanada]

I just watched this for the actors and the acting. The story was secondary.

[@patriciajoubert426]

Funny, some of us feel their lives back then we’re not worse than now. In many ways it seems better, as the Earth was not so ruined and there was more beauty in the world and there was more real hope.

[@TotzkeMike]

I think Kevin McCarthy's very good, too.

[@susanhorton9492]

where did u find a copy? id ove to have a copy on dvd where can i get one

[@Johnnycdrums]

Heard it was good, that’s why I’m here. Is it?

[@piyushbansal2358]

No idea, did you watch?

[@Johnnycdrums]

@@piyushbansal2358 ; Not yet.

[@raynbowmushr00m19]

Doin a monologue from this

[@earthtobrianna1661]

Can someone give me the time stamp for when Irina starts saying “It’s too much for me, I can’t bear it any longer!” In act three.

[@TheatreMadeStrange]

1:52:15

[@tadimaggio]

Even though the two works are as different as night and day, every time I read or hear Tuschenbach's comment about Vershinin's wife periodically trying to commit suicide "just to annoy her husband", I think of Aunt Alicia (Isabel Jeans) in the MGM musical "Gigi" on the phone, and taking a break to tell her sister (Hermione Gingold) excitedly: "Liane Dexelmans has committed suicide! AGAIN!" After she hangs up, Gingold asks her "How did she do it?", and Alicia replies calmly "Oh, the usual means. Insufficient poison."

[@thallesvinicius2729]

10:24------Por aqui, por aqui, paizinho.

[@PatrickTheVideoGamer2004]

Which part did John Harkins appear?

[@jimrick6632]

WHEN WAS THIS FIRST SHOWN??? BRILLIANT....

[@bardotte5757]

Can anyone tell me what year this was made ? Thank you 🌹

[@rem2267]

1966. I looked it up on IMDb as "Three Sisters," but could not find it. Then I looked under "Kim Stanley" and found it under the title "THE Three Sisters."

[@armenbenson4519]

Not one of them has any connection to the the time, place, to their relations with each other. Sandy Dennis, with some tutelage as regards Chekhov, Russia...on the brink of collapse of the Czarist system...might be brilliant…although she is putting flowers in a pot by the hundreds, when it needs two, three at most, but connection to them, to her own despair. No one feels the temperature, nor the stillness outside. The first "speech" is just that, a speech out of Shakespeare, not Chekhov. Toozenbach, Lieutenant (Baron) gives every word equal value. Doctor Chebutykin, Luther Adler, is playing his yidishe reputation, as the great Luther Adler. Soliony, Robert Loggia, has no understanding of character in the play, what it symbolizes as regards the others and the violence he manifests. And this only took me five minutes to decipher. Oh my. Stanislavsky and Stella Adler were traded in for Lee Strasberg, Elia Kazan, et al. I am in shock at peoples' comments here, regarding Kim Stanley and Geraldine Page. What these actors don't know or understand, about “acting” Chekhov, as well as acting in general, and therefore, cannot conceive to apply here, is painful in its total-ness. They want to act...pursuing acting as feeling...thinking that if they do not feel, themselves, feeling each word, each thought, they are in denial as actors. While, in truth, it is just the opposite. The actor that goes straight to his uninformed passions…this due to the fact that he, as an American, because of his culture, his society, cannot think, or use his mind, properly…is simply a bad, a very bad, actor. These people don't realize that due to the Russian topography, its injurious weather...ask Napoleon, Hitler, ha...that it takes two days to get to the little station. That your ten year old horse dies on the way back, from landing in a pot hole on the unpassable muddy road. And, not understanding a modicum of these physical circumstances, not understanding even the most basic, therefore, the most essential, facts of doing Chekhov. Chekhov is not Elizabethan Shakespeare, nor is it modern realistic American. It is 19th century European/Russian aristocratic poetic realism. And then? You have Sandy Dennis, Kim Stanley, Geraldine Page, Robert Loggia, and Luther Adler.

[@lucindaarmour4685]

There is no perfect film production of Chekhov - in English anyway. Oliviers Three Sisters didnt work on screen either. Lumets The Seagull has fine moments but also doesnt entirely work. The plays are creatures of the stage. Vanya on 42nd St comes close and is certainly a film I enjoy. I agree with you that its Actors Studio approach has bought out the ticks, indulgences and habits of all the cast and they dont often sound like they are listening to each other (but then again Chekhovs character often dont). Its very American and somewhat indulgent but I am super grateful it exists as a record of the time and to capture Page, Stanley, Dennis and Winters at the peak of their skills.

[@itamarmendelson2646]

Is there a film adaptation that you think captures Chekhov's plays? What would you recommend that people watch? I'm having a hard time imagining what you would find adequate.

[@armenbenson4519]

There is no proper adaption, because you cannot “adapt” Chekhov…as is the truth for most earlier period plays. Even though, many wow-begone directors, due to their unquenchable, unstoppable egos, never stop trying. I have seen Macbeth placed in the crime infested streets of 1930’s gangland America; in the Hitlerian Nazism of 1930-40’s Germany. A bizarre concept, at best. In that Macbeth deals with the submission of innocent elements of one society under the ruthless brutal element of a second-then, why not have Macbeth rendered through the format of cowboys and Indians of the 1870’s American Midwest. Why? Because you lose all the things that make Elizabethan Shakespeare, Shakespearean-its language, its aristocracy; its rigid adherence to class structure: which, in failing to do so, people are rendered to quick death and annihilation: see Joan of Arc, characters in Richard II, III. Henry’s IV, V, VI, etc, etc. would you really want Abraham Lincoln or Hamlet placed within the confines of Woodstock and Bethel, NY. If that’s your preference, go ahead and do so. That is why we’re having this discussion here.

[@armenbenson4519]

Chekhov is not a Hollywood or Broadway musical, it is not a "Show". When I was rehearsing Konstantine, Kostya, I went and studied Russian, in order to understand the language in the original. No, I don't say one should do this. But, if you don't submit yourself to similar examination of Russia, and Russia just prior to the Revolution of 1917, you will fail, and will so, in any play you try to "adapt". The same way you will fail in trying to interpret O'Neill, and "Long Day's Journey Into Night", without knowing America's history, and America's institutions. They tried to render this great play into a movie...see Jason Robard's attempt at, and failure. Hollywood is quintessentially incompetent at anything but simplistic musicals, horror movies, and cowboys and Indians. A great dancer like Fred Astaire can succeed, because he, besides being a great dancer, plays to the camera. (His acting only rings true when he does not fall victim to the magnet of the camera. Almost impossible. That's what makes you a star. Garbo could have been a supreme actor, had she lost the camera more.) Maybe not so Nijinsky, Nureyev, Fonteyn, Pavlova. Even the great dancer Cyd Charisse, only made a few movies. Watch her, in the very last sequence, in The Band Wagon, of 1953, do the "Americana" sequence with Fred Astaire. Amazing, she's so good. It is much more indicative of America, and with better dancing and choreography, than anything in West Side Story.

[@lisaleonzis5303]

Kim Stanley .. Listen closely… the voice infections and mannerisms . Is Sounds acting 🎭 is Jessica Lang”💃🏻

[@ChrisHansonCanada]

I always thought Jessica got her acting style from Tuesday Weld. Very similar.

[@teeniebeenie8774]

kim stanley makes them all seem like amateurs......perfection

[@zachlen48]

Kim Stanley's finest acting was in A Cardinal ACT OF MERSEY

[@ΙωαννηςΜπαβας-κ9θ]

utube smile by john bavas

[@Maesolmese]

Ah boo, the lighting leaves so much of the costumes in murky darkness!

[@deborahhughes6186]

Im coming too

[@Catinkontti]

I don't get it why this looks like it was made in early 30s when it was done mid 60s.

[@BLTKellys]

Because it was shot on low quality videotape, in black and white.

[@mariandowalker3488]

5:23

[@deborahhughes6186]

Theyre coming

[@thallesvinicius2729]

00:18

[@ce_0311]

1:30:00

[@GonjaSensai]

Is t j.g at Rob Loggia?

[@maryhowland1286]

why are they singing all their lines?

[@thallesvinicius2729]

26:45--------16

[@chriswilson4112]

I gave it a bit over 15 minutes. The acting is just fine, especially the ladies, but for the life of me in those 15 minutes I didn't find anything they were talking about particularly interesting.

[@NoName-vq3zo]

Perhaps it was lost in translation or it's from female perspectives but hell if I understood the reasons for all their anguish and tortured minds!

[@constantreader8760]

The boredom and painfulness of everyday life with its abandoned dreams and ideals.

[@deborahhughes6186]

I sent them. Deborah hughes.

[@unclealand]

Pretty horrible, with everybody trying to out-under-act one another. And Sandy Dennis was soooo WRONG!

[@thomasdelvin3683]

it has taken me a week to continue to watch this film, it is very over done and over acted, the only character and actors worth looking at is the brother who relies on mainly silence to get his character across. i dont know his actor name but the others are just hyped up. still only half way through. i just dont get this Russian version of american southerly misery and impending family decay. might be made more suitable if they chose to effect or is that affect southern drawls and had plantation furniture .clothes and sets. or is the word palatable

[@Harringtonml54]

The Method Acting in this is almost unbearable. Sandy Dennis is the absolute worst. If she put her fist to her face one more time I would have spit blood. Kim Stanley is ghoulish; no wonder this was her last stage performance. Page and Winters fare best, both in terms of casting and interpretation. McCarthy is quite right and Olson, though somewhat miscast, is fine. Robert Loggia--God help us.

[@markriley5784]

Sandy Dennis added a touch of neurosis to each of her characters, which made them more consistent with real life. If you prefer characters that are to perfect to be true....well, then that happens to be your own preference.

[@Harringtonml54]

@@markriley5784 a TOUCH of neurosis? LOL. I know this play. I’ve done this play. I’ve directed this play. I’ve been an actor and director for more than 40 years. I never suggested even remotely that “too perfect to be true” is even vaguely advisable.

[@markriley5784]

@@Harringtonml54 So you're in the same line of work. You're critiquing your more successful colleagues using terms such as: "absolute worse", "ghoulish", and "god help us"; hmmm.

[@Harringtonml54]

@@markriley5784 you’re entitled to your opinion and so am I. You don’t have to agree and I don’t have to accede. These actresses are, indeed, more successful than 99.999% of their colleagues, ever. It might possibly interest you to know that Stanley, who had been a critic’s darling in her career, never again acted on stage after this production, because those same critics gave her such a drubbing for her work in this instance. As I said, you don’t have to agree, but the effect on her as a result of this near universal negative criticism is a fact. And as we all know, you are entitled to your own opinions, but you are not entitled to your own facts.

[@markriley5784]

@@Harringtonml54 I ended my post with "hmmm" because I wasn't sure where you were coming from. It was never my desire that you should alter your perspective, but merely clarify it. I appreciate greatly that you have done so.

[@photo161]

Sandy Dennis is a lovely actress but she seems to be working too hard here...too bad...

[@armenbenson4519]

Reading the commentary below is, mostly, frightening. If you get all of your inferences of acting, through Hollywood and bad play productions, such as this, you will, even in reading the original Chekhov, not understand the play, nor, was an actor, be able to act him. Chekhov's words say one thing, but he wants you to "act", by not acting, the opposite. Oh my. It's not your fault. Most of you are not actors. If you are, it's a shame.

[@armenbenson4519]

correction: "understand the play"

[@armenbenson4519]

Sorry, correction: "understand the play."