Rory Mullarkey Archives - The Play Podcast

093 – Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov

by Douglas Schatz | Mar 10, 2025 | Podcast Episodes

Ruby Thompson as Irina, Michelle Terry as Olga,
Shannon Tarbet as Masha in Three Sisters.
Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, London,
February 2025
Photo by Johan Persson.

093 – Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters, is the third of the quartet of great plays that he wrote in the last years of his short life. The three sisters live in a provincial Russian town, a long way from Moscow, where they grew up and where they long to return to. But weighed down by their circumstances, as well as their own inertia, and misplaced ideals and affections, they fail to realise their dream to escape their provincial existence.Three Sisters is a challenging dramatic masterpiece, a symphonic study of the search for purpose and love, and of profound personal disappointment.

Three Sisters opened in January 1901 at the Moscow Arts Theatre, where Chekhov’s previous two major plays, The Seagull and Uncle Vanya had been performed. The production was co-directed by the influential co-founder of the theatre, Konstantin Stanislavski, who also appeared in it, as did Olga Knipper, whom Chekhov had written the part of the middle sister, Masha, for, and whom he married that same year. As we record this episode a spellbinding new production has opened in the Sam Wanamaker theatre at Shakespeare’s Globe theatre in London. The candlelit stage of the Sam Wanamaker provides a transporting setting for the flickering dreams of the three sisters and their suitors.

I’m absolutely delighted to be able to talk to the writer responsible for the translation of the text of the play being performed at the Globe, playwright Rory Mullarkey.

We have also covered Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya and The Seagull on the podcast. Listen here:
002 – Uncle Vanya
052 – The Seagull

Musical extract in this episode is from Chopin: Nocturne No. 1 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 9 No. 1 – Elisabeth Leonskaja

Rory Mullarkey

Rory is an esteemed playwright, author of Pity, The Wolf from the Door, and Mates in Chelsea, all staged at the Royal Court Theatre, as well as Saint George and the Dragon at the National Theatre, and Cannibals, Single Sex at the Royal Exchange in Manchester. Rory studied Russian at Cambridge University, and has previously translated Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, which played at the Bristol Old Vic and Manchester Royal Exchange.

Recommended Play

Rory recommended The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman.

Photo by Bill Knight

We have footnotes for this episode …

The Footnotes that accompany our episode on Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters include observations on the many who are disappointed in love; the two Mashas in Three Sisters and The Seagull; the hapless but admirable character of Tuzenbach; and the recurring symbol of migrating birds.

Footnotes for Patrons

Become a Patron!

Since I launched The Play Podcast in April 2020, I have managed to eschew any form of advertising or sponsorship, and I would like to continue to produce the podcast without doing so. I therefore invite you to help me to continue to make the podcast by becoming a Patron. Additional benefits available to Patrons include Footnotes on the plays covered in the podcast, as well as early access to The Play Review. For details click here Thank you very much for listening and for your support. Douglas

The Texts

If you are interested in buying the play text or other related books, we’d be delighted if you choose to purchase them from our selected partners Bookshop.org and Blackwell’s. Not only will you be supporting independent booksellers, we will also earn a small commission on every book you purchase, which helps to keep the podcast going. Click on the cover to buy from our chosen partner. Thank you.

115 – The Dance of Death by August Strindberg

Oct 6, 2026 | Podcast Episodes

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

August Strindberg’s The Dance of Death is set in a remote army base on the coast of Sweden, where an army captain and his wife are trapped together in an unhappy marriage. The captain, bitter at his lack of promotion, and his wife, frustrated at having been forced to give up her career as an actress, occupy their empty hours tearing into each other in a brutal dance of mutual cruelty.

Strindberg’s scorching portrait of marital strife was written in 1900, but has had a lasting influence. Arthur Miller dubbed Strindberg, “the mad inventor of modern theatre”, and echoes of his unflinching dissection of marital discord can be seen in the plays of Edward Albee, Tennessee Williams, Eugene O’Neill, and John Osborne.

Sir Richard Eyre adapted and directed a wonderful production of Dance of Death at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond upon Thames earlier this year, and I am delighted that Sir Richard joins me in this episode to guide us through Strindberg’s blistering onslaught on marriage.

114 – Love’s Labour’s Lost by William Shakespeare

Sep 22, 2026 | Podcast Episodes

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

William Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost is described on the title page in the first publication of its text in 1598 as “A Pleasant Conceited Comedie.” I imagine that the epithets were intended to highlight the play’s courtly aesthetic, its frothy merry-go-round of courtship, and above all perhaps, its ostentatiously intricate word play. For it is a play rich in the love and perils of language.

I am joined to assay Shakespeare’s conceited comedy by the Artistic Director of the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond upon Thames, Tom Littler. In the summer of 2026 Tom adapted and directed a magical double bill of Shakespeare, producing Love’s Labour’s Lost and Much Ado About Nothing in repertory, and staging them both ‘en plein air’.

113 – Arcadia by Tom Stoppard

Aug 24, 2026 | Podcast Episodes

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Tom Stoppard’s 1993 play, Arcadia, is viewed by many as his finest play, renowned for the breadth of its intellectual interrogations and its formal invention. The play is a structural masterpiece of ideas, as well as a teasing detective story, joyous comedy, and emotionally rich exploration of love and loss.

As we record this episode a wonderful new production of Arcadia is playing at the Duke of York’s theatre in London’s West End, following its acclaimed run at the Old Vic theatre earlier this year. I am delighted to share the challenge and the pleasure of exploring Stoppard’s dazzling drama with the director of the new production, Carrie Cracknell.

Rory Mullarkey

by Douglas Schatz | Mar 7, 2025 | Contributor

Rory Mullarkey

Rory Mullarkey is an esteemed playwright, author of Pity, The Wolf from the Door, and Mates in Chelsea, all staged at the Royal Court Theatre, as well as Saint George and the Dragon at the National Theatre, and Cannibals, Single Sex at the Royal Exchange in Manchester. Rory studied Russian at Cambridge University, and has previously translated Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, which played at the Bristol Old Vic and Manchester Royal Exchange.

Photo by Bill Knight

Podcast Episode(s)

093 - Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov

Recommended Play(s)

Rory recommended The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman.