`Three Sisters' From A Russian Perspective

``It's interesting that Americans know Chekhov very well, but I think they will see a very different Chekhov in our production,'' said Galina Volchek, artistic director of the Moscow-based Sovremennik Theatre.

Volchek was sitting in the courtyard in front of the Intiman Playhouse, not to bask in the sun but to have a cigarette. Smoking is not allowed in the Playhouse - one of the few inconveniences that the 34 members of the Sovremennik company have experienced since they arrived here 10 days ago.

The highly regarded Russian troupe will open its production of Chekhov's ``Three Sisters'' at 7 tonight as part of Intiman Theatre's subscription season. Later this month, 34 more Sovremennik company members will arrive for the production of Alexander Getman's ``Into the Whirlwind,'' which will be presented at the Bagley Wright Theatre July 25-Aug. 5 as part of the Goodwill Arts Festival.

Chekhov wrote ``Three Sisters'' in 1901, but for the Sovremennik (the name means ``contemporary''), the play will never be dated.

``Chekhov is such a contemporary, such a living writer!'' exclaimed Volchek. ``No matter how many generations read his work, they will read according to the conditions of their soul at the time.''

``Chekhov is deeply relevant today,'' said Marina Neyolova, the company's leading actress who plays Masha in ``Three Sisters.'' ``We play Chekhov in a way that corresponds with our own time. He goes very deep and provides a new look, a new point of view of life today. Chekhov also is very difficult to perform. That's partly because everyone knows his own Chekhov, has his own ideas about Chekhov.''

Although Volchek and Neyolova had the usual pre-performance jitters, both were extravagant in their praise of Intiman officials and the company's American hosts.

``The company is very happy to be here, and very grateful to Intiman and Liz (Huddle, Intiman's artistic director) and Peter (Davis, managing director),'' said Volchek. ``Especially unbelievable is Intiman's technical director (Ten Eyck Swackhammer). His attitude is fantastic. We brought all our own scenery for both productions in Seattle. He (Ten Eyck) did not just set in our scenery (for ``Three Sisters''). He treated it as if it was the greatest business of his life. I'm sure there were many nights when he didn't get any sleep at all. He worked so hard. He adapted our turntable and made other necessary alterations in the set.''

One of these alterations, done for the sake of improving sightlines in Intiman's thrust-

stage theater, was raising the bridge that arches gracefully over the width of the set.

Swackhammer's task in working with the Sovremennik's three carpenters and two electricians is complicated by the fact that four of the five are named Vladimir and all are called by the diminutive of that name, Vlodya. Each Vlodya is pronounced with a slightly different emphasis, so that each of the men named Vladimir knows instantly when his name being spoken.

The Sovremennik was founded in 1956 by a group of young actors who were dissatisfied with the stodginess of the Moscow Art Theatre, where Stanislavsky had presided over the premieres of Chekhov's plays. According to the company's statement, ``the young creators of Sovremennik deliberately chose for their theater a path they would never abandon thereafter - one of resolute breakaway from the sacrosanct dogmas of `Socialist realism,' of glimpsing the world of living people stubbornly ignored by official art, and telling the truth about Time and Man.''

Last month, the company performed ``Into the Whirlwind'' at a festival in Kassel, Germany.

``We had a fantastic success,'' said Neyolova. ``We had a 25-minute ovation at the end of our first performance (the premiere in Moscow prompted a similar ovation). I never thought the Germans would be capable of having such strong emotions.''

Neyolova, who is also a movie star in the Soviet Union, said she is much happier working in the theater.

``Acting is secondary in movies,'' she said. ``Nothing depends on the actor; everything depends on the director. He does with you want he wants. To make a bad movie is just a spit into eternity. Theater is a deeper kind of work. In rehearsals you can deepen your understanding of the materials and, with the director, explore the interesting conflicts in the play. In my case, I'm very happy because in 15 years of working with Galina, we've never had a quarrel. Our aesthetic senses coincide completely.''

``Three Sisters'' will play at Intiman through July 22. Tickets are available: 626-0782.