For this new production, *The Seagull* has been rewritten by actress and playwright Livia Rossi, who reinterprets it in light of recent history, placing it in dialogue with the writings of Anna Politkovskaya and Svetlana Alexievich, both of whom were deeply involved in chronicling the war, as well as with Pushkin’s *Eugene Onegin* , a seminal work of 19th-century Russian literature.
*The Storm Diptych* marks the beginning of a new phase of work in Rifici’s educational program. It is intended as an opening toward a different way of conceiving creative journeys with young performers that does not require the finished form of a staged production.
What does it mean for young people today to work on Chekhov’s repertoire while maintaining a living dialogue with literature? Can we ask Chekhov to weigh in on the situation in Russia and in Europe today?
We were trained on great Russian literature; its great authors have always been fertile ground in theater schools. What has changed today in light of the terrible consequences of a war between East and West?

*Three Sisters* tells the story of Olga, Maša, and Irina, three sisters from the Russian nobility who live in a small provincial town, dreaming of returning to Moscow, a symbol of a fuller and more meaningful life. Their lives revolve around illusions, unhappy loves, and existential disappointments, as time passes and hope fades. Beneath the plot’s apparent naturalism—masked by the theme of class struggle—unfolds a disturbing mechanism, driven by the characters’ intimate, scandalous desire to halt time, in an attempt to etch themselves into the memory of history with the most edifying image of themselves. Everything, then—from the slightest stirrings of the heart to the very last syllable spoken—becomes a lucid and authentic portrayal of the human condition. The struggle against time is a matter of life and death for them, yet there is a mocking, paradoxical irony in their desperate struggle. But how does that attempt manifest itself in the actors who must portray them? How does the human desire to escape—at any cost and once and for all—from the grip of oblivion resonate? 

*The Seagull* is a drama centered on a group of characters bound by theater, love, and dissatisfaction. The young writer Kostya is trying to make a name for himself with a new kind of theater and is in love with Nina, an aspiring actress, who, however, falls in love with the famous writer Trigorin, who is connected to Kostya’s mother, the great traditional actress Arkadina. Unrequited passions, frustrated artistic ambitions, and disillusionment intertwine around them. At first glance, Chekhov’s work seems untouchable, perfect. Yet the geopolitical upheavals the world is currently undergoing have suddenly made it feel even more distant. The characters in the play have strong ties to certain cities in Ukraine, which in Chekhov’s time was divided between the Tsarist and Habsburg empires and which are now torn apart by war. We have sought to remain almost entirely faithful to the original text, working only on those lines that already offered glimpses into recent history, without ever intending to be entirely explicit about the exact time period in which the action takes place. The present moment moves too quickly to be captured on a page, especially during a tragic conflict that is still ongoing.