Masha, Irina and Olga, central figures in Anton Chekhov’s “Three Sisters,” are bored by life in the country and long for the culture and refinement of big-city Moscow, which they left 11 years ago and where they fantasize about returning.

But their ennui and how they cope never gives theater-goers a dull moment in this outstanding production adapted by Tracy Letts and directed by Anna A. Shapiro at Steppenwolf Theatre.

The three women live in a house with their brother Andrey (Dan Waller), a scholar with a severe gambling problem; his hard-nosed wife Natasha (Alana Arenas) and a small battalion of servants. A host of colorful visitors and hangers-on also make regular appearances in this drama, which starts in 1900 and encompasses three years by the final curtain.