The Seagull (Hampton) - Acting Edition

The Seagull is simply on of the best plays I have ever read. Absolutely worth a read to al who love theatre.

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) is regarded as Russia’s greatest playwright and THE SEAGULL is thought to be among his best works—but the play debuted in 1896 before an audience so hostile that actress Vera Komissarzhevskaya developed nervous laryngitis and Chekhov himself hid backstage through the second half of the performance. Two years later, however, the play was directed by Stanislavsky for the Moscow Art Theatre in an extraordinary staging that proved the worth of the script, and THE SEAGULL has remained a favorite of world theatre ever since.The play is set in the 1890s on a rural Russian estate. It is performed in four acts, each act showing a different locale on the estate. The cast requires five women and nine men. Many of Chekhov’s plays focus on the decline of the Russian aristocracy, and THE SEAGULL does include this element, although only very mildly so. Chekhov subtitled the play “a comedy,” and indeed it begins very much like a romantic comedy, with numerous romantic complications. At center of these is Konstantin’s love for Nina, the daughter of a nearby estate, but Nina is smitten with Trigorin, a popular writer. Trigorin, however, is involved in a summer romance with Konstantin’s mother Irina Arkadina, a celebrated actress who uses Trigorin to salve her uncertain temperament. But these romances, and others, do not develop in a comic manner.It may sound ridiculous, but the characters do not develop through what they say; they develop through what they do not say. Chekhov is a master of what actors call “subtext,” the hidden background and motives each character has but which are implied rather than clearly expressed. The result is a script that seems to drift from incident to incident and character to character without all the technical constructs we generally expect from a playscript, and the play’s conclusion is an unexpected one. Chekhov was also a master of symbolism, and the primary image of the play is that of a seagull, an image that first appears as one of light and freedom—and then transforms into one of darkness and death. It is powerful stuff.Some playwrights read as well on the page as they perform on the stage, but Chekhov isn’t really one of them. Unless you have seen a great many plays, and ideally seen a first rate performance of THE SEAGULL, it will probably leave you unsatisfied. Recommended, but this is really something best left to scholars and theatre aficionados—others should seek out a performance.GFT, Amazon ReviewerIn Memory of Jackie Wilson