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The Seagull

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Theatre

   Chekhov in an 1898 portrait by Osip Braz.
   Chekhov in an 1898 portrait by Osip Braz.

   The Seagull (Russian: "Чайка"), written in 1896, is the first of what
   are generally considered to be Anton Chekhov's four major plays. It
   centres on the romantic and artistic conflicts between four theatrical
   characters: the ingenue Nina, the fading leading lady Irina Arkadina,
   her son the experimental playwright Konstantin Treplyov, and the famous
   middlebrow story writer Trigorin.

   Like the rest of Chekhov's full-length plays, The Seagull relies upon
   an ensemble cast of diverse, fully developed characters. In opposition
   to much of the melodramatic theatre of the 19th century, lurid actions
   (such as Treplyov's suicide attempts) are kept offstage. Characters
   tend to speak in ways that skirt around issues rather than addressing
   them directly, a concept known as subtext.

   The play has a strong intertextual relationship with Shakespeare's
   Hamlet. Arkadina and Treplyov quote lines from it before the
   play-within-a-play in the first act (and the play-within-a-play device
   is itself used in Hamlet). There are many allusions to Shakespearean
   plot details as well. For instance, Treplyov seeks to win his mother
   back from the usurping older man Trigorin much as Hamlet tries to win
   Queen Gertrude back from his uncle Claudius.

   The opening night of the first production was a famous failure. Vera
   Komissarzhevskaya, playing Nina, was so intimidated by the hostility of
   the audience that she lost her voice. Chekhov left the audience and
   spent the last two acts behind the scenes. When supporters wrote to him
   that the production later became a success, he assumed they were just
   trying to be kind. When Konstantin Stanislavski directed it in a later
   production for the Moscow Art Theatre, the play was a triumph.

Characters

     * Madame Arkadina - an actress
     * Konstantin Treplyov - her son, a playwright
     * Sorin - Arkadina's brother
     * Nina - daughter of a rich landowner
     * Shamrayef - retired lieutenant, manager of Sorin's estate
     * Pauline - his wife
     * Masha - their daughter
     * Trigorin - a well-known writer
     * Dorn - a doctor
     * Medviedenko - a schoolmaster
     * Yakov - a laborer
     * Cook

Story

   Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Act I

   The play takes place on a country estate owned by Sorin, a former
   government employee with failing health. He is the brother of the
   famous actress Arkadina, who has just arrived at the estate with her
   lover, Trigorin, for a brief vacation. In Act I, the people staying at
   Sorin's estate gather to see a play that Arkadina's son Konstantin
   Treplyov has written and directed. The play-within-a-play stars Nina, a
   young girl who lives on a neighboring estate, as the "soul of the
   world." The play is his latest attempt at creating a new theatrical
   form, and resembles a dense symbolist work. Arkadina laughs at the
   play, finding it ridiculous and incomprehensible, and Konstantin storms
   off in disgrace. Act I also sets up the play's many romantic triangles.
   The schoolteacher Medviedenko loves Masha, the daughter of the estate's
   steward. Masha, in turn, has an unrequited crush on Konstantin, who is
   courting Nina. When Masha tells the kindly old Doctor Dorn about her
   longing, he helplessly blames the moon and the lake for making
   everybody feel romantic.

Act II

   Act II takes place in the afternoon outside of the estate, a few days
   later. After reminiscing about happier times, Arkadina engages the
   house steward Shamrayef in a heated argument, and decides to leave
   immediately. Nina lingers behind after the group leaves, and Konstantin
   shows up to give her a seagull that he has shot. Nina is confused and
   horrified at the gift. Konstantin sees Trigorin approaching, and he
   leaves in a jealous fit. Trigorin, a famous writer, enters. Nina asks
   him to tell her about the writer's life. He replies that it is not an
   easy one. Nina says that she knows the life of an actress is not easy
   either, but she wants more than anything to be one. Trigorin sees the
   seagull that Konstantin has shot and muses on how he could use it as a
   subject for a short story: "A young girl lives all her life on the
   shore of a lake. She loves the lake, like a seagull, and she's happy
   and free, like a seagull. But a man arrives by chance, and when he sees
   her, he destroys her, out of sheer boredom. Like this seagull."
   Arkadina calls for Trigorin, and he leaves as she tells him that she
   has changed her mind, and they will not be leaving immediately. Nina
   lingers behind, enthralled with Trigorin's celebrity and modesty, and
   she gushes, "My dream!"..

Act III

   Act III takes place inside the estate, on the day when Arkadina and
   Trigorin have decided to depart for Moscow. Between acts Konstantin
   attempted suicide by shooting himself in the head, but the bullet only
   grazed his skull. He spends all of Act III with his scalp heavily
   bandaged. Nina finds Trigorin eating breakfast and presents him with a
   medallion that proclaims her devotion to him using a line from one of
   Trigorin's own books: "If you ever need my life, come and take it." She
   retreats after begging for one last chance to see Trigorin before he
   leaves. Arkadina appears, followed by Sorin, whose health has continued
   to deteriorate. Trigorin leaves to continue packing. There is a brief
   argument between Arkadina and Sorin, after which Sorin collapses in
   grief. He is helped off by Medviedenko. Treplyov enters and asks his
   mother to change his bandage. As she is doing this, Treplyov disparages
   Trigorin and there is another argument, after which Treplyov leaves in
   tears. Trigorin reenters, and asks Arkadina if they can stay at the
   estate. She flatters and cajoles him until he agrees to return to
   Moscow. After she has left, Nina comes to say her final goodbye to
   Trigorin and to inform him that she is running away to become an
   actress, against her parents' wishes. They kiss passionately and make
   plans to meet again in Moscow.

Act IV

   Act IV takes place during the winter two years later, in the drawing
   room that has been converted to Treplyov's study. Masha has finally
   accepted Medviedenko's marriage proposal, and they have a child
   together, though Masha still nurses an unrequited love for Konstantin.
   Various characters discuss what has happened in the two years that have
   passed: Nina and Trigorin lived together in Moscow for a time until he
   abandoned her and went back to Arkadina. Nina never achieved any real
   success as an actress, and is currently on a tour of the provinces with
   a small theatre group. Konstantin has had some short stories published,
   but is increasingly depressed. Sorin's health is failing, and the
   people at the estate have telegraphed for Arkadina to come for his
   final days. Most of the play's characters go to the drawing room to
   play lotto. Konstantin does not join them, and spends this time working
   on a manuscript at his desk. After the group leaves to eat dinner, Nina
   enters through a back door and tells Konstantin about her life over the
   last two years. She starts to compare herself to the seagull—the bird
   Konstantin killed—then rejects that and says "I am an actress." She
   tells him that she was forced to tour with a second-rate theatre
   company after the death of the child she had with Trigorin, but she
   seems to have a newfound confidence. Konstantin pleads with her to
   stay, but she is in such disarray that his pleading means nothing. She
   slips out as quietly as she arrived. Despondent, Treplyov spends
   several minutes tearing up his manuscript before silently leaving the
   room. The group reenters and returns to the lotto game. There is a
   sudden gunshot from off-stage, and Dorn goes to investigate. He returns
   and orders Trigorin to take Arkadina away, and tells him that Treplyov
   just shot himself.

Reception

   The first Nina: Vera Komissarzhevskaya
   The first Nina: Vera Komissarzhevskaya

   The first night of The Seagull on 17 October 1896 at the Alexandrinsky
   Theatre in Petersburg was a disaster, booed by the audience. Vera
   Komissarzhevskaya, who some considered the best actor in Russia, and
   who, according to Chekhov, had moved people to tears as Nina in
   rehearsal, was intimidated by the hostile audience and lost her voice.
   The next day, Chekhov, who had taken refuge backstage for the last two
   acts, announced to Suvorin that he was finished with writing plays.
   When supporters assured him that later performances were more
   successful, Chekhov assumed they were just being kind.

   The Seagull impressed the playwright Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko,
   however, who said Chekhov should have won the Griboyedev prize that
   year instead of himself. And it was Nemirovich-Danchenko who convinced
   Konstantin Stanislavski to direct the play for the innovative Moscow
   Art Theatre in 1898.Chekhov's collaboration with Stanislavski proved
   crucial to the creative development of both men: Stanislavski's
   attention to psychological realism and ensemble playing coaxed the
   buried subtleties from the play and revived Chekhov's interest in
   writing for the stage; while Chekhov's unwillingness to explain or
   expand on the script forced Stanislavski to dig beneath the surface of
   the text in ways that were new in theatre.
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