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    The Seagull
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    The Seagull
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    The Seagull
    Ebook103 pages1 hour

    The Seagull

    By Torben Betts and Anton Chekhov

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    ‘Only love brings happiness into this earth, the poetical love of youth, sweeping away the sorrows of the world.’

    As guests assemble at a country house for the staging of an avant-garde open air play, artistic temperaments ignite a more entertaining drama behind the scenes, with romantic jealousies, self-doubt and the ruthless pursuit of happiness

    confusing lives, loves and literature.

    The Seagull was the first of Chekhov’s great works and is celebrated as one of the most important plays of the nineteenth century. This new version, commissioned by Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, marks the play’s 120th anniversary.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOberon Books
    Release dateJun 23, 2015
    ISBN9781783199013
    Author

    Torben Betts

    Torben Betts other plays include: The National Joke (Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough); Invincible (Orange Tree Theatre and St James Theatre, London, Brits-off-Broadway); What Falls Apart (Live Theatre, Newcastle); Get Carter (Northern Stage); The Seagull (Regent’s Park Open Air); A Listening Heaven (Edinburgh Royal Lyceum, nominated as TMA Best New Play 2001); The Unconquered (Traverse/Tron/ Brits-off-Broadway/UK Tour, winner of Best New Play at the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland, 2007) and Muswell Hill (Orange Tree Theatre and Park Theatre, London).

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    Reviews for The Seagull

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      How easy it is, Doctor, to be a philosopher on paper and, how difficult in real life.


      The Seagull was a delightful exploration of binary contrasts, a meditation rocking the countryside as a mélange of folk gather by the shore of a lake for some Slavic R&R: adultery and suicide. I am only kidding. Echoing Hemingway, one would imagine all of Mother Rus hanging themselves judging by the pages of its marvelous literature. The contrast between urban and rural is explored as is the space between art and labor. Regret happens to ruminate and the servants receive a whole ruble to divide amongst themselves. There's a play-within-the-play which somehow struck me as did Bergman's Through A Glass Darkly and everyone appears to be quoting Hamlet. Substitute a sea gull for an albatross and pen a portrait of the artist (or author) as lecher and Bob's your uncle (but not Vanya).
    • 5/5
      The best Seagull I've seen is Stoppard's at the Old Vic in London. In fact, I bought a signed copy of Stoppard's text--as an Eastern European, I figured his Russian was better than mine. His English is, too, I say having just seen his Arcadia for the third time, first time it made real sense; in fact, one time at the Royal Court I sat next to a Cambridge prof whose history of English I had on my shelf in the states; he had returned twice because of the play's confusions. He should have come here to the Gamm Theater in Rhode Island, directed by Fred Sullivan, Jr, brilliantly. The academic played by the Gamm's Tony Estrella presented a great parody slide lecture; also, the presence of the computer made Thomasina the 18C prodigy's math insights all the more convincing.Behind me in line for the Seagull at the Old Vic was the director of the Hong Kong Shakespeare Company.
    • 4/5
      This is what I found in my experience: some plays read well - just like any novel, while others have to be performed to be enjoyed fully. To me, "The Seagull" is definitely of the latter type. Even though I've just re-read this play in its original language (my mother tongue) and should have been smitten by Chekhov's prose, I wasn't. Ideas in the dialogues rang true, but the dialogues themselves didn't - again, on stage they probably would. The infusion of drama (some would say melodrama?) and the symbolism are, of course, undeniable. My favorite part was Trigorin's monologue about the essence of a writer's life.
    • 3/5
      Bloody good but gloomy stuff, definitly realistic in the gloomy sense of the world.
    • 5/5
      I saw a brilliant production of this play on Broadway (brought over from London) a few years ago, so I guess I wouldn't say read it, I would say, if you can see a first class production of it that gets the humor and doesn't make Kostya a clueless sad sack, sell part of your book collection to get a ticket. For a writer, it's all about your worst nightmares. For anyone, the final scene between the two failed young lovers, and what follows, is devastating.

      But reading it is worthwhile too. Just pick a good translation and remember that the author had a very dry and brutal sense of humor.

      As a writer, I am always in awe of Chekhov. His characters, his dramatic structures, his settings, there is nobody like him. He was so good, in every way, and apparently once said he could toss off a salable short story about anything, about the ashtray in front of him. He was boasting, but I'm sure it was true.

    • 2/5
      Summary (on some review-page): The Seagull by Anton Chekhov is a slice-of-life drama set in the Russian countryside at the end of the 19th century. The cast of characters is dissatisfied with their lives. Some desire love. Some desire success. Some desire artistic genius. No one, however, ever seems to attain happiness.I’m a big fan of L.A. Theatre Works - but not even this fine audiobook-production with Calista Flockhart could save this “self-occupied” play. A lot of modern existential ideas are at play here - a psychological story about self-centered artists who are unable to connect with each other or get any fulfillment out of life.I’m now wondering if I should listen to more of Chekhov’s plays.