Ruth Leon recommends… The Seagull – National Theatre
Ruth Leon recommendsThe Seagull – National Theatre
London critics were sharply divided when this new production of Anton Chekhov’s classic premiered at the National last year. Four-star reviews for the stripped-back production by director Jamie Lloyd – modern dress, cast on-stage throughout, no sets – vied with the two-stars of reviewers who found it static and uncharismatic, more like a radio play than a fully staged production. The director’s intention to propel The Seagull into the 21st century by taking away all the usual theatrical props of period details is a matter of personal observation. Does it work? You decide.
It is certainly defensible to define The Seagull as a radical play. After all, it always has been. Chekhov wrote the play in 1895 and its first production the following year in Petersburg was a famous failure. Booed at its premiere, it was only when Stanislavski and his fledgling Moscow Art Theatre revived it in 1898 was it recognised as “one of the greatest events in the history of Russian theatre and one of the greatest new developments in the history of world drama”.
Chekhov was somewhat surprised that Stanislavski saw it as a tragedy but mollified when The Seagull became a hit beyond his wildest dreams. Before the first production Chekhov wrote, “It’s a comedy, there are three women’s parts, six men’s, four acts, landscapes (view over a lake); a great deal of conversation about literature, little action, tons of love.”
It’s that “little action” that Jamie Lloyd has followed in directing this production. Emilia Clarke, known for her starring role in TV’s Game of Thrones makes an impressive West End debut as Nina, alongside the strong febrile Arcadina of Indira Varma. An excellent cast, clad only in Chekhov’s words, does convey the strength of his characters as well as the action, albeit off-stage, that drives the drama.
This seagull landed in the Harold Pinter theatre, not the NT. NT at home seems to do the streaming.
To clarify, NT Live filmed and distributed this, but it was a commercial West End stage production by the Jamie Lloyd Company, presented at the Harold Pinter Theatre – nothing to do with “the National”.
And it’s stretching the truth to describe Anya Reiss’s adaptation as “clad only in Chekhov’s words”!! And one can see from the photo that the actors were also clad in costumes.
Save your money. Absolutely awful. Paid full West End Price for a glorified table read. Absolutely dreadful.