Seagull
Written by Anton Chekov.
Translated by Karen Vickery. Directed by Caitlin Baker and assistade by Karen
Vickery. Production Manager/Stage Manager Maggie Hawkins. Stage
Manager/Lighting designer Sophia Carlton. Sound designer Neville Pye. Lighting
Mentor Stephen Still Armourer Neil McLeod. Set construction Marc Heru. Cole
Hilder. Chaika Theatre. ACT HUB Spinifex Street
Kingston. April 10 – 21. Bookings ACTHUB.COM.AU
Reviewed by Peter Wilkins
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Michael Sparks, James McMahon, Cameron Thomas,
Natasha Vickery, Meaghan Stewart in Chaika Theatre's Seagull |
Karen Vickery’s translation of
Anton Chekov’s The Seagull is a
breath of fresh air. It is lucid with a fluidity and immediacy that makes it
thoroughly accessible to a contemporary audience. The dialogue springs
forth trippingly on the tongue with a clarity and intelligence that lends each
character an individual truth. Chekov is Stanislavsky’s playwright servicing
the director’s method. He gives voice to his character Konstantin (Joel
Horwood). Konstantin Treplyov is a new age idealist fuelling the fire of a theatrical revolution
and railing against the conventional
practice of his famous actress mother Irina ( a flamboyant and intriguingly
nuanced performance by Karen Vickery).
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| Amy Kowalczuk as Polina and Meaghan Stewart as Masha |
Vickery’s translation gives
licence to the actors of Chaika Theatre to own and fully inhabit Chekov’s
characters as though fresh minted for our time, while still paying homage to
Stanislavski’s quest for presenting real
people in real circumstances on a modern stage. Director Caitlin Baker’s use of
the occasional anachronism may puzzle but they serve the purpose of relevance to
our time. As a doctor, working in the
regions and keenly observing the panorama of human experience and emotion,
Chekov’s The Seagull is a portrait of
longing, of vulnerability and failure, of fame and celebrity and the aching
agony of unrequited love and frustrated dreams.
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| Michael Sparks, James McMahon and Karen Vickery in Seagull |
Director Baker, assisted by Karen Vickery, has cast some of Canberra’s finest to bring Chekov’s characters to
life. Famous actress Irina returns to her country estate to attend her son’s
avant garde play, starring a wide eyed ingénue Nina (Natasha Vickery) who
dreams of becoming a famous actress. She
arrives with her lover Boris Trigorin a famous writer. The characters assemble
to see the play. Masha , in a riveting performance of a tortured soul by
Meaghan Stewart, is despairing of her unrequited love for Irina’s son
Konstantin. The local teacher Semyon (Cameron Thomas) is desperately in love
with Masha to no avail. Konstatin and and Nina are in love until Nina’s infatuation
with the famous writer Trigorin (a self-absorbed performance by James McMahon)
takes hold. Polina Shamrayev( a subtle and understated performance of a
downtrodden wife by Amy Kowalczuk) is married to the boorish property manager
(Arran McKenna) who treats her abominably. She seeks a desperate escape in the
arms of the village doctor, Yevgeny Dorn
(Michael Sparks). Dorn is a confirmed
bachelor whose life is littered with affairs and sympathetically but selfishly rejects
the attention by Amy and her daughter Masha. Arkadina’s brother Pyotr (
performed with a tone of weary resignation by Neil McLeod) is a retired judge
who desperately seeks new experiences as he faces encroaching age and failing
health..
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| Neil McLeod, Cameron Ryan and Joel Horwood in Seagull |
As Chekov's seagull Nina Zarechneya Natasha Vickery radiates a youthful
and exuberant passion and innocence in the site specific action of the first
act, set outside the ACT HUB venue on the grass and under a cold autumn night
sky. Be sure to wear warm clothing and bring a blanket . The setting is ideal
for the performance of Konstantin’s play by the lake, where he shoots a seagull
to later lay at Nina’s feet and provide inspiration for Trigorin’s prophetic
idea for a story. Nina is that seagull, a beautiful and free bird until she is
shot down by her love for Trigorin, her abandonment of Konstantin and her
flight to Moscow. This is her tragedy and Vickery charts her flight from
innocence in the natural environment to the destitution that she suffers after
her arrival in the big city. The second
act is played out in a domestic setting within the ACT HUB Theatre.
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| Joel Horwood as Konstantin Treplyov in Chaika Theatre's Seagull |
Horwood and Vickery powerfully
embody the struggle of a new generation confronted by the forces of the old
order and resistance to change. It is a lesson still to be learned in a modern
world of conflict and protest. Both Nina and Konstantin face the dilemma of
future possibility. Nina in spite of the tragic experience of her time in Moscow
staunchly pursues her dream. Konstantin, his spirit broken seeks the only
solace he can contemplate. Vickery’s translation is humanity in all its natural
aspects. Chaika Theatre has presented a Seagull that reverberates with Chekov’s
dream for a new theatre while empathizing with those trapped within an old
order. He died in 1901 before that new order came to his country and before
Chaika Theatre could pay homage in this wonderful production to the gift to
theatre of Anton Chekov and Konstantin Stanislavski’s Moscow Art Theatre. Be
sure to rug up against the cold during the first act and catch Chaika’s Seagull at ACT HUB before the 21st
April.
Photos by Jane Duong
