The Seagull to the Moscow Art Theatre; Constantin Stanislavski stands behind his left shoulder.” width=“540” height=“361” />
Theatre UCSB will present a new adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s watershed play, The Seagull, starting at 8 p.m. Friday in the Performing Arts Theatre on campus.
Libby Appel, artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (1995-2007), made the adaptation from a literal translation by Allison Horsley. Appel’s son, Irwin Appel, of the UCSB Drama/Dance faculty, will direct. The production’s scenic designs are by UCSB student designer Erinn McGrew, costumes are by faculty member Ann Bruice, and lighting by faculty member Vickie J. Scott. The Seagull stars Lydia Benko, Angela Chandra, Charlie Faith, Joelle Golda, Sean Harrigan, Matt Horn, Merlin Huff, Natasha Lloyd, Sam Posey, Annabelle Rollison, Michael Ruesga, David Santana and Robert Torres.
Chekhov (1860-1904) bought the small country estate of Melikhovo, 40 miles south of Moscow, in 1892, and had a lodge built there, in the middle of a cherry orchard. The lodge had only three rooms, one with only a bed, another with only a writing table and chair. By this time, he had written nine plays, but none between 1891 and 1896. In October 1895 he wrote to a friend: “I am writing a play which I shall probably not finish before the end of November. I am writing it not without pleasure, though I swear fearfully at the conventions of the stage. 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.”
The new play was, of course, The Seagull, and, eventually, it changed the face of drama. The first performance, however, was a disaster, and while the initial production recovered its confidence and finished its run in the black, the play did not become a seismic event in the theater world until two years later, when Constantin Stanislavski and his legendary Moscow Art Theatre took up Chekhov and made him their house deity. The Moscow Art Theatre production of The Seagull (1898), with Stanislavski himself as Trigorin, signaled a new era in world drama. Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard followed, in rapid succession, before the playwright’s tuberculosis put a period on his labors.
Now, Chekhov himself called The Seagull “a comedy,” but this apparently references a rather esoteric definition of the term — one that includes much callused indifference, multiple broken hearts, a good deal of frustration, and two suicide attempts. So, I wouldn’t expect a “laff riot.” The main theme of the play is neatly summed up by the J. Geils Band in their song, “Love Stinks”: “You love her / But she loves him / And he loves somebody else / You just can’t win …”
If you can put yourself there — and who can’t? — the greatness of The Seagull is not all that elusive. You just have to pay attention and care about what happens.
The Seagull performs at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and Feb. 17-21; and at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and Feb. 21. Remember that, in Performing Arts Theatre, there is no late seating. Tickets are $17 general admission, $13 for students and seniors. Click here for tickets or call 805.893.7221, or buy them at the door.
Gerald Carpenter covers the arts as a Noozhawk contributor.