It was one of the hottest evenings of the year and a full house was watching Phyllis Nagy’s new version of Chekhov’s “The Seagull”, based on a literal translation by Helen Molchanoff, a play full of philosophical eulogies of life and love. The point of the play seemed very distant during Acts I and II and was no doubt due, somewhat, to the heat, but also to the slow pace and seemingly disjointed storyline.

The action revolves around a disconnected family who have gathered around the lakeside at the country house of a family friend Sorin (Desmond Barrit), to watch a new play on a makeshift stage. The play, written by Konstantin (Ed Stoppard), an ambitious young author who lives at the house, has Nina (Alexandra Moen) an aspiring actress who lives across the lake, acting out life in a most bizarre fashion. Sheila Gish, who has just recovered from the removal of a cancerous tumour from her face and now wears an eye patch, is the young playwright’s mother, Arkadina a famous Moscow actress. Konstantin feels that he cannot live up to his mother’s reputation and expectations or those of her playwright friend Trigorin (Philip Quast). He becomes distraught at the slightest criticism of his plays.

As the story unfolds we realise that everyone has fallen in love with the wrong person; of course. Konstantin loves Nina who loves Trigorin, Arkadina’s partner. Masha, who mourned her life by dressing in black, (Kay Curram) loves Konstantin, but marries the local school teacher, Medvedenko (Jonathan Cullen). Nina leaves the place of her childhood and follows Trigorin to Moscow, bears his child which dies, and two years later returns penniless. She still refuses Konstantin’s advances and he subsequently shoots himself; end of play.

Acts III and IV moved at a quicker pace, however there were still slow parts. But what is the significance of the seagull in all this discussion about life and love? Near the end of Act II Konstantin presents a dead seagull, which he has shot, to Nina. She is mystified by the gift so he explains that he believes the life and death of the seagull mirrors our own life and loves. Do you get it?.

A note from the theatre advertising programme states: “Chekhov’s first great comedy yearns for change, for a new way of looking at the world, for a new way of falling in love. It revolutionised the Theatre and heralded a new era”. For my part I didn’t find it funny and the ideas did not inspire me. Several around me were asleep and the audience very quiet, perhaps like me, wondering what it was all about. There was a section however that did spot the jokes, but as it was a first night with many stage friends in attendance perhaps the play was required reading at RADA and all was explained.

The set of the play was, as is usual at Chichester, very simple. Acts I and II revolved around a lakeside stage on Sorin’s estate, built from duck boards with water underneath it in keeping with the year’s Venetian theme. In Acts III and IV, two years later, that stage became a dining-room where once again all the characters were visiting Sorin and individually continued to explore their view of life and love. © JMB

“The Seagull” is at Chichester from the 1st of August until the 4th of October, 2003.