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THE SEAGULL
The original avant-garde, dysfunctional-family dramedy
By JONATHAN DONALDSON
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When Anton Chekhov's The Seagull debuted in 1896, it was initially a disaster, as Chekhov suspected it would be. Audiences were not ready for the open-ended plot, nuanced characters and the self-conscious dialogue. The Seagull is, among other things, a fragile examination of art's purpose and our own motivations for creating it and appreciating it.
As American Repertory Theatre founding member Karen MacDonald says: "You can't play an ideal. You can't play an icon. You have to be a human being onstage." MacDonald stars in director János Szász's humanistic and dark rendering as Irína Arkádina, an older, elegant, famous actress who, along with her famous novelist lover and her son, has retreated from city life to her country estate. "It really is about a family and it really is about a mother and son that have a hard time with their relationships," says MacDonald. "Chekhov was interested in the real truth with what is going on with people."
The Seagull opens with a play within a play, written by Arkádina's son, Konstantín, a tortured young writer aspiring to create new dramatic forms. Konstantín's avant-garde play stars Nína, a beautiful girl from the country and herself an aspiring actress. The play is met coolly by his mother and her lover, Trigórin, a duo whom Konstantín views as an established cartel—making their own rules about what is good or bad in art. This reaction sets the wheels of good old-fashioned family dysfunction into motion.
The son loves the beautiful young actress and hates Trigórin. As everyone slips into fragile psychological places, Trigórin seduces the beautiful young actress in the throes of what we now call a midlife crisis. "He keeps [Irína] feeling like she's still young and still vital, sexy, interesting. Slowly but surely, down it goes—then the young girl comes into the picture," says MacDonald. "It goes without saying that it is interesting to be a woman of a certain age playing this character of a certain age, who's an actress."
We know what makes family dramas funny now, but what made them funny then? "The tendency is for people to think that they're the only human being who has ever experienced these kind of situations, but they're not," says MacDonald. "I think the humor of Chekhov is that humor of recognition. I had that exact same scene over Christmas with my brother or my son."
Well, sort of.
THE SEAGULL
SATURDAY 1.10.09-SUNDAY 2.1.09
AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATRE
LOEB DRAMA CENTER
64 BRATTLE ST.
HAVARD SQ., CAMBRIDGE
617.547.8300
TUE-THU/7:30PM, FRI-SAT/8PM
SAT-SUN/2PM, SUN 7:30PM
ALL AGES/$25-$79
AMREP.ORG/SEAGULL
