THE SEAGULL. To 17 March.
London.
THE SEAGULL
by Anton Chekhov new version by Christopher Hampton from a literal translation by Vera Lieber.
Royal Court (Jerwood Theatre Downstairs) To 17 March 2007.
Mon-Fri 7.30pm Mat Sat & 1, 8 15 Feb, 1, 8, 15 March 2.30pm no performance 12, 26 Feb, 12 March.
Audio-described 17 Feb 2.30pm.
BSL Signed 8 Feb 7.30pm.
Runs 2hr 50min One interval.
TICKETS: 020 7565 5000.
www.royalcourttheatre.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 3 February.
A play about people, players and playwrights successfully rounds-off a distinguished Royal Court regime.
Ian Rickson’s productive Royal Court regime has included brand new plays and writers, plus dramas new to England. He leaves with this no-prisoners production of a new version of Chekhov by Christopher Hampton, who made his own name young at the Court 40 years ago.
The Seagull is in part about new drama and the nature of literary success. Prominent among its characters are two very different writers, the effective, successful Trigorin, and the effortful, experimental Konstantin. And two women actors, the established star Arkadina (Konstantin’s mother) and young Nina. The older woman is a tank-full of stage effects, as Kristin Scott Thomas makes clear, while Nina struggles to find truth behind the quick solutions of stage-trickery.
Two characters wander over the stage before a word’s spoken. The first sentence is interrupted by the person listening to it. It could be a long evening. But Rickson provides freshly-thought detail within an underlying pulse that keeps characters’ development moving forward.
Mackenzie Crook’s glum Konstantin’s a young artist who takes his experiments seriously, and whose inability to express his love to young neighbour Nina is not only the result of her indifference or youthful nerves. Repeatedly, his mother’s thoughtless put-downs, part of her self-obsession, betray the self-uncertainty bred into the young man.
This Arkadina’s the consummate actress, able to fake sincerity perfectly. She does so to recapture her lover Trigorin’s affections, mock-swooning into his arms and letting him hear her announce she’s got him back. And she believes her own publicity about her hard life.
As Trigorin, Chiwetel Ejiofor achieves the tough task of effortlessness. He drifts and comments on his situation; Trigorin’s lack of will has rarely been so languidly manifest, unlike so many Trigorins who complain self-consciously. It’s a powerful performance that seems to have no power.
Fine work from Paul Jesson’s estate-manager, trying his awkward hand at bluff humour, Katherine Parkinson’s Masha (sharp, and not overdoing the drink problem), Pearce Quigley’s Medvedenko, who rightly is there but simultaneously unnoticed and Peter Wight’s excellent Sorin. Carey Mulligan’s fresh, energetic and ever-searching Nina is a fine achievement in this distinguished company.
Polina: Denise Black.
Konstantin: Mackenzie Crook.
Trigorin: Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Shamrayev: Paul Jesson.
Dorn: Art Malik.
Nina: Carey Mulligan.
Yakov: Christopher Patrick Nolan.
Medvedenko: Pearce Quigley.
Masha: Katherine Parkinson.
Maid: Mary Rose.
Arkadina: Kristin Scott Thomas.
Sorin: Peter Wight.
Director: Ian Rickson.
Designer: Hildegard Bechtler.
Lighting: Peter Mumford.
Sound: Ian Dickinson.
Composer: Stephen Warbeck.
Company voice work: Patsy Rodenburg.
Assistant director: Jaqueline Rice.
Assistant designer: Luke Smith.
2007-02-08 00:50:48