The Seagull Leila George - Nina
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Cast featuring: Black Swan State Theatre Company Adam Booth - Medvedenko presents Rebecca Davis - Masha The Seagull Leila George - Nina By Anton Chekhov (in a new adaptation by Hilary Bell, by arrangement with Michael Loney - Sorin the State Theatre Company of South Australia) Andrew McFarlane - Dr Dorn 9 – 31 August Luke McMahon - Konstantin The lives of unforgettable characters, including Greg McNeill - Shamrayev the famous novelist Trigorin, the celebrated actress Arkadina, her son Konstantin and the Sarah McNeill - Polina young Nina, unfold in Chekhov’s work of genius. Greta Scacchi - Arkadina The Seagull is about the stories we craft out of our dreams and disappointments, about love in Director: Kate Cherry all its guises and about artists who behave just like everyone else – only a little bit more so! Assistant Director: Jeffrey Jay Fowler Tender and humorous, this play is for anyone touched by love, or anyone who harbours a Set and Costume Designer: secret passion for Who magazine. A passionate, Fiona Bruce delightful, infuriating diva brings her entourage home to the family estate, and nothing will ever Lighting Designer: be the same again. Jon Buswell Glittering with style, talent and passion, Emmy and AFI Award-winning and Sound Designer: Golden Globe and BAFTA Award-nominated Greta Scacchi brings Arkadina Ash Gibson Greig to life. Movement Director: Chrissie Parrott Fight Director: Andy Fraser Duration: 2h 40mins (inc. interval) Warning: Adult themes, smoking. Venue: Heath Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Centre of WA Tickets: Tickets $27.90 - $83.90 Tickets through ticketek.com.au, Ticketek outlets or 1300 795 012 Groups 8+ 1300 364 001 [*A service/delivery fee also applies] Please note there is a High Tea on Saturday 16 August @ 1pm $48 Media Enquiries: Irene Jarzabek, Publicist, Black Swan State Theatre Company Tel: +61 8 9430 8134 mob +61 419 192 140 Email: [email protected] or [email protected] Web: www.bsstc.com.au About Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was born in the small seaport of Taganrog, Ukraine on January 29th in the year 1860. Today he is remembered as a playwright and one of the masters of the modern short story. He was the son of a grocer and the grandson of a serf who had bought his freedom, and that of his sons, 19 years earlier. Chekhov spent his early years under the shadow of his father's religious fanaticism while working long hours in his store. Chekhov attended a school for Greek boys in his hometown from 1867-1868 and later he attended the local grammar school from 1868 -1876 when his father went bankrupt and moved the family to Moscow. Chekhov, only 16 at the time, decided to remain in his hometown and supported himself by tutoring as he continued his schooling for 3 more years. After he finished grammar school Chekhov enrolled in the Moscow University Medical School, where he would eventually become a doctor. Chekhov's medical and science experience is evident in much of his work as evidenced by the apathy many of his characters show towards tragic events. While attending medical school Chekhov began to publish comic short stories and used the money to support himself and his family and by 1886 he had gained wide fame as a writer. Chekhov's works were published in various St. Petersburg papers, including Peterburskaia Gazeta from 1885, and Novoe Vremia from 1886. Chekhov also published two full-length novels during this time, one of which, The Shooting Party, was translated into English in 1926. Chekhov graduated from medical school in 1884 and he practiced medicine until 1892. While practicing medicine in 1886 he became a regular contributor to St. Petersburg daily Novoe Vremia and it was during this time that he developed his style of the dispassionate, non-judgmental author. The lack of critical social commentary in Chekhov's works netted him some detractors, but it gained him the praise of such authors as Leo Tolstoy and Nikolai Leskov. Chekhov was awarded the Pushkin Prize in 1888. The next year he was elected a member of the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature. However after the failure of his play The Wood Demon (1889) he withdrew from literature for a while. Instead he turned back to medicine and science in his trip to the penal colony of Sakhalin, north of Siberia. While there, he surveyed 10,000 convicts sentenced to life on the island as part of his doctoral research. When finished, he travelled extensively, including such places as South East Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, and the Middle East. In 1892 Chekhov bought an estate in the country village of Melikhove and became a full time writer. It was during this time that he published some of his most memorable stories including 'Neighbors' (1892), 'Ward Number Six' (1892), 'The Black Monk' (1894), 'The Murder' (1895) and 'Ariadne' (1895). In 1897 he fell ill with tuberculosis moved to Yalta, while he wrote his famous stories 'The Man in a Shell,' 'Gooseberries,' 'About Love,' 'Lady with the Dog' and 'In the Ravine.' In 1901 Chekhov finally married actress, Olga Knipper, who had performed in his plays. But their bliss would be short lived, Chekhov died on July 15, 1904, in Badenweiler, Germany. He is buried in the cemetery of the Novodeviche Monastery in Moscow. Though a celebrated figure by the Russian literary public at the time of his death, Chekhov remained rather unknown internationally until the years after World War I, when his works were translated into English. As a writer Chekhov was extremely fast, often producing a short story in an hour or less, overall during his career he authored several hundred stories. He didn't have as much success with his plays - the early ones were failures and it wasn't until The Seagull was revised in 1898 by Stanislavsky at the Moscow Art Theatre that he gained popularity as a playwright. Source: http://www.online-literature.com/anton_chekhov/ Written in 1895 PLOT The Seagull by Anton Chekhov is a slice-of-life drama set in the Russian Set in Russian countryside at countryside at the end of the 19th century. The cast of characters is the end of 19th Century. dissatisfied with their lives. Some desire love. Some desire success. Some desire artistic genius. No one, however, ever seems to attain happiness. First produced in 1896, in Scholars have often said that Chekhov’s plays are not plot driven. Instead, St Petersburg. the plays are character studies designed to create a specific mood. Some critics view The Seagull as a tragic play about eternally unhappy people. Inspired by a real-life incident Others see it as a humorous albeit bitter satire, poking fun at human folly. of the death of a seagull. The play focuses on the romantic entanglements and the qualms of a group First of Chekhov’s major plays of writers, artists and actors who have gathered on a lakeside estate in that include Uncle Vanya 1896, Russia. With each of the tragic characters displaying a personal hurt, the The Three Sisteres 1901 and play is considered to be one of theatre’s greatest. Skillfully portraying the The Cherry Orchard 1904. fulfillment as well as disappointments of life, all the dramatic elements have been kept off stage, which is quite unlike other plays of that time which were Emphasizes characters more much more melodramatic. than plot The Seagull takes place at the estate of retired judge Peter Sorin. His sister, Introduced the technique of Irina Arkadina, a glamorous, selfish actress, is visiting with her lover, the indirect action: whereby violent successful writer Boris Trigorin. Irina's twenty-five-year-old son, Konstantin, or intensely dramatic events a writer, lives on the estate with his uncle. occur offstage. Also present are Eugene Dorn, a middle-aged doctor, and Ilia Shamrayev, Chekhov had very definite Sorin's estate manager, along with his wife, Polina, and their melancholy notions of what dramatic art daughter, Masha. Simon Medvedenko, a teacher, who is in love with Masha, ought to be. who in turn is in love with Konstantin, who loves Nina Zarietchnaya, an aspiring young actress. His approach to drama has been described as ‘realistic’. Konstantin, a zealous proponent of new dramatic forms that are abundantly expressive, socially relevant, and lacking in artifice, has written a play and Chekhov has said himself that stages it for his mother's benefit during her visit; Nina is featured in a major he wanted to depict ‘real life’ as role. During the performance, Irina refuses to take her son's play seriously it is lived by ordinary people. and keeps interrupting. Nina is impressed by Trigorin's reputation and becomes infatuated with him. Konstantin, depressed by his inability to inspire ‘A play should be written in love in either his mother or Nina, shoots a seagull and brings it to Nina, which people arrive, go away, claiming that he will soon take his own life as well. have dinner, talk about the weather and play cards. Life Overhearing this exchange, Trigorin sees in it material for a story; he tells must be exactly as it is and Nina that the incident illustrates how human beings can be casually people as they are – not on destructive, and that he sees her as a seagull endangered by callous men. stilts… Nina and Trigorin begin an affair, and she will eventually join him in Moscow. Konstantin shoots himself but is only superficially wounded, and he and his Let everything on the stage be mother soon resume their bickering. just as complicated and at the same time just as simple as it is The play's final act takes place several years later.