INTRODUCTION
A family gathers at the lakeside to watch a new play. Afterwards nothing will be the same again.
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.

(Source: Festival programme)

SYNOPSIS
In the garden of Sorin's estate, the private premiere of an avant-garde theater piece takes place. It is written by Konstantin (Ed Stoppard) and performed by Nina (Alexandra Moen), the woman with whom he is in love, but who loves Trigorin (Philip Quast), a successful writer who is having an affair with Konstantin's mother, Arkadina (Sheila Gish). Arkadina disrupts the performance and Konstantin, humiliated, runs off.

Masha (Kay Curram), Shamrayeff's daughter, confesses her love for Konstantin to Dr. Dorn (Michael Feast). At a picnic, Konstantin appears with a seagull he has shot and lays it at Nina's feet. He is bitter about the failure of his play as well as Nina's coolness towards him. He leaves upon seeing Trigorin, who then tries to deflect Nina's adoration.

In Sorin's (Desmond Barrit) dining room, a drunken Masha confesses to Trigorin that she has decided to marry Medvedenko, a schoolteacher. Trigorin decides to leave. Arkadina, alone with Konstanin, helps bandage a wound on his head from a suicide attempt. Konstantin berates his mother about her involvement with Trigorin, who is too cowardly to accept Konstantin's challenge to a duel and who is becoming more involved with Nina.

Trigorin, cowed by Arkadina, agrees to leave with her immediately. Nina, too, announces that she is leaving for Moskow. Several years pass. In Sorin's study, Masha quarrels with Medvedenko. Arkadina returns from the station with Trigorin in tow. Konstantin meets them cooly and brings them to Sorin's place. Nina arrives secretly and Konstantin tells her he still loves her. She is still in love with Trigorin even though he abandoned her years ago.

Alone, Konstantin feeds his manuscripts into the fire and leaves. As the rest of the dinner party sits down to a game of Lotto, a shot is heard outside. Dr. Dorn goes outside to investigate and tells them it is only a bottle of ether that has exploded. Quietly, he pulls Trigorin aside and tells him what Arkadina has already sensed: that Konstantin has killed himself.

(Source: Opera America)

CHARACTER DESCRIPTION: Boris Alexeyevich Trigorin

Arkadina's lover, Trigorin, one of the four protagonists, is an esteemed Russian writer of fiction stories and novels. Like Arkadina, Trigorin is a member of the the elite Russian intelligensia and artistic community. He begins as a dutiful lover to Arkadina but becomes tempted by the youthful beauty, optimism, and flattery of Nina. Trigorin's favorite hobby is fishing. He is an obsessive- compulsive writer and somewhat aloof to the family and friends on the estate, preferring to observe the surroundings for details for his stories or fishing in the lake than gossiping, bragging, philosophizing, or playing parlor games. Trigorin feels that he lost out on his youth and on youthful romantic experiences because he was so busy trying to seek out a writing career for himself in those days. He uses this as an excuse for having the affair with Nina. Trigorin is not directly competitive with the jealous Treplev, but does not encourage him either. Trigorin often seems like a reluctant but acquiescing member of the clan.

(Source: Spark Notes by Barnes & Noble)

Ed Stoppard's father, the world-known playwright Tom Stoppard, is the author of another translation of Chekhov's Seagull (published in 2001 by Faber & Faber)

NOTE: All information on this page is reproduced by kind permission of the CFT Sales & Marketing Department.

QUICK FACTSHEET

During the Summer 2003 another production of The Seagull - directed by Peter Stein - was staged at the Edinburgh Festival (EIF), with Iain Glen in the role of Trigorin. Read a very interesting "parallel review" by Charles Spencer in the Daily Telegraph.

The stage in Act One...

...and in Act Two