The Seagull
Opening Night: October 2, 2008
Closing: December 21, 2008
Theater: Walter Kerr Theater
Kristin Scott Thomas reprises her Olivier Award-winning role of Arkadina in the critically acclaimed Royal Court Theatre production of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull. The production, featuring a new version by Christopher Hampton, is directed by Ian Rickson. The play concerns the romantic entanglements and regrets of a group of actors, writers and artists gathered on a Russian estate. One of the theatre’s great plays about writing, The Seagull conveys the struggle for new forms and the frustrations and fulfillment of putting words on a page.
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October 3, 2008
Silence is never empty in Ian Rickson’s magnificent production of “The Seagull,” which opened Thursday night at the Walter Kerr Theater. When a hush descends on Chekhov’s restless country estate dwellers — as it often does, abrupt and unbidden — the air remains alive with crosscurrents of thought, clashing chords of longing and the steady thrum of time passing. Brought to life by a superlative ensemble led by Kristin Scott Thomas, the thwarted souls of “The Seagull” are as self-revealing in frozen speechlessness as they are in frantic flights of conversation.
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April 22, 2014
The symbolic bird killed by brooding writer Konstantin in "The Seagull" returns to Ian Rickson’s production in the shattering final scene, stuffed and mounted in a glass display case. But the director, adaptor Christopher Hampton and their fine ensemble have achieved a complete reversal of the taxidermist’s approach, injecting startling vitality, immediacy and infinite nuance into Chekhov’s 1895 play.
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April 22, 2014
If you’re a fan of Chekhov’s writing and Peter Sarsgaard’s acting, you face a serious dilemma this fall.
READ THE REVIEWApril 22, 2014
The disappointed souls who populate "The Seagull," Anton Chekhov’s exquisite tale of regret by way of ill-fated romance, have never looked or, what is more important, sounded better.
READ THE REVIEWApril 22, 2014
A barren stage with several languid trees and a few boarded up windows somewhere in the Russian countryside. This dismal opening image gives way to a handful of equally listless, gaunt figures who move somberly among the empty space, setting the tone for director Ian Rickson’s near-flawless revival of Chekhov’s The Seagull, which opened this evening at the Walter Kerr Theatre.
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