The Seagull

A play ought to be written in which people should come and go, dine, talk of the weather or play cards... because that is what happens in real life - Anton Chekhov

Chekhov demolished the conventions of traditional Russian theatre and created something new that proved hugely influential. His aim was to create a slice of life with naturalistic settings, mundane conversation and acting that brought the everyday on stage.

The Seagull, 1895, is the first of his four major plays. The four main characters, guests on a tranquil estate in the Russian countryside, are Nina, a beautiful young actress who can't act; Konstantin, a talentless playwright, and his mother Irina Arkadina, a fading theatrical diva; finally, there is successful writer of middling books, Boris Trigorin. Konstantin shoots a seagull and, much to her horror and disgust, gives it to Nina as the set-up becomes a recipe for romantic and artistic fallings-out, compounded when they all meet up a second time.

Although Chekhov called this a comedy, there's nothing cheerful here. By always snatching at love and success, his characters block out happiness; the author is satirizing human foibles which we soon recognize in ourselves. When the play was first performed, it was booed off stage. In 1898, after the production by Stanislavski that marked the birth of modern theatre, it became a major triumph and Chekhov took his place in history.