The Seagull (RSAMD 2009)

In the interests, of switching things up a bit, let's have a blog about the theatre!

Along with Harry and Chris, I went to see the 3rd year actors' production of The Seagull, Anton Chekhov's first full play. I was especially pleased since it gave me the chance to see what I'd studied at great length at school - we had looked specifically at how Chekhov's plays influenced the Moscow Art Theatre and Stanislavski's practices, and I wanted to know whether they had decided to go down the 'system' route or were going at it differently. As it turns out, it was more Hamlet era MAT than early MAT.

The actors were all very good, though I would say that a few would be better suited to on-screen acting than onstage. One in particular struggled vocally, and while that could be because of illness or strain, it was a shame - it sounded as if she had dropped her vocal range by about an octave in order to project, which really isn't the point at all. Another, I think needed to delineate herself and her character more clearly, but then she had the challenge of playing an actress, which is deceptively tricky. Kostya, his mother and uncle were especially strong: absorbing stage presences and consistent physically and vocally. Masha was a tad over the top, but then it's in the character's nature to be hysterical; perhaps my taking against the character was intentional? As an ensemble, they gelled very well - the collective scenes felt very realistic, and I liked the little touches of background activity even while the focus was on a smaller group.

I almost don't want to say it, but I think the star of the show may well have been TPA. Well done you guys! The set was ingenious and meticulously detailed - I loved the way they had cabinets and the things on them separate by fixing plates, ornaments etc onto boards which then slotted into the furniture. The problem of one floor surface needing to serve as both indoors and outside was met with a very clever melding of wooden boards into bark chips, and an overall design style which was far enough into representational to make that work. My absolute favourite thing, though, was the change that occurred between Act 3 and 4 during the interval - what better metaphor is there for the change undergone by the characters than the destruction of the set and the opening up of the wings? It was bold, inspired, and quite possibly the best piece of set design I've seen since Black Watch's pool table.

The only real downside to the evening was the lack of legroom - they may have just redone the Athanaeum, but they designed the seating for people with very short legs indeed, and this is coming from me, so that shows you just how cramped we're talking here.