- The Stage Review
The Seagull
- Stratford-upon-Avon
-
- Peter Gill's new adaptation of this play at the Swan
Theatre
- brings an ease, freshness and fluency to the text that makes
it
- wholly of our time and draws out an unexpected well of
humour.
-
- It is the perfect vehicle for Penelope Wilton's
manipulative
- Arkadina, lobbing her barbed, dismissive remarks around
like
- grenades and going for the jugular with a radiant smile.
-
- She is a catalyst in her every appearance, pricking the bubble
of
- any seriousness or melancholy, and is only totally sincere for
one
- fleeting moment, when she rocks Konstantin on her knee like
a
- baby.
-
- John Light's youthful and anguished Konstantin is well
matched
- by Justine Waddell as Nina, first comic and then tragic in
her
- intensity. Richard Pasco, as the ageing Sorin, shows a
disarming
- seriousness.
-
- Adrian Noble's direction brings out strong echoes of Hamlet,
with
- a wall mirror at the rear of the stage reflecting the action
in
- miniature to produce a play within a play.
-
- Most haunting of all is Act IV, set in dim candlelight and
sighing
- wind. The dinner party which takes place while Konstantin
and
- Nina have their long, final exchange is tantalisingly visible
and
- audible though glass doors - a warm, lamplit scene that
throws
- the pair's isolation and impending tragedy into sharper
relief.
-
- Merlin Shepherd's music, with a strong element of gypsy
violin, is
- exquisitely played by Steve Bentley-Klein. This RSC
production
- may be the perfect vehicle to convert anyone who
considers
- Chekhov wearisome.
-
- By Pat Ashworth
-
-
- Published 10 February 2000