REVIEW What: The Seagull Where and when: Aotea Centre, to Aug 26 Reviewer: Shannon Huse
KEY POINTS:
The Royal Shakespeare Company's King Lear is driving all the hype about their visit to New Zealand, but Chekhov's The Seagull deserves just as many accolades. With passionate and compelling performances, rock solid direction and a rollicking pace, this production is everything you would expect from such a renowned theatre company.
Set on a Russian country estate, The Seagull is the story of aging actress Arkadina, her young son, Konstantin, and their relatives and lovers.
With his strong female characters, focus on relationships, and a propensity to have action offstage, it is tempting to describe Chekhov as the author of the first soap operas. But he is much more than that and, as RSC director Trevor Nunn says, it is Chekhov's abilities as a poet, symbolist, philosopher and satirist that makes this play a classic.
The description "classic" can conjure up thoughts of a stuffy and inaccessible piece with English actors behaving very properly. Not so in this production, which is not only accessible but very "Russian" with barely repressed passions, romantic philosophising, grand gesturing and a little vodka drinking.
A great example is the "stolen kiss" between Nina and Trigorin that ends Act III - less a chaste peck and more an erotic devouring, most obviously a precursor to a passionate affair.
All this passion and pace is thanks to Nunn, who commissioned a new translation of the original and then worked hard to ensure it was fresh and contemporary while still honouring Chekhov's intentions.
In this production he proves he is not only a masterful adaptor but an impressive director.
Every one of the ensemble of 21 performs perfectly and in every scene they are beautifully positioned on the stage.
While the skill and depth of talent of all the players is one of the most enjoyable aspects of the production, it is the performances of the leads that truly excite - especially the women actors who really make The Seagull their own, particularly Frances Barber, who is in great scene-stealing form.
Her Arkadina is the embodiment of a woman you would love to hate - rapacious, revolting and ravishing all in one train-wreck compelling package.
Romola Garai makes naivety look luminescent and it was tragic to witness her descent into madness - but at times her Nina was annoyingly gauche.
Monica Dolan was wonderful as the depressed Masha, playing all her character quirks perfectly and getting the right balance between tragedy and comedy.
Rounding out the female leads was Melanie Jessop with her suitably brittle Polina.
In the male roles, Sir Ian McKellen proves true the old saying that "there are no small parts, only small actors" with a nicely comic and doddery showing as Sorin.
None of the male characters are particularly virtuous and all the actors capture their flaws. Gerald Kyd manages to be both swoon-worthy and dastardly as Trigorin, while Richard Goulding's Konstantin is brattish, pitiable but somehow still appealing.
Jonathan Hyde's Dorn perfectly captures the contradiction of the doctor's service to others with his inability to make a commitment in his private life.
Also enjoyable was Ben Meyjes' schoolteacher Medvedenko who, as Oscar Wilde once said, "knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing".
Overall, the design is of a high standard but there were a few little niggles, including a lacklustre sound design and a scrubby painted backdrop.
The beautifully detailed costumes and props were highlights as were the giant silver birch trees which sit centre stage as silent witnesses to the unfolding human turmoil.
Like the bird of its title, The Seagull manages to be both ordinary and extraordinary at the same time and it's a rare pleasure indeed to watch it swoop and soar.
