Reviewed Tuesday 25th February 2014
Since Geordie Brookman took over as the Artistic Director of the State Theatre Company of South Australia its fortunes have greatly improved, due in no small measure to the focus on the best of South Australian directors, actors, and production designers and crew. The latest production, which forms a part of the Adelaide Festival, is
Anton Chekhov's black comedy,
The Seagull, in a new adaptation by writer, Hilary Bell, directed by Brookman, and featuring some of Adelaide's favourite and most talented performers. In short, it is a triumph.
Aging actress, Irina Nikolayevna Arkadina, is visiting her brother, Pjotr Nikolayevich Sorin, and her son, Konstantin Gavrilovich Tréplev, with a well know writer, Boris Alexeyevich Trigorin, as her companion. Konstantin fancies himself as a playwright, and has written a piece to feature his love, Nina Mikhailovna Zarechnaya. When he presents his play his mother interrupts and ridicules it for its incomprehensive symbolist style, humiliating him.
Also present are Ilya Afanasyevich Shamrayev, who manages Sorin's estate, and his wife, Polina Andryevna. Their daughter, Masha, is in love with Konstantin, but that love is not returned as he loves Nina. The doctor, Yevgeny Sergeyevich Dorn, and a teacher, Semyon Semyonovich Medvedenko, also see the play performed. While the others make fun of it, Dorn finds merit in it and encourages Konstantin.
From there, the tale becomes a twisted mess of unrequited love as people fall in love with one another, desert people whom had previously been involved with, and settle for somebody who they do not love, as the one that they want does not want them. It appears that none of these flawed individuals achieves their goals, whether romantic or otherwise.
Xavier Samuel, taking time out from appearing in such films as
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,
Anonymous,
Drift, and numerous others, takes on the role of Konstantin. He brings a highly complex reading to the role, embracing his character's insecurities, depression, and frustrations, his emotional torments displayed in his performance, sometimes as an outburst, sometimes as a subtle exposition, and sometimes with a silence that chills.
As his mother, the self-centred Arkadina, Rosalba Clemente presents a formidable character, bombastic, controlling, throwing the occasional tantrum, and expecting to be adored by all around her. Clemente gives a bravura performance in the role, embracing every aspect of the actress clinging to her past triumphs from her effusive cheerfulness, as she carelessly berates others, to her darker moments when things go against her.
Paul Blackwell plays her ailing brother, Sorin, in yet another superb performance that makes one glad that he is now playing more dramatic, character parts, albeit that he is also a great comic actor. His presence is always felt when he is on stage, even attracting occasional glances when Sorin is asleep and motionless during a powerful scene between Nina and Konstantin.
Renato Musolino plays Arkadina's lover, Trigorin, beautifully conveying the detached observer who, like
Christopher Isherwood who insisted "I am a camera", is not quite as detached an observer as he would prefer to consider himself, pushed and pulled by Arkadina's strong hold on him, and his infatuation with Nina. Musolino, finds plenty of depth in the role and exhibits his inner turmoil, hidden much of the time below a placid exterior.
As Nina, Lucy Fry, portrays a bright, enthusiastic and energetic young woman, with a thirst to experience new things and embrace new ideas. She gives her character a marvellous youthful exuberance that then allows her to swing to the other end of the emotional range in the final act when Nina returns, two years later, and encounters Konstantin once again in one of the most intense scenes that I have seen in my decades of reviewing.
Matilda Bailey plays Masha with inner power and a dangerous characterisation, bringing a darkness and barely controlled anger to the role, indicating that, although she is accepting of the fact that she is rejected, and condemns herself to a loveless marriage, the fires still rage beneath the surface.
Matthew Gregan provides the music, some it his own compositions, and also takes the role of Medvedenko, the rather dull and ineffectual teacher, whom Masha eventually agrees to marry. His wonderful characterisation is a careful balance between being sexually unappealing to the women around him, but not so boring as to be incapable of them accepting him as a friend.
Terence Crawford plays Dorn, the doctor, in another fine performance that shows an understanding of the role and the play, as his character supports several others, trying to maintain peace, and hiding his own feelings for Nina.
Ilya Shamrayev, and his wife, Polina are played by Chris Pitman and Lizzy Falkland and, even in these smaller roles, there has been no skimping, with two more of Adelaide's top performers giving excellent performances and contributing a great deal to the production.
This play is very much an ensemble piece, and the cast of this production become a very tight ensemble indeed but, more importantly, the characters tend to talk around things, rather than directly about them, and finding and bringing out that subtext is a credit to cast and director alike. What is also very striking, is Brookman's magnificent understanding and use of pauses and silences, of varying pace, and light and shade.
Geoff Cobham designed both set and lights. The Scenic Workshop has been arranged with tiered seating on either side of a long expanse of stage, with a raised section at either end, one end initially used as the stage for Konstantin's play with the play. Cobham lights this long stage using a clever mix of conventional and innovative lighting sources and techniques. Ailsa Paterson's costume design fits the bill beautifully, adding a cherry on the cake.
This is the first of my Adelaide Festival reviews, and my first review of a State Theatre production for this year. If this is any indication of what to expect from both, then there is much to look forward to. Make sure that you get tickets to this, as theatre doesn't get much better.
Photo: Kris Washusen
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