Review - The Seagull: Accent On Youth

While it's exceedingly doubtful that Kristin Scott Thomas' Madame Arkadina could play a 15-year-old, as she famously claims in Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, a 25-year-old may not exactly be out of her range. With a whimsical eccentricity, sprightly manner and a knockout figure, this centerpiece of Ian Rickson's Royal Court production - visiting the Walter Kerr with a mixed cast of Brits and Yanks - is the most youthful presence on stage. And unlike many fine actresses who have played the role looking much older than the character's stated 43 years, her Arkadina is not a faded stage star looking foolish as she clings to a long-lost youth, but the hot mom of a 25-year-old who has little intention of aging into an adult.

With a brisk, naturally conversational translation by Christopher Hampton and many realistically humorous touches by director Rickson, this is a refreshingly light interpretation of the piece, best exemplified by Thomas' scene where the actress is overdramatically exposing her fear of inadequacy to her short-story writing lover Trigorin (Peter Sarsgaard). The physical extremes with which she shows her desperation are very funny, but they also are a sad example of how out of touch she is with honest emotions. The character's "performance" is most likely indicative of the type of theatre her troubled son Konstantin (Mackenzie Crook) is rebelling against with his clumsy, but undeniably sincere, abstract play. Crook nicely makes the lad the old soul of the piece, seeming to almost outage his mother by the play's end. And the evening is never sadder than when Thomas is putting up a cheery front while lost for a way to obliterate her son's deep depression.

The production is full of fine performances by the crisp ensemble. It's not a backhanded compliment to say that Sarsgaard succeeds very well in making Trigorin appropriately bland; attractive in a safe and predictable way, just as one might describe the man's writing. His self-loathing is sincere and frankly justifiable. As presented by Carey Mulligan, Nina's transition from a high-spirited youth to a cynical, failed actress heats up the stage, particularly in her forceful reunion with Konstantin. Zoe Kazan adds another memorable performance to her quickly growing New York stage resume of troubled and troublemaking young women as a stylishly tragic Masha. With her wry, erudite attitude, a cigarette in one hand and an ever-refilled glass of vodka in the other she seems ready to take on the pre-revolutionary Russian equivalent of an Edward Albee drama.

Save for Nina's flowing white summer dresses, set and costume designer Hildegard Bechtler dresses the production in mostly dark, but never drab, hues. Upstage, the tall, imposing side of estate's house helps give the outdoor scenes a claustrophobic feel and the numerous tree stumps that make up Konstantin's theatre slyly reference a comment made on culture's decline. Sound designer Ian Dickinson does excellent work providing natural outdoor sounds and subtly bringing in Stephen Warbeck's evocative minimalist compositions.

For a play about finding fresh new directions in theatre, this production shows that fresh new directions can sometimes be found in an over one hundred year old classic.