Review - The Seagull: Art Isn't Easy

Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, as anyone who has ever committed suicide will tell you, is a comedy. Maybe not as reflective a comedy as set designer Santo Loquasto's mirrored floor would suggest, but Russian director Vlachesalv Dolgachev's new production at Classic Stage Company neatly balances the humorous with the somber and, despite a few stumbles along the way, turns out to be a rather enjoyable and swift-moving three hours and fifteen minutes.

A fine cast is headed by Dianne Wiest, appropriately divalicious as Irina Arkadina, the narcissistic stage star so delusional she sees her son's 18-year-old actress girlfriend, Nina (Kelli Garner) as competition for roles. "I could play a girl of 15 with no trouble at all," she says with a fluttery prance, then grabs her back in pain when nobody's looking.

Nina is indeed competition, but it's for the attention of Trigorin, the popular, if uninventive novelist. (A running gag has him jotting down interesting phrases people say, figuring to use them someday in one of his stories.) Alan Cumming plays the role as the kind of quiet intellectual that attracts women by appearing deep.

As Arkadina's overly sensitive son - a writer of experimental, abstract plays - Ryan O'Nan gives Konstantin the proper amount of youthful angst. He and Garner nicely make the transition from giddy love-struck kids to disillusioned adults.

A terrific supporting cast includes the silver-voiced David Rasche as the unflappable Dr. Dorn, Bill Christ as the gregarious and loquacious manager of the estate where the play is set (Wiest's silent reactions to his loud and lengthy opinions on Russian theatre are priceless.) and Annette O'Toole as his exasperated wife. Marjan Neshat, as their daughter Masha, whose moods are as dark as the black clothes she always wears, and Greg Keller, as the awkward suitor she eventually settles for, nicely set the tragic-comic tone of the play in their opening scene where he tries to connect with her bleak soul.

Atop the reflecting pool of a floor (in CSC's newsletter Loquasto says the director wanted to make the presence of the estate's lake constant) there's a combination of appropriately worse for wear set pieces and Suzy Benzinger's period costumes are attractive and character defining.

The production's main problem seems to be Dolgachev's inability to make the large cast move about naturally on the small stage, which is surrounded by the audience on three sides. Stage pictures get a little cramped as actors try to avoid furniture and the portable outdoor stage used for Konstantin's play always seems to be in some audience members' sightline. But the actors play the intimacy of the space well, making this an often captivating and, yes, frequently funny production.