Review: Mad Horse Theatre's Chekhov Adaptation Marries Existential Angst and Mordent Wit

South Portland's Mad Horse Theatre closed out its season with a prickly and provocative production of Aaron Posner's adaptation of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull - Stupid F**king Bird - a contemporary "deconstruction" which brilliantly mines the inherent humor as well as the aching ennui of the Russian playwright. Tautly paced by director Christopher Price, the excellent cast gives an immediacy to the play, which Chekhov, himself, actually called a "comedy in four acts."

While remaining true to the essence of the drama, Posner manages to make Chekhov's characters and concerns seem startlingly modern without gratuitous gimmicks. His own musical, textured and dense use of the English language grafts onto the dialogue a dazzling poetic veneer; there are remarkable concerted passages - not in the original - in which the characters voice their thoughts in harmony and counterpoint, just as there are snatches of song whose dark rhymes ring with satire. Reducing Chekhov's cast of characters from thirteen to seven and conflating the subplot of Polina and Dorn into the story of Sorn, Posner, nevertheless, preserves the conflicts and emotional interactions of the original. Where Chekhov holds forth on the state of the theatre or politics, so, too, do Posner's characters and in their witty riffs or melancholy diatribes on life's sorrows, one feels just how modern Chekhov actually was. Plus ça change, rien ne change. And with the clever, deft hand of a playwright like Tom Stoppard, Posner toys with the ambiguities of the play's large philosophical questions, often allowing the actors to break proscenium [metaphorical in this case] and embrace the absurd, perhaps no where more evidently than in the epilogue he adds to mitigate Chekhov's play which ends with Treplev's shooting himself.

Christopher Price maintains a tightly wired pace, a light hand in both the potentially tragic and comic, a keen appreciation for the language of Posner's version and an excellent eye for keeping the action kinetic despite the inherent verbal denisty of the play. His set design- a simple sun-washed banquette for the first act and a more elaborate kitchen interior (props Stacey Koloski) evoke a timelessness of locale. Christine Louise Marshall and James Herrera have assembled the characterful costumes, and J.P. Gagnon lights the black box space with atmospheric skill. Jake Cote provides the subtle sound design that includes music to underscore well-choreographed set changes and the softly incessant cries of gulls.

The cast is uniformly excellent. David Bliss makes Trip (Treplev) neurotic, obsessive, yet sympathetic, and touchingly amusing at times. Brent Askari finds the loveable everyman humor and foolish wisdom in Dev (Medvedenko), and James Herrera rescues Sorn from tediousness and endows him with a layer of inner longing. Burke Brimmer makes Trig (Trigorin) narcissistic and weak-willed, yet curiously seductive. As Emma (Mme. Arkadina), Christine Louise Marshall is self-absorbed, domineering, even ruthless, without ever becoming a monster. Shannon Campbell captures Mash"s (Masha) cynicism - a self-dramatizing mask she wears rather like her mourning dress - but takes her character through a very credible transformation into a woman who ultimately chooses the realities of life and love. Casey Turner imbues Nina with an innocence, radiance and joy that makes her ultimate undoing at the hands of Trigorin genuinely heart wrenching.

Mad Horse Theatre maintains its commitment to both new plays and classics. Its choice to marry these skills in Stupid F**king Bird, Posner's adaptation of The Seagull, is an inspired choice and an impressive end to a fine season!

Photo courtesy Mad Horse Theatre

Stupid Fu**king Bird runs from May 19 - June 5, 2016 at Mad Horse Theatre, 24 Mosher Street, South Portland, ME 04106 www.madhorse.com 207-747-4148

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