Bristol Old Vic Theatre School Will Perform in Sally Cookson's THE THREE SEAGULLS

This July, Bristol Old Vic joins forces with Bristol Old Vic Theatre School for a remarkable collaboration and startling production of three very different versions of Chekov's The Seagull, marking 125 years since its first performance.

After a year and a half of performing online theatre, the students will play to live audiences once again in the theatre, once called "the most beautiful in the world" (Peter O'Toole).

Olivier Award-winning director Sally Cookson (Jane Eyre, A Monster Calls, Peter Pan) weaves together three seminal adaptations by Christopher Hampton, Aaron Posner and Anya Reiss to present possibly an entirely new way of experiencing theatre.

Endurance. That's what show business is about.

It's not for the faint hearted. Chekhov understood that. And so do the fourteen Bristol Old Vic Theatre School acting students who are about to graduate, having spent the best part of their final year masked up, sanitised and constrained.

125 years after its first production, Chekhov's The Seagull still resonates today. Konstantin, a young playwright overshadowed by his famous actress mother, attempts to create a new form of theatre. So, what happens when we take three very different versions of the play and explore them through the students' own perspective? Welcome to our experiment - expect good acting, some subtext, and a lot of lip-syncing!

BOVTS Artistic Director Jenny Stephens, said:
"It's fantastic to take to the stage of Bristol Old Vic and work with Sally Cookson again; nothing compares to the feeling of being in the room together and making work. The past year has obviously been a challenging time for those completing their training and entering an industry that has faced such an existential threat - and this makes our version of The Three Seagulls so personal, poignant and, ultimately, life-affirming. We've a sensational cohort of actors and technical students ensuring this return to live in-person theatre is well worth the wait."

Director Sally Cookson said:
"I am chomping at the bit to get back into a rehearsal room with a group of passionate and talented theatre-makers. I've spent enough time in forced solitary confinement and long for the connection with other like-minded collaborators. I can't make theatre on my own.
Being given the opportunity to venture back into theatreland with the graduating BOVTS students is an honour and one that I am relishing. They are an inspiring bunch full of loud voices, imaginative thinking and an enormous dollop of talent. I can't wait to be creating with them and share our discoveries with an actual audience. Bring it on."

Tickets for the socially distanced in-person audience at Bristol Old Vic are now on-sale.

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