The Seagull

The Seagull
Seagull Poster Creative Written by Anton Chekov Adaption by Stuart Paterson Original English Translation George Calderon Co-Director John Kazek Co-Director Hugh Hodgart Stats Venue NAT Rehearsal Period 29 SEPT - 24 OCT '09 Tech Week 26 OCT '09 Performance Dates 2 - 7 NOV '09

The Seagull is the first A3 performance for the 2009/10 season at the RSAMD, Normally there is an Alternate A3 production in the Chandler Studio Theatre, this has been moved later in the year and will be performed at the Citz.

This performance of Chekhov's The Seagull celebrates the 100th anniversary of the first English-translated performance of a Anton Chekhov play. the original translation was written by George Calderon was commissioned by The Scottish Repertory Company and the first performance on 2 November 1909.

The action takes place on Sorin’s estate.

Two years pass between Act Three and Act Four.

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Flickr set by Christine Murphy

Cast

Arkadina, an actress Olivia Knowles

Konstantin, her son Pierce Reid

Sorin, her brother Leon Vickers

Nina, young daughter of a rich landowner Jessica Bile

Shamrayev, retired army lieutenant, manager of Sorin’s estate Rhys Wadley

Polina, his wife Sharita Scott

Masha, their daughter Helen Darbyshire

Trigorin, a writer Cathal Finnerty

Dorn, a doctor Adam McNamara

Medvedenko, a schoolteacher Gary French

Yakov, an estate worker Martin McBride*

Cook Natalie Songer*

Maid Molly Vevers*

First year BA Acting students

Production Team

Stage Manager Vicky Adamczyk

Deputy Stage Manager Anne Hamilton

Assistant Stage Managers Laura Jarvis, James Clelland

Technical Stage Manager Kirsty Campbell

Production Technicians Thomas Velluet - Draper , Scott Bremner , Martin Aitken

Production Electrician Michaella Fee

Electrics Crew Emily Lennox , Lauren McKay , Madeleine Hillmann

Technical Challenges

Quick release tension wire system

During the recent production of "The Seagull" there were several technical challenges that we had to overcome. As well as designing and constructing a 6 piece Kabuki drop, we also had to come up with a way of rigging quick release tension wire system.

Trellis pieces

Another effect that we had to achieve involved 6 tilting trellis pieces which tilted both on and off stage.

Thank You Credits

Pitlochry Festival Theatre

Scottish opera

Citizens Theatre

The Monkey Bar

Nolans Bizaar Flower Shop

Peckham’s

Total Produce

Reviews

-Star rating: ****

Monday night saw the 100th anniversary of the first ever English language staging of a play by Chekhov.
The fact that The Seagull was produced in 1909 by the Glasgow Repertory Theatre company at the old Royalty theatre on the corner of Renfield Street and Sauchiehall Street gives an extra frisson to this new look at the play, performed by final-year acting students who make up RSAMD’s One Academy company.
As Chekhov’s most self-referential work, The Seagull is all too fitting for an educational institution. As young upstart Konstantin attempts to show off his naive form of theatrical experimentalism in the face of all-encroaching realism, his endeavours reflect a million scratch companies who go on to greatness.
Whether the 1909 production of George Calderon’s translation, seen here in a version by Stuart Paterson, possessed the same level of sexual tension between ageing actress Arkadina and her literary lover Trigorin as Olivia Knowles and Cathal Finnerty invest them with isn’t on record. Hugh Hodgart and John Kazek’s production, however, turns the pair’s act three exchange into an explicitly unbuttoned display of affection, and is all the better for it.
This may be the show’s most passionate moment, but there is plenty of light and shade elsewhere.
Pierce Reid plays Konstantin as a precocious cherub everyone dotes on, from Jessica Biles’s Nina to black-clad Masha, played with a simmering sense of resentment by Helen Darbyshire.
Richard Evans’s leaf-strewn set opens up the stage’s full expanse for an exploration of failed potential, domestic disappointment and youthful optimism turned sour. A century after the play’s debut, this is as 21st century as it gets.

Written by Neil Cooper. Published on 4 Nov 2009. Herald Website link

External links

• A video segment for STVs Hour about the production. "A day in the life of RSAMD" Part 1 Part 2