All anyone wants is a “glittering life full of meaning.” We go through life pining for success, acknowledgment, romance and health, but there are always some twists along the way. Things don’t always go as planned.
Such is the case for the ensemble cast of Anton Chekov’s famous work, The Seagull, which will run through March 5 in the Ina and Jack Kay Theatre in the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.
The latest play from the theatre, dance and performance studies school takes audiences to Russia in the late 19th century. Pyotr Sorin (Andrew Blau) owns an estate on a lake that is frequented by a number of interesting people. Among them are Irina (Lisa Buttino), Pyotr’s sister and an aging actress; Konstantin (Thomas Stratton), Irina’s son and misunderstood playwright; Nina (Madeline Whiting), an aspiring actress who lives nearby; Dorn (John Wahl), the local doctor, and Boris Trigorin (Jonathan Berenson), a famous novelist.
The Seagull is a hard play to classify, as it carefully balances drama and laughter. The way director Walter Dallas handles the play may be best called a tragic comedy, and his actors bring out strong performances in both regards.
The play starts off on an odd foot, setting the audience up with a series of complex love triangles (“You always ought to have love in a play,” Nina says) and introducing so many characters at once that it can be a bit baffling. Luckily, a solid script gives time for each of the characters to become known early on.
The ensemble cast of The Seagull takes advantage of that time, making connections with the audience early on and continuing to do so throughout the play. Audiences will feel for Masha (Su-Chen Ava Kuo) as she pines for affection from Konstantin but only finds affection in a poor teacher, Semyon (Andrew Kim). They will laugh as estate manager Shamreyev (James Sakamoto-Wengel) hams up his performance with booming voices and impressions of old friends, and they will sympathize with his wife Polina (Angela Hou) for putting up with him.
The show is a momentous journey with much character growth, and the cast pulls it off well. Their chemistry is usually spot-on, and they play off of each other wonderfully.
Much of the play takes place in the drawing room of the estate, though some of the action does occur offstage. The crew has built an authentic-looking set: an old, wooden room with large windows that allow us to see the lake outside at various times of the day through colorful lighting effects. A hazy fog drifts over the lake and small plants grow in the drawing room and around the lake in the background.
The room is built on an angle. It’s an interesting trick that makes good use of space on the stage, though it can be distracting at the beginning of the show.
The costumes are also well done. Again authentic in appearance, everything from the men’s vests to the women’s dresses bring audiences into the period.
The drawing room does change over the course of the play. Scenery is moved on and off of the stage by the workmen (David Burkey, Devin Mahoney and Martin Thompson), the cook (Josh Chik) and the housemaids (Michelle Fitzgerald, Emery Hamami, Amanda Ogorzalek and Madeline Trower) of Sorin’s estate. It keeps the play flowing, and it seems appropriate that people with these titles would be doing the heavy lifting. Outside of the intermission, the crew manages to keep themselves hidden.
One might expect a dry, serious piece of theatre from Chekov, but here it is not the case. The Seagull is a rollercoaster of emotions brought to the audience by an extremely talented ensemble cast and crew. It’s a tremendous story that quickly ties up the first acts’ loose ends and lets you invest yourself emotionally in the characters (if you ever get over the slanted floor).
At one point in The Seagull, it is said that “modern theater is in a blind alley.” The show proves that quote quite wrong.
The Seagull runs through March 5 at Kay Theatre in CSPAC. Tickets are $27, $9 for students.
afreedman@umdbk.com
