The Seagull

This summer’s open-air production in Little Oak Wood, Hampstead Garden Suburb will be Anton Chekhov’s 'The Seagull'.

Chekhov’s play is set on the country estate of Sorin, a civil servant and district councillor. The first three acts cover a period of a few days: the last act is set a couple of years later. At the opening of the play Sorin is being visited by his sister Arkadina, a famous actress, and her lover Trigorin, a well-known writer. Arkadina’s son, Kostya, also has ambitions to be a writer and is going to premiere a play he has written which will be performed by Nina, daughter of a local landowner, with whom Kostya is in love. From the performance of this play within a play, the action of 'The Seagull' unfolds. There are several other characters and the play explores familiar Chekhovian themes of unrequited love, frustrated ambition, failed marriages and the passage of time. It is also, however, very funny.