And there is that dead bird.
Dead feather bird! suicide! Ruin! Unhappy marriage! Unrequited love! Incite a grudge! “Kamome” doesn’t look like a play that tickles your funny bones, but Chekhov himself regarded it as a comedy. Most of the works cast it as a tragedy (especially after the ingenious Russian actor director Konstantin Stanislavski reinterpreted it that way in one of his first works).
Collins chooses both, participates fully in the comedy in the first half, and boldly turns into a tragedy in the second half. So Masha isn’t a cool goth chasing a discouraged artist, she’s a moppy dok of knee-high compression socks dragging herself across the stage while a sad bag of Semyon shuffles behind her. Konstantin is not a misunderstood master, but an artist’s solipsistic hipster with serious mama’s problems. In the final scene of Act 1, Jean comforts the two distraught characters in a row, comically proclaiming: You are all very angry! “
Still, despite its playful humor and antiques, shows often fall into the tranquility of running a memorized version of Chekhov’s work.
The unforgettable shift of the show does not occur until the middle of Act 2. The actors freeze and pose for a few minutes in a breathtaking silence. The set darkens and the fog spreads throughout the top of the stage. No actor speaks, but I can hear them reading their lines in the narration. Nina collapses into a chair in the corner, Irina sits in a powerful pose in front and in the center, her arms spread out on both sides and lean against the back of the chair, her legs bravely cross in front of her. , You can see Ilya leaning against the pillar. Her head hung down to the side. When combined with a bodyless voice, the effect is daunting. Rather than trying to seamlessly incorporate both dark humor and misery, each production draws its own attention.
Chekhov’s play helps with dismantling and scrutiny of comics. Check out Aaron Posner’s postmodern remix “Stupid _______ Bird”. This actually manages the balancing act that the elevator repair service “seagulls” are struggling with, splitting the difference between faithful reproductions of the text (or at least part of it) and beloved. Irreverent transmission of general ideas, themes, and executions of the work. Posner’s ambitious, if exaggerated play manages it a bit better, from screenplay to stage, through an almost spartan-level commitment to its conceit.
“Seagulls” are more gentle in the implementation of their ideas, but will benefit from more commitment to experimental aspirations and clearer insights into the art. It can also blur the line between performance and reality, as in the opening scene. This gives actors more freedom to speak, improvise, and share parts of themselves, even when they live in the character.
This work may make the audience think about art, experimentation, and truth, but they cannot fully understand those ideas. In the play, Constantin declares that a new form is needed. This work may have inadvertently provided the answer: only if the artist responds to it.
Seagull
Until July 31st at NYU Scarball Center in Manhattan. nyuskirball.org.. Execution time: 2 hours and 50 minutes.
