The Seagull

The Seagull is Anton Chekhov’s human comedy about soaring aspirations, yearning love, and the creative spirit.

Written during a twilight period in Russian history before revolution deposed the tsar and propelled Russia into the modern world, The Seagull is set on a farm by a lake, and its characters are full of the longing and sustained hopefulness that came to characterize Chekhov’s later plays. The world they live in is rich with art and literature — they recite from Hamlet, read aloud from Maupassant, quote Turgenev, feel dwarfed by the successes of Tolstoy and Zola, and find commonality with characters in works by Pushkin. The young people struggle to create the futures they envision for themselves, and the older ones yearn to re-create their pasts. Collectively, they love unrequitedly and struggle for communion with the universal soul.