Poignant melodrama: Anna Chancellor offers a glorious performance as ArkadinaJohan PerssonReview at a glance
Of the three Chekhov plays currently being revived at the National Theatre by director Jonathan Kent, The Seagull is certainly the most familiar. Yet this interpretation is revelatory — a haunting and arguably pretty topical vision of the young being wounded by their spoiled elders.
Deeply concerned with artistic crisis, honour and the limits of self-knowledge, The Seagull is a melodrama but also a poignant vision of the ravages of time and a comic study of love’s perversity.
Whereas Chekhov’s earlier plays Platonov and Ivanov revolve around the men named in their titles, this is a true ensemble piece.
Though Kent’s fluent production has a buoyant, sometimes buzzy vitality, there are moments of aching stillness in which characters’ tiny mannerisms assume painful significance.
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Anna Chancellor is glorious as the demonstrative Arkadina, a self-obsessed diva whose entire life is a racy, glamorous performance. And Olivia Vinall is luminous as idealistic Nina, smitten with Arkadina’s politely patronising lover, the novelist Trigorin (a nicely understated Geoffrey Streatfeild).
But it’s Joshua James who makes the keenest impression as needy, artistic Konstantin. His heady mix of sensitivity and breathless obsessiveness embodies the spirit of what here feels like an immensely rich trilogy.
Until October 8, National Theatre
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