The complete company of The Royal Court Theatre's critically acclaimed production of Anton Chekhov's THE SEAGULL, in a new version by Christopher Hampton, will begin rehearsals on Monday, August 25 in London, under the direction of Ian Rickson. The production, which stars Kristin Scott Thomas in her Olivier Award winning role of Madame Arkadina and Peter Sarsgaard as Trigorin, will begin previews on Tuesday, September 16 at the Walter Kerr Theatre (219 West 48th Street). Opening night is Wednesday, October 1. The production plays a strictly 14-week limited engagement through December 21.
The
Walter Kerr Theatre box office for THE SEAGULL will also open on Monday, August 25 at 10:00 AM. Tickets are also available at Telecharge at 212-239-6200 and online at
www.telecharge.comAnton Chekhov's THE SEAGULL, written in 1895 and the first of the playwright's masterworks, concerns the romantic entanglements and regrets of a group of actors, writers and artists gathered on a Russian estate. One of the theatre's great plays about writing, THE SEAGULL conveys the struggle for new forms and the frustrations and fulfillment of putting words on a page.
THE SEAGULL stars
Kristin Scott Thomas as Madame Arkadina and
Peter Sarsgaard as Trigorin and members of the praised original
Royal Court Theatre cast, including
Mackenzie Crook as Konstantin,
Art Malik as Dorn,
Carey Mulligan as Nina,
Pearce Quigley as Medvedenko,
Peter Wight as Sorin,
Christopher Patrick Nolan as Yakov and
Mary Rose as the Maid. The production also features
Ann Dowd as Polina,
Julian Gamble as Shamrayev and
Zoe Kazan as Masha.
Director
Ian Rickson originally staged this production of THE SEAGULL as his farewell to
The Royal Court Theatre, when he ended his seven-year tenure as the distinguished theatre's Artistic Director. The limited run became a sold out smash hit and the biggest selling production in the Royal Court's 50 year history.
Ben Brantley, The New York Times, wrote, "The marvel of
Ian Rickson's rapturous interpretation of THE SEAGULL, which quickly became a must-have and largely unhaveable ticket, is how seamlessly it captures the vital paradox that so often escapes productions of this masterwork: the bursting theatrical fullness to be found in its unfulfilled lives.
Kristin Scott Thomas is in expert form. Productions like Mr. Rickson's
The Seagull are such rarities that it hardly seems fair to measure others against them."
John Lahr, The New Yorker, pronounced it "the finest British production of Chekhov in recent memory with a pitch-perfect cast, elegant staging and the clarity and cunning of
Christopher Hampton's adaptation."
David Benedict, Variety, praised THE SEAGULL as "a bold, supremely truthful production. Chekhov's plays live on a knife edge routinely described as 'tragic-comic.' Most productions, however, topple over into either doomy tragedy or overly fierce comedy. The exhilaration of Rickson's balancing act is evident from the very opening."
THE SEAGULL is designed by
Hildegard Bechtler, with lighting by
Peter Mumford, sound by
Ian Dickinson and music by
Stephen Warbeck.
Kristin Scott Thomas,
Mackenzie Crook,
Art Malik,
Carey Mulligan,
Christopher Patrick Nolan,
Pearce Quigley,
Mary Rose and
Peter Wight are appearing with the permission of
Actors' Equity Association. The producers gratefully acknowledge
Actors' Equity Association for its assistance to this production.
Performances will be Tuesday through Saturday at 8:00 PM, with matinees Wednesday and Saturday at 2:00 PM and Sunday at 3:00 PM. On Sunday, September 28 and October 5, performances will be at 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM.
Tickets for THE SEAGULL are $110 for Orchestra and Mezzanine, Rows A-F, $77 for Mezzanine Rows G-J, $41 for Balcony and $25 for Student Rush and Standing Room. Additionally,
Jujamcyn Theatres offers 12 preferred orchestra aisle locations for $135 each, which may only be purchased in pairs.
THE SEAGULL will be produced on Broadway by
Sonia Friedman Productions,
Bob Boyett,
Robert G. Bartner,
Dede Harris,
Fox Theatricals,
Dena Hammerstein,
Sharon Karmazin,
Olympus Theatricals,
Spring Sirkin,
Tara Smith,
Mort Swinsky,
Karl Sydow,
The Weinstein Company, Falkenstein/deRoy and Jay &
Cindy Gutterman.
www.SeagullThePlay.com
BIOGRAPHIES
Kristin Scott Thomas (Arkadina) will make her Broadway debut in
The Seagull. She won the 2007 Olivier Award for Best Actress for this performance.
Scott Thomas' body of work is an extraordinary collection of acclaimed film, television and theatre performances in the US, UK and France. She most recently starred in the West End in As You Desire Me and The Three Sisters, both at
The Playhouse. Her many film credits include The Other Boleyn Girl, The Walker, Ne Le Dis a Personne, La Doublure, Keeping Mum, Chromophobia, Arsene Lupin, Petites Coupures, Gosford Park, Life as a House, Up at the Villa, Random Hearts, The Horse Whisperer, The English Patient (Academy Award Nomination), Mission Impossible, Le Confessionnal, Angels & Insects (London Evening Standard Film Award, Best Actress), Richard III, Un Été Inoubliable, Four Weddings and a Funeral (BAFTA Film Award, Best Supporting Actress and London Evening Standard Film Award, Best Actress), Bitter Moon, A Handful of Dust and Under the Cherry Moon. Her television credits include "Gulliver's Travels," "Body and Soul," and "Look At It This Way". She will next be seen in Sony Classics' I've Loved You So Long out this fall. Upcoming films include Easy Virtue and Confessions of a Shopaholic.
Peter Sarsgaard (Trigorin) will make his Broadway debut in
The Seagull. Off-Broadway credits include
Lanford Wilson's Burn This and
Horton Foote's Laura Dennis for
Signature Theatre Company and
Tennessee Williams' Kingdom of Earth. Film credits include Rendition, Year of the Dog, Jarhead, Flightplan, The Skeleton Key, The Dying Gaul, Kinsey, Garden State, Shattered Glass, Boys Don't Cry; Center of the World; and the upcoming In the Electric Mist, Orphan, Elegy, An Education and The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. He attended the Actors' Studio Program at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
Mackenzie Crook (Konstantin) Theatre includes
The Seagull (Royal Court), Exonerated (Riverside) and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (West End). TV includes "The Office," "TV to Go," "The 11 o'clock Show," and "Little Dorrit". Film includes Pirates of the Caribbean (I, II & III), The Merchant of Venice,
The Brothers Grimm, Churchill, The Hollywood Years, Finding Neverland, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers and the upcoming Abraham's Point, Solomon Kane and City of Ember.
Ann Dowd (Polina). Broadway: Taking Sides, Candida (
Clarence Derwent Award); Lincoln Center: The Bay at Nice; Off-Broadway: Remembrance, New York 1937, The Lark. Regional: The Crucible, The Paper Gramophone, Major Barbara, Arms and the Man, Heartbreak House, The Glass Menagerie, The Philanthropist, A Different Moon (Jeff Award), The Normal Heart (Jeff Award), Uncle Vanya. Film: Flags of Our Fathers, Garden State, Saving Shiloh, All Over Me, Kingfish: A Story of Huey Long, It Could Happen To You, Philadelphia, Lorenzo's Oil, Green Card.
Julian Gamble (Shamrayev). Broadway: Democracy,
Jumpers, The Caretaker, A Month in the Country, You Never Can Tell, The Iceman Cometh, The Invention of Love. Regional: More than 100 productions with such theatres as
Williamstown Theatre Fest., Old Globe, South Coast Rep,
McCarter Theatre, Studio Arena, Denver Center and many others. Television: "Third Watch," "Law & Order (SVU, Criminal Intent)," "Dallas," "Hier," and many others.
Zoe Kazan (Masha) made her Broadway debut last season in Come Back, Little Sheba. Off-Broadway: Things We Want, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (
The New Group), 100 Saints You Should Know (
Playwrights Horizons). TV/film: "Medium," Fracture, The Savages and In the Valley of Elah; upcoming: August and Revolutionary Road (dir.
Sam Mendes).
Art Malik (Dorn) Theatre includes:
The Seagull (Royal Court); Heroes (tour); Art (Wyndham's); Indian Ink (Aldwych); Great Expectations, Cymbeline (Royal Exchange, Manchester); Aliens (Soho); Othello (RSC); Trial Run (Oxford/Young Vic); The 88 Prospect, The Government Inspector; Romeo and Juliet (Old Vic); Timon of Athens, Destiny (Bristol Old Vic); The Comedians (Leicester);
Equus and A Man for All Seasons (Liverpool Playhouse). Television includes "Gilmayo," "Dalziel & Pascoe," "The English Harem," "Holby City," "Messiah II," "Murder in Mind," "Fun at the Funeral Parlour," "The Kumars at No. 42," "Second Sight," "Messiah," "Cleopatra," "Medical Ethics," "Unfinished Business," "Turning World," "Path to Paradise," "Peak Practice II," "Kavanagh QC," "Age of Treason," "Covington Cross," "High Interest," "Beauty," "The Greek Myths - Orpheus and Eurydice," "Stolen," "Shadow of the Cobra," "After the War," "The Clinic," "West of Paradise," "Hareem," "Death is Part of the Process," "The Black Tower," "The Far Pavilions," "Chessgame," "Jewel in the Crown," and "Bergerac". Film includes Nina's Heavenly Delights, Tempo, Tabloid TV, Hotel, Side Streets, Clockwork Mice, A Kid in King Arthur's Court, True Lies, No Place to Hide, Year of the Comet, City of Joy, Turtle Beach, The Living Daylights, A Passage to India and Meeting with Remarkable Men.
Carey Mulligan (Nina) For the Royal Court:
The Seagull and Forty Winks. Other theatre includes: The Hypochondriac (Almeida) and Tower Block Dreams (
Riverside Studios). Television includes "Dr. Who," "Northanger Abbey," "The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard," "Waking the Dead," "Miss Marple," "Bleak House," and "Trial & Retribution X". Film includes When Did You Last See Your Father?, Pride and Prejudice and the upcoming An Education, Brothers and Public Enemies.
Christopher Patrick Nolan (Yakov) For the Royal Court:
The Seagull and Alice Trilogy. Other theatre includes; The Water Harvest (
National Theatre Studio); Stones in His Pockets (New Ambassador's/tour); Molly Sweeney (Clwyd/tour); Someone Who'll Watch Over Me (Palace, Westcliff/tour); Antigone (Crucible/tour); The Changeling, Of Mice and Men (Southwark Playhouse); Into the West/ Tir Na n'Og (Harbourfront Centre, Toronto/USA Tour); The Romans in Britain (Man in the Moon); Macbeth, Othello (
Riverside Studios); Cardenio (Globe); Cloud Nine (Lyric Hammersmith) and King Lear (
West Yorkshire Playhouse). Television includes: "Titanic - Birth of a Legend," and "Bass Odyssey". Film includes: That Deadwood Feeling and Lone Clouds.
Pearce Quigley (Medvedenko) For the Royal Court:
The Seagull, Blue Heart, Shopping and f-ing (& Gielgud/Queens/tour, with Out of Joint), The Queen and I (& Vaudeville, with Out of Joint), Road (with Out of Joint), Etta Jenks and Downfall. Television includes "Cutting It," "15 Storeys High," and "Happiness". Film includes The Allotment, London, Millions and House of Mirth.
Mary Rose (Maid) Theatre includes
The Seagull (Royal Court), Thin Toes (Hampstead - Start Night); The Wedding Present (Proteus Theatre Co.); The Cut (The Old Vic/St. Mungo's); Macbeth (New Wolsey, Ipswich); A Place at the Table (Pleasance); A Midsummer Night's Dream (
Salisbury Playhouse); Fortune's Fool (
Chichester Festival Theatre) and Tess of the d'Ubervilles (Watermill/Cheltenham Everyman).
Peter Wight (Sorin) For the Royal Court:
The Seagull, Mouth to Mouth, Face to the Wall and Not a Game for Boys. Other theatre includes: Otherwise Engaged,
The Seagull, Chekhov's Women (West End); Ivanov, Sleep With Me, Murmuring Judges, Arturo Ui, Black Snow, Waiting for Godot (National); The Spanish Tragedy, Much Ado About Nothing, Barbarians, A Clockwork Orange, Hamlet (RSC); The Caretaker (Globe, Warsaw); Edward II (Royal Exchange, Manchester); Dearly Beloved, Grace (Hampstead); A State of Affairs, Othello, Comedia, Progress (Lyric Hammersmith); Julius Caesar (
Riverside Studios); A Passion in Six Days, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Nest (Crucible); King Lear, The Three Sisters (Birmingham Rep);
The Seagull (Shared Experience) and Hard to Get (Traverse, Edinburgh). Television includes: "Party Animals," "Persuasion," "Fantabulosa," "Waking the Dead," "Murder Prevention," "Early Doors," "Silent Witness," "Murphy's Law," "Uncle Adolf," "Brides in the Bath," "Charles II," "Fortysomething," "Midsomer Murders," "The Second Coming," "The Project," "Care," "Active Defence," "The Blind Date," "The Passion," "Our Mutual Friend," "Jane Eyre," "Wokenwell," "Out of the Blue," "
Anna Lee," "Hearts and Minds," "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?", "EastEnders," "Life on Mars," and "Mayo". Film includes Atonement, Babel, Pride and Prejudice, Vera Drake, Hot Fuzz, Lassie, Heidi, The Statement, 3 Blind Mice, The Gathering, Lucky Break, Shiner, The Fourth Angel, The Return of the Native, Personal Services, Fairytale, Meantime, Naked and Secrets and Lies.
Anton Chekhov (Playwright) Born in Taganrog, Ukraine on January 17, 1860. Plays include Platonov, Ivanov,
The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard.
Christopher Hampton (New Version)
Christopher Hampton's plays, musicals and translations have garnered three Tony Awards, two Olivier Awards and the New York Theatre Critics Circle Award, while prizes for his film and television work include an Oscar, two BAFTAs and a Special Jury Prize at Cannes. Plays include The Talking Cure, White Chameleon, Tales From Hollywood, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Treats, Savages, The Philanthropist and Total Eclipse. He wrote the book and lyrics (with
Don Black) for the musicals Sunset Boulevard and Dracula and the libretto for the
Philip Glass operas Waiting For The Barbarians and Appomattox. He has translated extensively from Chekhov, Ibsen, Moliere,
Odon von Horvath and
Yasmina Reza (including Art and Life x 3). His screenplays include The Quiet American,
Mary Reilly, Total Eclipse, Dangerous Liaisons, Carrington, The Secret Agent and Imagining Argentina, the last three of which he also directed. His latest screenplay was for the film Atonement, which won both the Golden Globe and BAFTA awards for Best Picture.
Ian Rickson (Director) was Artistic Director at the Royal Court from 1998 to 2006, during which time he directed
The Seagull, Krapp's Last Tape, The Winterling, Alice Trilogy, The Sweetest Swing in Baseball, Fallout, The Night Heron, Boy Gets Girl, Mouth to Mouth (also in the West End), Dublin Carol, The Weir (Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, in the West End and on Broadway), The Lights, Pale Horse and Mojo (also at the
Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago), Ashes & Sand, Some Voices, Killers and Wildfire. Other theatre includes The Day I Stood Still at
The National Theatre.
The Royal Court Theatre is one of Europe's leading theatres and has presented new and innovative plays since 1956, including premieres by almost every leading contemporary British playwright from
John Osborne's Look Back in Anger to
Caryl Churchill's A Number. After 50 years, writers, directors, actors and audiences still look to the Royal Court for the classics of the future. Recent
Royal Court Theatre productions include The Pain and The Itch, My Name is
Rachel Corrie, That Face, The City and random.
The Royal Court Theatre productions of Rock 'n' Roll by
Tom Stoppard and
Caryl Churchill's Drunk Enough To Say I Love You? also transferred to New York recently.
Photo Credit Johan Persson
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