The Seagull at the Blue Heron
It was rather distressing to see what a severe impact I and my fellow twenty-something friend had on the audience at the Roundtable Ensemble's production of Chekhov's classic The Seagull. This production, after all, is vibrant and passionate, and clearly aimed for the youth who still feel the pangs of that first love, the confusing passion that makes everything else seem trivial. For the young and the young at heart, this Seagull is poignant and fiendishly funny, and a reminder of the havoc that can be wreaked in the name of love.
As reconceived by Michael Barakiva, the rural estate where the actress Arkadina and her entourage while away their time feels lifted from a Tennessee Williams play. Gentry lounge around on hanging armchairs and sofas, servants scurry back and forth, and everyone frets about the objects of their unrequited affection. In case one had forgotten that Chekhov wrote The Seagull as a comedy, the mood is often full of gentle wit or even, less effectively, slapstick, and the pace rarely drags.
David Barlow makes the strongest impression of the cast as Konstantin, Arkadina's neglected son. Here portrayed as violently bipolar, Konstantin becomes the center of the piece, the tragic heart that beats its ache out to everyone around him. When Konstantin kills a bird flying over the lake, there is no maliciousness involved; he is truly baffled at his own capacity for destruction– a wonderful bit of foreshadowing for the unintentional pain to come for all. A far cry from the angry, bitter young man of tradition, this Kostya is heartbreaking in his confusion and incomprehensible emotions. Barlow's performance is remarkable not only for its intensity, but for its emotional honesty.
Kelly Hutchinson makes a similar impact as Masha, making the character more awkward and edgy than merely morose, and just as confused as her beloved Konstantin. Beautiful and oddly endearing, her few scenes with Barlow induce winces for all the right reasons. Barbara Garrick is less memorable as Arkadina, though perhaps purposefully so: Arkadina is a fading actress, not a star whose work will live in legend, but someone on her fourteenth minute of fame. She will soon be forgotten, and Garrick makes it easy to see why. A more dynamic performance might have undermined Arkadina's more pitiful and pathetic natures. Maria Thayer is an adequate Nina, clearly following in the footsteps of Arkadina, but lacking the innocence and naVvete that makes the character tragic. Likewise, Saxon Palmer's darkly sexy Trigorin never quite builds the necessary chemistry with either Thayer or Garrick to make it clear why these women would drive themselves mad over him.
Mimi Lien's set deserves a bow of its own: the raw earth and empty sky evoke the raw emotions and empty lives of the characters, and Nick Francone's lights create instant mood. In fact, the weakest angle of the production would have to be Barakiva's direction. While the more intense moments of the play are lovely and powerful, his staging of the lighter moments is so manic and forcefully comic that the tragic humor of the script doesn't get to bloom as well as it might. A see-saw stage right starts off as a prop and grows into an annoying distraction– such slapstick humor adds little to the overall mood of the play, especially when plenty of comic relief can be found in the text. Barakiva clearly understands the heart of the play; if he would only trust it all to stand on its own, he would have a truly magnificent production.
Anton Chekhov's The Seagull runs until January 29th at the Blue Heron Arts Center, 123 East 24th Street. For reservations, call 212.818.9431 or visit www.roundtableensemble.org
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