The Oxford Dictionary of Plays

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The Seagull

Seagull, The (Chayka)

Author: Anton Chekhov

First Performance: 1896, St Petersburg

Published: 1896

First English Translation: 1912

Genre: Drama in 4 acts, Russian prose

Setting: Sorin's estate in rural Russia, late 19th c.

Cast: 7m, 7f

Konstantin (Kostya) Treplev and his mother, the famous actress Irina Arkadina, are staying on his uncle Sorin's estate. She is having an affair with Boris Trigorin, a celebrated novelist. Treplev decides to stage one of his Symbolist plays with Nina Zaryechnaya, the neighbour's daughter whom he loves, in the central role. Just as he feared, his mother has no understanding for ‘new forms’, and in a temper he ends the performance. The next day Treplev tries to impress Nina by presenting her with a seagull he has shot. Trigorin comes and flirts with the...

[The entire page is 393 words long]

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