Anton Chekhov knew he was doing something different with "The Seagull". "I sin frightfully against the conventions of the stage," he told a friend while the play was still a work in progress. The drama, such as it is, involves the love triangles and familial tussles of a multi-generational gathering in the Russian countryside-with, as Chekhov observed, "much conversation about literature, little action and five tons of love". All this aimless kvetching repelled the play's first audiences in 1886. But what was audacious then feels timeless now. "The Seagull" may be Chekhov's finest work. Much of the dialogue-which veers from grand questions about love and happiness to prosaic observations about money and horses-still feels fresh.
展开▼
