Une mouette ・ Comédie-Française

“Four acts, a landscape (a view of a lake), much conversation about literature, little action, and five tons of love.” This was Chekhov’s way of introducing his “Seagull”; the play bombed when it premiered, before being acclaimed later on and becoming the emblem of the Moscow Art Theatre, where it was first directed by Stanislavski.

A hundred and thirty years later, the play remains the author’s most performed work, with new productions, adaptations, and translations. Director Elsa Granat’s work is all about constantly reinventing the classics for today’s audiences.
Newly appointed as associated artist of the Théâtre Gérard Philippe, the Centre Dramatique National of Saint-Denis, where her new production will be performed in 2024, Elsa Granat devised her Seagull in accordance with the Salle Richelieu’s historical quality, dipping into the actors’ theatre memories to feed their portrayal of Chekhov’s characters. The play delves into the past of radiant actress Arkadina, one of the few female artists of the repertoire. The audience discovers her as a hardworking beginner dedicated to her art as her young son Treplev watches her, a few years before she begins criticizing his attempts at creating a new theatrical form. Arkadina is an accomplished seagull, Nina’s alter ego as she starts off her career; Treplev is in love with Nina, but she’s infatuated with Trigorin, Arkadina’s lover… The relationships at stake in this small country community struck by idle boredom are explored through a variety of angles, all at the service of the key issue tackled by the director: “To become accomplished, it is necessary to beget sorrow all around?”

NEW PRODUCTION

BOOKING OPENS ON
JAN 25