The Sea-Gull(1896)

Amateur playwright Konstantin Treplev stages a play he wrote at his uncle's country estate. He casts his neighbor's daughter, Nina, with whom he is in love, in the leading role. Friends and neighbors gather at the premiere of this amateur play. They praise Nina's performance, but criticize the play itself for being excessively decadent. This greatly upsets the author, especially when Nina falls in love with one of her admirers, and Treplev even attempts suicide.

In ‘The Seagull’, Chekhov draws attention to the decline of the Russian nobility. He would develop this theme in his other plays. In his view, these people were no longer capable of working, only able to live in their own fantasies, usually without money. They were passionate about art, trying to act, write and compose, but they could not admit their true lack of talent.

‘The Seagull’ was staged at the Moscow Art Theater by Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko in 1898 and was a great success.

Publisher Caxton House, 1945