Anton Chekhov, Christine Albright, Craig Marker, Jasson Minadakis, John Tufts, Julia Brothers, Libby Appel, Marin Theatre Company, Oregon Shakespeare Fes..., Tess Malis Kincaid Anton Chekhov, Christine Albright, Craig Marker, Jasson Minadakis, John Tufts, Julia Brothers, Libby Appel, Marin Theatre Company, Oregon Shakespeare Fes..., Tess Malis Kincaid

Marin’s Seagull: a Chekhovian reverie

As long as we live in a world where celebrity and art continually clash, Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull will feel extraordinarily timely. And as long as people are restless, stingy and full of dreams, Chekhov will continue to offer extraordinary insight to his audiences.

It’s amazing that a flop play from 1896 has become such a resonant classic. From our perspective, Chekhov had the disadvantage of writing in Russian, which means his work has to be filtered through a translator/adaptor – and there have been some big names attached to that duty. Tennessee Williams did it with his “free adaptation” The Notebook of Trigorin. Playwrights Michael Frayn, Tom Stoppard and Christopher Hampton have all done it as well.

Now former Oregon Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Libby Appel (working from a literal translation by Allison Horsley) brings us her version (a commission of OSF) in a world-premiere production at Marin Theatre Company under the direction of Jasson Minadakis.

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