The Seagull

By Anton Chekhov

“Pevear and Volokhonsky are at once scrupulous translators and vivid stylists of English.” —James Wood, New Yorker

The Seagull, in this new translation for TCG’s Russian Drama Series, includes lines and variants found in Chekhov’s final version of the play, but omitted from the script for the original performance at the Moscow Art Theatre in 1898, which went on to become the standard printed version. The restored text, a product of the continuing collaboration of playwright Richard Nelson and translators Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, provides valuable insight into Chekhov’s intentions in his groundbreaking play.

Richard Nelson’s many plays include The Apple Family: Scenes from Life in the Country (That Hopey Changey Thing, Sweet and Sad, Sorry, Regular Singing); The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of One Family (Hungry, What Did You Expect?, Women of a Certain Age); Nikolai and the Others; Goodnight Children Everywhere (Olivier Award for Best Play); Franny’s Way; Some Americans Abroad; Frank’s Home; Two Shakespearean Actors and James Joyce’s The Dead (with Shaun Davey; Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical).

Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky have translated the works of Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Nikolai Gogol, Anton Chekhov, Boris Pasternak and Mikhail Bulgakov. Their translations of The Brothers Karamazov and Anna Karenina won the PEN Translation Prize in 1991 and 2002, respectively. Pevear, a native of Boston, and Volokhonsky, of St. Petersburg, are married and live in France.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Theatre Communications Group
• Release date: Oct 30, 2017
• ISBN: 9781559368711

Anton Chekhov

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was a Russian doctor, short-story writer, and playwright. Born in the port city of Taganrog, Chekhov was the third child of Pavel, a grocer and devout Christian, and Yevgeniya, a natural storyteller. His father, a violent and arrogant man, abused his wife and children and would serve as the inspiration for many of the writer’s most tyrannical and hypocritical characters. Chekhov studied at the Greek School in Taganrog, where he learned Ancient Greek. In 1876, his father’s debts forced the family to relocate to Moscow, where they lived in poverty while Anton remained in Taganrog to settle their finances and finish his studies. During this time, he worked odd jobs while reading extensively and composing his first written works. He joined his family in Moscow in 1879, pursuing a medical degree while writing short stories for entertainment and to support his parents and siblings. In 1876, after finishing his degree and contracting tuberculosis, he began writing for St. Petersburg’s Novoye Vremya, a popular paper which helped him to launch his literary career and gain financial independence. A friend and colleague of Leo Tolstoy, Maxim Gorky, and Ivan Bunin, Chekhov is remembered today for his skillful observations of everyday Russian life, his deeply psychological character studies, and his mastery of language and the rhythms of conversation.

Book preview

Reviews for The Seagull

[jonfaith · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

How easy it is, Doctor, to be a philosopher on paper and, how difficult in real life.


The Seagull was a delightful exploration of binary contrasts, a meditation rocking the countryside as a mélange of folk gather by the shore of a lake for some Slavic R&R: adultery and suicide. I am only kidding. Echoing Hemingway, one would imagine all of Mother Rus hanging themselves judging by the pages of its marvelous literature. The contrast between urban and rural is explored as is the space between art and labor. Regret happens to ruminate and the servants receive a whole ruble to divide amongst themselves. There's a play-within-the-play which somehow struck me as did Bergman's Through A Glass Darkly and everyone appears to be quoting Hamlet. Substitute a sea gull for an albatross and pen a portrait of the artist (or author) as lecher and Bob's your uncle (but not Vanya).

[wonderperson · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Bloody good but gloomy stuff, definitly realistic in the gloomy sense of the world.

[scatterall-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I saw a brilliant production of this play on Broadway (brought over from London) a few years ago, so I guess I wouldn't say read it, I would say, if you can see a first class production of it that gets the humor and doesn't make Kostya a clueless sad sack, sell part of your book collection to get a ticket. For a writer, it's all about your worst nightmares. For anyone, the final scene between the two failed young lovers, and what follows, is devastating.

But reading it is worthwhile too. Just pick a good translation and remember that the author had a very dry and brutal sense of humor.

As a writer, I am always in awe of Chekhov. His characters, his dramatic structures, his settings, there is nobody like him. He was so good, in every way, and apparently once said he could toss off a salable short story about anything, about the ashtray in front of him. He was boasting, but I'm sure it was true.

[clara53_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is what I found in my experience: some plays read well - just like any novel, while others have to be performed to be enjoyed fully. To me, "The Seagull" is definitely of the latter type. Even though I've just re-read this play in its original language (my mother tongue) and should have been smitten by Chekhov's prose, I wasn't. Ideas in the dialogues rang true, but the dialogues themselves didn't - again, on stage they probably would. The infusion of drama (some would say melodrama?) and the symbolism are, of course, undeniable. My favorite part was Trigorin's monologue about the essence of a writer's life.

[alanwpowers · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The best Seagull I've seen is Stoppard's at the Old Vic in London. In fact, I bought a signed copy of Stoppard's text--as an Eastern European, I figured his Russian was better than mine. His English is, too, I say having just seen his Arcadia for the third time, first time it made real sense; in fact, one time at the Royal Court I sat next to a Cambridge prof whose history of English I had on my shelf in the states; he had returned twice because of the play's confusions. He should have come here to the Gamm Theater in Rhode Island, directed by Fred Sullivan, Jr, brilliantly. The academic played by the Gamm's Tony Estrella presented a great parody slide lecture; also, the presence of the computer made Thomasina the 18C prodigy's math insights all the more convincing.Behind me in line for the Seagull at the Old Vic was the director of the Hong Kong Shakespeare Company.

[fuckyobitchnigga · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

i cried and came
n n n n n n

[ctpress_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Summary (on some review-page): The Seagull by Anton Chekhov is a slice-of-life drama set in the Russian countryside at the end of the 19th century. The cast of characters is dissatisfied with their lives. Some desire love. Some desire success. Some desire artistic genius. No one, however, ever seems to attain happiness.I’m a big fan of L.A. Theatre Works - but not even this fine audiobook-production with Calista Flockhart could save this “self-occupied” play. A lot of modern existential ideas are at play here - a psychological story about self-centered artists who are unable to connect with each other or get any fulfillment out of life.I’m now wondering if I should listen to more of Chekhov’s plays.