The Seagull Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh 14th October 2025 Review
“The Seagull” is at the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh from 9 October to 1 November, and for a work that was written in 1895 and produced in 1896, it still has a freshness and relevancy to it 130 years later in 2025.There are many reasons for this being so.
The first of course is that Anton Chekhov was a gifted observer of people, a chronicler of their hopes and dreams, and more than often their frustrations and disappointments with their own lives and the people that they know. Every character is clearly defined, every character is an individual in their own right. In a way, these Chekhov people are enclosed in their own circle/bubble of life and the magic in writing is what happens when these connect for moments with those of other people too. There are no big centrepiece moments in “The Seagull”, simply an endless fluidity of people and events that often have no definitive conclusions…life simply goes on.
Another reason, in this Royal Lyceum Edinburgh production, is Mike Poulton who has adapted and written this new translation of Chekhov’s original story. From the programme notes, it is clear that Mike Poulton believes that Chekhov got everything right the first time around, and does not need changed, does not need updated in an attempt to make it relevant for contemporary audiences. “The Seagull needs simply its original time frame and settings, and after translation, as close to as possible its original words. For Mike Poulton, what Chekhov really needs is a cast with the ability to bring his characters and his words to life on stage. As long as you get that right, then everything else will fall into place. Having said all of this, though, on the first night of the first production of this work all those years ago, that audience gave it a hostile reaction.
With this cast (thanks to Wikipedia for the identifications) this production has not only preserved the black comedy of “The Seagull”, but given it a very Scottish identification too.
A work like “The Seagull” is always an ensemble production, and by that I mean that everybody involved in it, on and off the stage, has to create a believable world for us the audience to enter into. On stage, every cast member has to be at their best to make not only their character, but all characters simply be real, natural, and people that we recognise a bit of ourselves in and a lot of other people that we know in. This is really why “The Seagull” has retained its relevancy today, people are still the same, they have not changed. This cast got all of this right tonight.
There are too many strong performances here to give everybody their due credit, so my apologies to those not credited here, but by the very nature of Chekhov’s writing, some characters simply have more focus than others.
The role of Irina Arkadina is a classic one and Caroline Quentin is clearly having so much fun with her role here. Irina is the woman that so many other people in this story orbit around. Irina is an actress of a certain age who still thinks, in her mind at least, that she can still play any of the roles of her much younger days, and that alone gives Caroline Quentin so many wonderful lines to work with, all delivered with perfect black comedy timing.
Irina of course needs someone to be the unhappy recipient of many of her barbed wire comments, and that is her long suffering son Konstantin. Konstantin’s attempt to, as a writer, create something new and daring for stage also brings in this still relevant discourse on experimental art versus mass market appeal in theatre and the arts in general. Here, as in anything that I have seen him in to date, Lorn MacDonald gives an impressive performance as Konstantin, becoming once more on stage the character that he is portraying.
One of my favourite characters in this story for me though was Maria (Masha) performed by Tallulah Greive. What is there not to like about a hard drinking young woman permanently wearing a black mourning dress. She is not mourning for anyone but herself and for her own life to date.
Where does a seagull come into all of this? That would give a little too much of this story away, so I am not telling you the answer to that question. If you come along to this show thinking that Russians have no humour, be in for a big surprise.
Review by Tom King © 2025
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
The first of course is that Anton Chekhov was a gifted observer of people, a chronicler of their hopes and dreams, and more than often their frustrations and disappointments with their own lives and the people that they know. Every character is clearly defined, every character is an individual in their own right. In a way, these Chekhov people are enclosed in their own circle/bubble of life and the magic in writing is what happens when these connect for moments with those of other people too. There are no big centrepiece moments in “The Seagull”, simply an endless fluidity of people and events that often have no definitive conclusions…life simply goes on.
Another reason, in this Royal Lyceum Edinburgh production, is Mike Poulton who has adapted and written this new translation of Chekhov’s original story. From the programme notes, it is clear that Mike Poulton believes that Chekhov got everything right the first time around, and does not need changed, does not need updated in an attempt to make it relevant for contemporary audiences. “The Seagull needs simply its original time frame and settings, and after translation, as close to as possible its original words. For Mike Poulton, what Chekhov really needs is a cast with the ability to bring his characters and his words to life on stage. As long as you get that right, then everything else will fall into place. Having said all of this, though, on the first night of the first production of this work all those years ago, that audience gave it a hostile reaction.
With this cast (thanks to Wikipedia for the identifications) this production has not only preserved the black comedy of “The Seagull”, but given it a very Scottish identification too.
- Irina Nikolayevna Arkadina (Caroline Quentin) – an actress, married surname Trepleva
- Konstantin Gavrilovich Treplev (Lorn MacDonald)– Irina's son, a young man
- Pyotr Nikolayevich Sorin (John Bett) – Irina's brother, owner of the country estate
- Nina Mikhailovna Zarechnaya (Harmony Rose-Bremner) – a young woman, the daughter of a rich landowner
- Ilya Afanasyevich Shamrayev (Steven McNicoll)– a retired lieutenant and the manager of Sorin's estate
- Polina Andreyevna (Irene Allan) – Shamrayev's wife
- Maria Ilyinishna Shamrayeva, "Masha" (Tallulah Greive) – Polina's daughter
- Boris Alexeyevich Trigorin (Dyfan Dwyfor) – a novelist
- Yevgeny Sergeyevich Dorn (Forbes Masson)– a doctor
- Semyon Semyonovich Medvedenko (Michael Dylan) – a teacher in love with Masha
- Yakov (Kristian Lustre) – a workman
A work like “The Seagull” is always an ensemble production, and by that I mean that everybody involved in it, on and off the stage, has to create a believable world for us the audience to enter into. On stage, every cast member has to be at their best to make not only their character, but all characters simply be real, natural, and people that we recognise a bit of ourselves in and a lot of other people that we know in. This is really why “The Seagull” has retained its relevancy today, people are still the same, they have not changed. This cast got all of this right tonight.
There are too many strong performances here to give everybody their due credit, so my apologies to those not credited here, but by the very nature of Chekhov’s writing, some characters simply have more focus than others.
The role of Irina Arkadina is a classic one and Caroline Quentin is clearly having so much fun with her role here. Irina is the woman that so many other people in this story orbit around. Irina is an actress of a certain age who still thinks, in her mind at least, that she can still play any of the roles of her much younger days, and that alone gives Caroline Quentin so many wonderful lines to work with, all delivered with perfect black comedy timing.
Irina of course needs someone to be the unhappy recipient of many of her barbed wire comments, and that is her long suffering son Konstantin. Konstantin’s attempt to, as a writer, create something new and daring for stage also brings in this still relevant discourse on experimental art versus mass market appeal in theatre and the arts in general. Here, as in anything that I have seen him in to date, Lorn MacDonald gives an impressive performance as Konstantin, becoming once more on stage the character that he is portraying.
One of my favourite characters in this story for me though was Maria (Masha) performed by Tallulah Greive. What is there not to like about a hard drinking young woman permanently wearing a black mourning dress. She is not mourning for anyone but herself and for her own life to date.
Where does a seagull come into all of this? That would give a little too much of this story away, so I am not telling you the answer to that question. If you come along to this show thinking that Russians have no humour, be in for a big surprise.
Review by Tom King © 2025
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com