Details

Written in 1896 this is a comic play of aspiration and failure. On a summer's day in a makeshift theatre by a lake, a bold new play is to be performed. It is the work of a young, would-be playwright, Konstantin, who is searching for a new, more authentic dramatic form. The play stars his beautiful muse and neighbour, Nina. The assembled family audience includes his actress mother, Arkadina, who has just arrived from Moscow with the famous novelist, Trigorin. What happens during, and in the days immediately after, this play's first performance will change not just the course of the summer, but the lives of everyone involved, for ever after. This masterly meditation on love and art is both comic and tragic, and marks the birth of the modern stage.

Cast/Performers

Kristin Scott Thomas (Madame Arkadina), Mackenzie Crook (Konstantin), Katherine Parkinson (Masha), Chiwete Ejiofor (Trigorin), Carey Mulligan (Nina), Peter Wright (Sorin), Pearce Quigley (Medviedenko), Paul Jesson (Shamraeff), Christopher Patrick Nolan (Jacob), Denise Black (Pauline), Art Malik, Mary Rose

Creatives/Company

Author: Anton Chekhov
Producer: Royal Court
Adapted by: Christopher Hampton
Director: Ian Rickson
Design: Hildegard Bechtler
Sound: Ian Dickinson
Lighting: Peter Mumford
Music: Stephen Warbeck