Word: arkadina
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...play revolves around the tribulations of Konstantin Treplev (Mark Rylance), son of the notorious actress Arkadina (Christine Estabrook). At the beginning of The Seagull, Konstantin's experimental play meets with laughs; he spends most of the first act alienating its star, his beloved Nina (Stephanie Roth). Nina proceeds to fall in love with Arkadina's lover, Trigorin (Mark Metcalf), a noted writer of whom Konstantin is bitterly jealous...
...While Arkadina is supposed to be narcissistic and constantly self-dramatizing, Estabrook seems to have abandoned any inner life the character might have. A shell composed of gestures and laughter, Chekhov's Arkadina does have some moments of genuine anguish, most notably when she begs Trigorin to stay...
That the audience is able to view this scene with almost complete detachment proves how astray Estabrook's interpretation has gone. When the part requires it, she is magnificently flamboyant, but the director seems to have paid less attention to Arkadina's dramatic moments...
Among the other actors, Jeremy Geidt stands out as Sorin, Arkadina's brother. Geidt's substantial stage presence gives Sorin more weight than the character usually possesses. Geidt provides some of the funniest moments in the play...
...successive summers, the play is built around a series of love triangles. The young writer Constantine Treplev is hopelessly in love with the young and beautiful would-be actress Nina Zarechny. But Nina--the Seagull--is infatuated with Boris Trigorin, the famous novelist and lover of the actress Irina Arkadina. Constantine's mother. At the same time, Masha, the daughter of the estate manager, is deeply and futilely in love with Constantine, though she herself is loved by the local schoolteacher. As these characters work out their separate fates, the play explores the relationship of men and women...