PORT TOWNSEND — The mainstage production opening tonight at the Key City Public Theatre has been described by the author as a comedy with “a still landscape, much talk about literature, little action and five tons of love.”
Who says Russian authors have no sense of humor?
The dramatist/author is Anton Chekhov, the play is “The Seagull,” an ensemble piece set in 1850s Russia, rife with romantic triangles and artistic conflict.
The play is directed by Lawrason Driscoll and features Guy Sands, Michelle Hensel, Mark Cherniack and Angela Gilbert.
Also appearing are Terrence Campbell, Judith Glass Collins, Ian Keith, Freeman Luoma, Amanda Steurer, Kellyn Traenkenschuh, Jesse Wiegel and Eligius Wolodkewitsch.
Set designer Brock Walker has created a moody 1850s backdrop, while costume designer Ginger McNew has designed elaborate costumes fitting for the era.
Driscoll said all the actors are veterans of the local stage, but this play is challenging.
“Everyone is being affected personally by the characters,” he said. “They are being pushed to places that they didn’t feel comfortable with. It’s a devoted group — I couldn’t ask for a better cast.”
The play revolves around a group of people who meet at an estate in the Russian countryside, where relationships become entangled and complications ensue.
Gilbert plays ambitious ingenue Nina, who is attracted to the estate’s lake, “like a seagull.”
She also longs to be an actress, and is attracted to Konstantin Treplyov, whose mother, Irina Arkadina, is an actress.
Sands plays Treplyov, a restless writer whose provocative play-within-a-play highlights the first act of the play.
Hensel plays Arkadina, a member of the Russian intelligentsia and artistic elite of pre-communist Russia, while Cherniack plays Arkadina’s lover, Boris Trigorin, an esteemed Russian writer, and also a member of the Russian elite.
Driscoll said the country setting is one of the things he liked about the play.
“I love this play for its rich characters, mischievously placed in a remote country estate, a perfect and pleasantly uncomfortable setting that allowed Chekhov to illuminate the heartbreaking ridiculousness of everyday human behavior,” he said.
Driscoll noted that Chekhov worked as a country doctor in Russia from 1884 to 1904, and no doubt witnessed much suffering, ignorance and sadness.
“I am amazed by his transmuting of these experiences into beauty, love and redemption,” he said.
“I believe Chekhov’s art reflects not the Renaissance ideal of beauty, but the true and flawed beauty that we glimpse in each other’s eyes.”
Driscoll took on the play because he is a fan of Chekov’s work and after seeing three productions of the play, felt there was more to explore.
“I think he wrote it for all the characters,” he said. “All their stories weave together. As an audience, you are watching five different love stories and all the little dramas of life.”
Chekov may have billed it as a comedy, but Driscoll said it’s not a comedy in the classic sense. It’s definitely not a farce.
“It’s a human comedy,” he said. “It’s about the everyday ridiculousness of people’s behavior.”
While the play has become a classic, it had a rocky start.
The play’s opening night in 1896 in St. Petersburg has been called a disaster, with the hostile audience booing the lead actress to the point where she lost her voice.
Chekhov finished watching the play from backstage, and told a friend he was through writing plays.
Fortunately the play rebounded from its rocky start, and has gone on to be performed around the world.
A 1992 Broadway production starred Tyne Daly as Arkadina, Ethan Hawke as Treplyov, Jon Voight as Trigorin and Laura Linney as Nina.
A 2001 New York Shakespeare Festival summer season production featured a star-studded cast, including Meryl Streep, Christopher Walken, Philip Seymour Hoffman, John Goodman and Natalie Portman.
The most recent, a 2008 Broadway production garnered a 2009 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, for Kristin Scott Thomas’ portrayal of Arkadina.
Driscoll said this play is not an adaptation but is true to the original.
How it will be received by North Olympic Peninsula audiences remains to be seen.
“I will be curious to see how audiences relate to it,” Driscoll said. “I’m too close to it — I don’t have that perspective.”
But he is sure of one thing: “I’m proud of what we’ve done. It’s a great offering to the community.”
The Key City Public Theatre production of “The Seagull” opens tonight at the Key City Public Theatre, 419 Washington St., and continues through May 8.
Showtimes are 8 p.m. today and Saturday and April 23, 24 and 30, and May 1, 7 and 8; 7 p.m. Thursday and April 22 and 29 and May 6 and 2:30 p.m. Sunday and April 25 and May 2.
Tickets are $18 all seats for Friday and Saturday performances, $15 for Thursday and Sunday shows and $10 students for all shows.
Pay-what-you-can performances are 2:30 p.m. Sunday and 7 p.m. Thursday only.
Tickets are available at Quimper Sound, 230 Taylor St. or online at www.keycitypublictheatre.org.
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Features Editor Marcie Miller, who edits Peninsula Spotlight, can be reached at 360-417-3550 or at marcie.miller@peninsuladailynews.com.
