| Synopsis:
Act I
The play takes place on a country estate owned by Sorin, an ailing former government employee. He is the brother of the famous actress Arkadina, who has just arrived at the estate for a brief vacation with her lover Trigorin. The people staying at the estate gather to see an unconventional play which Arkadina’s son Konstantin has written and directed. This play within a play stars Nina, a young girl living on a neighbouring estate, as the “soul of the world”. The play is Konstantin’s latest attempt to create a new theatrical form, and resembles a dense work of symbolism. Arkadina laughs at the play, finding it ridiculous and incomprehensible, while Konstantin storms off in a huff. Act I also sets up the play’s many love triangles. The schoolteacher Medvedenko loves Masha, the daughter of the estate’s steward. Masha, in turn, is in love with Konstantin, who is in love with Nina. When Masha tells the kindly old doctor Dorn about her longing, he helplessly blames the moon and the lake for making everybody feel romantic.
Act II
This takes place outside the estate a few days later, on an afternoon. After reminiscing about happier times, Arkadina engages the house steward Shamrayev in a heated argument and rushes out. Nina stays behind after the group leaves and Konstantin shows up to give her a seagull he has shot, confusing and horrifying her. Konstantin sees Trigorin coming and leaves in a fit of jealousy. Nina asks Trigorin to tell her about the writer’s life. He replies that it is not an easy one. Nina says that she knows the life of an actress is not easy either, but she desperately wants to be one. Trigorin sees the seagull which Konstantin shot and muses on how he could use it as a subject for a short story: “A young girl lives all her life on the shore of a lake. She loves the lake, like a seagull, and she’s happy and free, like a seagull. But a man arrives by chance, and when he sees her, he destroys her, out of sheer boredom. Like this seagull.” Arkadina calls Trigorin and he leaves as she tells him that she has changed her mind, and they will not be leaving immediately. Nina stays behind, enthralled with Trigorin’s celebrity and modesty, and she gushes, “My dream!”
Act III
This takes place inside the estate, on the day when Arkadina and Trigorin will depart. Between acts, Konstantin attempted suicide by shooting himself in the head, but the bullet only grazed his skull. He spends the majority of Act III with his scalp in heavy bandages. Nina finds Trigorin eating breakfast and presents him with a medallion which proclaims her devotion to him with a line from one of Trigorin’s own books: “If you ever need my life, come and take it.” She retreats after begging for one last chance to see Trigorin before he leaves. Arkadina appears, followed by Sorin, whose health keeps deteriorating. Trigorin leaves to continue packing. There is a brief argument between Arkadina and Sorin, after which Sorin collapses, grief-stricken. Medvedenko helps him off. Konstantin enters and asks his mother to change his bandage. As she does so, Konstantin slights Trigorin and another argument ensues. When Trigorin returns, Konstantin leaves in tears. Trigorin asks Arkadina if they can stay at the estate, whereupon she flatters and cajoles him until he agrees to return to Moscow. After Arkadina has left, Nina comes to say her final good-bye to Trigorin and to inform him that she is running away to become an actress against her parents’ wishes. They kiss passionately and make plans to meet again in Moscow.
Act IV
It is winter two years later. The curtain rises on the drawing room that has been converted to Konstantin’s study. Masha has finally accepted Medvedenko’s marriage proposal and they have a child together, although Masha still nurses an unrequited love for Konstantin. Various characters discuss what has happened during the last two years. Nina and Trigorin lived together in Moscow for a while until he abandoned her and went back to Arkadina. Nina never achieved any real success as an actress and is currently touring the provinces with a small theatre troupe. Konstantin has had some short stories published but is getting increasingly depressed. Sorin’s health is failing and the people at the estate have telegraphed for Arkadina to come for his final days. Most of the characters go to the drawing room to play bingo. Konstantin does not join them and spends this time at his desk, working on a manuscript. After the group leaves for dinner, Konstantin hears someone at the back door. He is surprised to find Nina, and asks her to come in. Nina tells Konstantin about her life over the last two years. She starts to compare herself to the seagull which Konstantin killed in Act II, but then rejects this and says, “I am an actress.” She tells him that she was forced to tour with a second-rate theatre troupe after the death of the child she had with Trigorin, but she has a newly-found confidence. Konstantin pleads with her to stay but she is in great disarray and does not listen to him. Instead, she embraces Konstantin and leaves. Despondent, Konstantin spends two minutes silently tearing up his manuscripts before leaving the study. The group re-enter and return to their bingo. A gunshot is heard off-stage and Dorn goes to investigate. When he returns, he takes Trigorin aside and tells him to get Arkadina away somehow, for Konstantin has just killed himself. |
