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Russian writer Anton Chekhov was one of his country’s most famous writers. Now, one of his plays has made its way to the San Antonio stage.
Directing is Eva Laporte, who says there’s a lot going on in the Classic Theatre’s "The Seagull."
“This is often seen as a series of love triangles, everyone sort of lusting after someone that is unrequited,” Laporte said. “It's much deeper than that. This takes place at a country estate, sort of a vacation summertime and (includes) a very famous actress.”
Laporte says Chekhov surprised theatergoers all the way back then, by challenging drama norms that everyone expected.
“There's a beginning, now there's a middle, now there's rising action, and now there's a climax and a conclusion,” she said. “And he really plays with structure and challenges the structure of story. And you're meant to sit at the end, going, "Wait, what? What just happened?”
The Classic Theatre is the black box location, holding just 70 theatergoers at a time. As theaters go, it’s quite intimate.
In the Classic Theatre’s next production, Laporte has modernized the play, turning it into a contemporary production. She says Chekhov's era gave writers like him plenty to write about.
“And it is very much a young man who was facing a time in his country of political revolution, religious, cultural revolution in thought paradigm shifts of the new century, and the divisive thoughts of community are right there for us today, 100 so years later,” Laporte said.
"The Seagull" can be seen through Aug. 30 at the black box below San Pedro Playhouse’s Russell Hill Rogers Theater. Find more information at their website.
