The Seagull

Participants: 1 GM, 4-7 players

By

Stoori (2023), Game Room, Otaniemi, Espoo, Finland

Jukka Oksanen

Description

The original The Seagull was done by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895. It dramatises the romantic and artistic conflicts between four characters: the famous story writer Boris Trigorin, the ingenue Nina, the fading actress Irina Arkadina, and her son the playwright Konstantin Treplev.

The first night of The Seagull on 17 October 1896 at the Alexandrinsky Theatre in Petersburg was a disaster, booed by the audience. The hostile audience intimidated Vera Komissarzhevskaya so severely that she lost her voice.

Stanislavski decided to give another opportunity for the play in newly founded Moscow Art Theatre in 1898. Idea was to perceive what was hidden beneath the surface of the play in its subtext. The performance was unanimous praised and the rest is history.

In this scenario you will go through that history as the four players, the playwright and the two directors who lived through the fall and the rise of The Seagull.

Played at