Below are excerpts from The Arts Fuse’s review of The Seagull. We appreciate their review, and we have linked its full article below.
“For its production of Anton Chekhov’s classic drama The Seagull, Arlekin Players Theatre goes meta. It opens not within the world of the play, but with director Igor Golyak stepping onto the stage, gathering his actors together, and passing them their parts. As they prepare to delve into the play, the cast tosses out venom-laced quotations from Chekhov, comments that denounce the theater — and admit that he just can’t stay away. Even as the narrative begins in earnest, Golyak steps in from time to time to guide the production along, tweaking scenes on the fly. And yet, despite all the meta-theatrical madness, the production achieves an almost magical clarity. Far from distracting us from Chekhov’s tale of creative frustrations and unrequited love, Golyak’s self-conscious flourishes only sharpen its sting.”
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“In this Arlekin Players Theatre production, Chekhov’s deftly woven web of struggling creatives and lovelorn romantics is cleverly understated, feeling natural rather than soap opera-ish. The emotional clarity of the dialogue shines like a beacon through the bizarre and sometimes unsettling dreamscape Golyak and crew have fashioned around it. The domination of black in Nikolay Simonov’s enigmatic set and Nastya Bugaeva striking costumes makes the space feel as if it’s shrouded in a blanket of shadows. The actors commit fully to the production’s roustabout, surreal nature: darting around the set like slapstick comedians, launching into impromptu dances at the drop of a hat. They’re so immersed in this theatrical madhouse that they compel us to follow.”