“The Seagull” by Anton Chekhov, adapted by Florence Bell
Nottingham New Theatre

I am not a massive Chekhov fan ever since I saw "Three Sisters" performed in Russian with subtitles in the theatre; that put me off. I then saw "The Cherry Orchard" and I warmed to the writer, just a bit.

This production, which is a, as far as I could see, heavily adapted version of the play, and I think I may have been won over

The play is a slice-of-life drama set in the countryside at the end of the 19th century. The characters are dissatisfied with their lives. Some desire love. Some desire success. Some desire artistic genius. No one, however, ever seems to attain happiness.

Written in 1895 and first produced in 1896. “The Seagull” is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramatises the romantic and artistic conflicts between four characters: the famous middlebrow story writer Boris Trigorin, the naïve aspiring actress Nina, the fading actress Irina Arkadina, and her son the playwright Konstantin Tréplev, with a few other interim characters brought to the fore.

Director Florence Bell started adapting this version of the play about three years ago and along with Producer Jess Donn, they have created a very intelligent and entertaining piece of modern theatre.

The production is also a big success tech wise with video design (Sam Osborne) creating a very modern look, even at the end running credits as if we had been watching a film. very clever and a treat visually

The lighting design (Nathan Penney) was sharply timed to provide the maximum effect, as was the sound design (Jonathan Taylor Davies), again making such a difference to the production, aurally. The blending of these two tech features being clever and intelligent.

A simple set, which was also practical and meant that your concentration was on the characters and what they were saying, and that is very important with Chekhov's work, the words that are delivered.

The script, with it being an adaptation, was bang up to date delivery and language style wise, which made you feel that you were watching something so much more modern than Chekhov's original.

The cast brought the adaptation and the rich script to life before your eyes.

Clara Ames (Irine) made a wonderful NNT debut, Olly O'regan (Stanley), Callum Walker (Boris), Rosiella Sutherland (Nina), Ellen Dennis (Martha), Hugo Minta (The Doctor), Flo Starr (Petra), also making a wonderful NNT debut, and Danial Ahmer (Simon) were all perfectly cast.

At times the script was not an easy ask with lengthy monologues, all delivered with ease and great feeling, and I think I may have learned more about Chekhov from these monologues than by reading up about him externally, so thank you for yet another education.

No interval, which again I was thankful for because, even though the action was at times a bit disjointed, and it was right to be, I relished the flow of the play, and to break that flow would not have been the right thing to do.

Chekhov may be a classic writer but can be misconstrued as a bit of a "bum-acher", but with this adaptation, NNT have injected new life, and fun, into an old play. Like Jess, I have never read the original, nor seen it performed, and I don't think I want to as it may not live up to this production.

“The Seagull” is at the Nottingham New Theatre until Saturday 30 March