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The Seagull

Drama and Theatre

The Seagull is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 and first produced in 1896, generally considered the first of his four major plays. It dramatizes the romantic and artistic conflicts among four characters, the middlebrow story writer Boris Trigorin, the ingenue Nina, the fading actress Irina Arkadina and her son the symbolist playwright Konstantin Treplev, relying on an ensemble cast of diverse, fully developed characters and subtext rather than melodrama. The opening night was a famous failure, but when Konstantin Stanislavski directed it in 1898 for his Moscow Art Theatre, the play became a triumph and one of the greatest events in the history of Russian theatre. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Classification
Audience
General 1
Original Language
Russian 1
Composed, From (Year)
from 1895 1
Written 1895; first produced 1896.
Composed, To (Year)
to 1896 1
FAQs

What does the seagull in The Seagull symbolize?

A central but deliberately open symbol, tied to Nina, whose meaning the play never fixes.

The seagull is the play's central symbol. Konstantin shoots one and lays it at the feet of Nina in the second act, and Nina later adopts the seagull as a signature emblem with a special meaning for her. Its meaning for the play remains elusive and debatable, and Chekhov seems to include it almost whimsically, so readers and audiences are left to find their own meaning in it.
Connections

Authored By

Anton Chekhov, Authors
Source The Seagull (Wikipedia)

In Genre

Tragicomedy, Genres
Source The Seagull (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases

Original Language

Also in Language Atlas: the original language of this subject.

Originated In

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.

Sources
1. The Seagull (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead section
    The Seagull...is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 and first produced in 1896.
  • Lead
    is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 and first produced in 1896.
  • Lead paragraph
    The Seagull (Russian: Ча́йка, romanized: Cháyka) is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 and first produced in 1896. The Seagull is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays.
  • Authored By: Anton Chekhov, Lead section, authorship
    The Seagull...is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895.
  • In Genre: Tragicomedy, Lead section, genre (infobox)
    Tragicomedy
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