Informal audience chat, or full-fledged theatrical production? Seagull, now playing at the Skirball Center, is, naturally, both—because, as always with an Elevator Repair Service joint, the lines between creators and creation are constantly blurred.
If you’ve seen anything from ERS—perhaps its warp-speed Measure for Measure, or its butt-busting Great Gatsby marathon Gatz—you might know what to expect from its interpretation of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull: excellent ensemble work (check), intricate sound design (check), and groovy dance breaks (check-ball-change).
[Read David Finkle’s ★☆☆☆☆ review here.]
And, of course, comedy. This is a company that found laughs in a Supreme Court case (Barnes v. Glen Theatre) in Arguendo. So Seagull takes its tragicomic label pretty seriously, starting with a pre-show speech by longtime ERS company member Pete Simpson that covers the running time, stage specs, pyrotechnics, fire pots, hydraulics, supertitles, Tennessee Williams, and “mandatory, individually spotlighted extreme audience participation moments.” (Almost everything he mentions is nonsense—including, thank goodness, the audience participation.) The incredibly long speech—during which Simpson is pacing back and forth like a father in a 1950s-TV-sitcom maternity ward—segues pretty smoothly into the Chekhovian talk, where Simpson establishes himself as the teacher Semyon, who’s desperately poor and hopelessly in love with the dour Masha (the inimitable Susie Sokol, an ERS fixture). “I’m in mourning for my life—but we cut that line,” she tells us in a post-intermission heart-to-heart.
Where there’s a laugh to be found—or even where there isn’t one—ERS will uncover it. In her first scene, young aspiring actress Nina (Maggie Hoffman) declares that “it’s the lake that attracts me”—turning to the audience with a knowing glance—“as if I were a seagull.” (She’d have elbowed us if she could have.) Sound designers Gavin Price and John Gasper—who also play, respectively, would-be avant-garde author Konstantin and estate worker Yakov—make the most of melodramatic background music, using orchestral bits to underscore especially over-the-top moments. And costume designer Kaye Voyce clearly enjoyed creating looks for these characters: In green corduroy coveralls and high-tops as Konstantin, the mop-topped Price looks like a less-sparkly Harry Styles. Playing his attention-seeking aging actress mom, Irina, Kate Benson wears an Elaine Stritch–style pants-free outfit (think: crisp white shirt, fishnets, character shoes). Her lover, Boris Trigorin (Robert M. Johanson)—the object of Nina’s affection and Konstantin’s ire—struts and pouts in a beanie and denim-on-denim, the ultimate grunge-guy uniform.
ERS also finds a few funny bits in, of all things, amplification. During the pre-show speech Simpson carries a microphone with a cord as long as the spiel itself, and the microphone gets passed from actor to actor so much that it practically becomes another character. Later Masha even uses it to snort tobacco—sort of dollar-bill style. (The cord-dragging business eventually gets tiresome, and feels like a total time-suck.)
But all these winning moments feel adrift in the Skirball Center, a cavernous multilevel theater with roughly 800 seats. (The ceilings are probably even high enough to accommodate the pyrotechnics Simpson joked about.) The beauty of ERS is its ability to make the audience feel part of a production—partners in some kind of mad-genius theatrical lab experiment. Spaces such as New York Theatre Workshop or any of the Public Theater’s stages—where ERS has performed—afford that kind of intimacy.
Also: A familiarity with the play will definitely help you out here. If you’re wondering who Patricia (played by the terrific Laurena Allan) is, she’s Irina’s sister; the role is usually Sorin, her brother, nicknamed Petrusha. And Nina’s throwaway reference to “the baby” might puzzle you, as ERS has cut the entire explanation about Nina’s affair—you can guess with whom—and the baby that later died. This Seagull might be best suited to hardcore Chekhov and ERS fans.
Seagull opened July 20, 2022, and runs through July 31 at NYU Skirball Center. Tickets and information: nyuskirball.org
