[Seagull] – Studio Theatre

[Seagull] directed by Stijn Van Opsatal is a bold new take on Chekhov’s classic play The Seagull. Running consecutively for two and a half hours, this is an adaptation unlike any you have seen before. At the forefront of [Seagull] is the performance of the text in Flemish Sign Language.  This production truly highlights the ingenuity and championing of accessibility as not just a requirement, but as a medium in its own right. Performed as part of the Edinburgh international festival, [Seagull] is brought to us by two Belgian theatre companies; Toneelhuis and Olympique Dramatique.

[Seagull] follows the story of a young aspiring playwright and the relationships around him. Featuring four acts, each exploring the themes of unrequited love and creative ego, tensions rise and fall between the group based at a Russian country estate. Act one begins with two actors giving raw performance signing on stage for the first half an hour of the play. Masha and Medvedenko are seen having a conversation where it is established that Medvedenko is in love with Masha but she does not love him back.  We swiftly move on to Konstantin, the aspiring playwright, showing his experimental play to his loved ones, with the actors themselves moving props on and off stage in a nod to and immersion of the realist style of the original piece.  The experimentalism of this production mirrors the nature of this complicated character – the language and ideas in Konstantin’s play don’t seem to quite land with his fellows. He is writing in a language that they can’t seem to understand.

His play stars his neighbour, Nina whom he has feelings for. Konstantin’s play is mocked by his mother, Arkadina, who is a famous actress, this creates high tension between the young writer and his mother. In act two Konstantin is faced with a love confession, the scene goes on to explore themes of love, death and being destroyed and changed by love. Konstantin shoots a seagull and places it at his neighbour Nina’s feet as he goes on to speak about life and death to Nina. Trigorin, who is a successful playwright and Arkadina’s lover, creates a story inspired by the dead bird about an innocent woman who is ultimately destroyed by a whim. Nina begins to show interest in Trigorin during this time and soon after Konstantin attempts suicide. Act three follows Arkadina and Trigorin arguing and preparing to move away together, Trigorin and Nina share a kiss and Nina decides that she will run away to peruse acting in Moscow and so Trigorin plans and agrees to find his way to her in Moscow. By the final act two years have passed and it is autumn and we see each character and what they have been through in that time. Konstantin, still depressed, has seen no success in his career nor has Nina and we discover that in those two years, Trigorin left Arkadina for Nina but ultimately leaves Nina to go back with Arkadina after it is rumoured that Nina was pregnant but the baby unfortunately passes away. When Nina goes back to Moscow Konstantin destroys his manuscripts and this time fatally shoots himself in the head. While this interpretation is unconventional and perhaps not to the tastes of those select audience members who walked out, at its core it represents the misunderstood artist.  And here for once, those artists who have for so long not had the space or access to be understood in their own medium, are now performing across the world.

Which is better; Commercial success or failed ambition? In the end we realise the seagull represents more than love and death, it represents purity, freedom and susceptibility. 

[Seagull] runs until the 11th of August, with more information available at https://www.eif.co.uk

Reviewer: Jessie Martin

Reviewed: 7th August 2026

North West End UK / Theatre Muse UK Rating: