Macedonian Seagull swoops into Beijing

In the Macedonian National Theatre's version, The Seagull dramatizes the romantic and artistic conflicts of four characters: the famous middlebrow story writer Boris Trigorin, the ingenue Nina, the fading actress Irina Arkadina, and her son, the ambitious playwright Konstantin Treplev. Set in the Russian countryside at the end of the 19th century, the characters are dissatisfied with their lives. The director tells the story in a contemporary way, attempting to convey to the audience that, despite being created more than 120 years ago, the characters are not much different from people today.

"Chekhov's plays are about life, which is pure, cruel and concentrated. It happens everywhere, in all languages and at any time," says director Nikolikj. "Some critics view The Seagull as a tragic play about eternally unhappy people. However, others see it as a humorous, albeit bitter, satire that pokes fun at human folly."

"Some consider The Seagull as a guide book that provides information about what kind of theater productions we should make. Great authors do not feel the egoistic need to change the world. Instead, they only write down their own views. Life is what they want to teach us. That is why Chekhov is present always and everywhere," wrote the dramaturge, Dragana Lukan Nikoloski, on Dec 4, 2018, before the production's premiere.

Rather intriguingly, the premiere of The Seagull by the Macedonian National Theatre happened to take place on the same date as that Stanislavski adaptation by Moscow Art Theatre in 1898－something Nikoloski insists was completely unplanned and purely coincidental. That may well be, but given the production's warm reception so far, it has certainly proved auspicious.