The Seagull at Huntington Theatre Co.

The Peak of an Era

by Shae McDonald

March 11, 14

   

         A powerful play sits with you forever, but a moving play can make you question your own life. In a version of The Seagull, by Anton Chekov, performed by the Huntington Theater Company, the entire audience was on the edge of their seats the entire time. The cast, the set, and the overall design worked flawlessly together in the company’s interpretation of the great Chekov play. Right from the start you were laughing out loud one minute, and then tearful the next due to the ever so odd relationship between Konstantin Gavrilovich Treplyov and his famous mother, Irina Nikolayevna Arkadina.

 In this version oddly enough the mother and son were mother and son in real life. Kate Burton and her son, Morgan Ritchie, performed in this play together, as always Burton was flawless, but Ritchie was a little less than good in this role. This brings up the question whether her son was cast due to the fact that he was the best for the role, or was it just because he was part of the package. During the performance the set changed once and it was quite flawless, it did not distract nor did it take away from the performance. Overall this performance made an impact on everyone in the audience. The art of a great piece of theater stays with you forever, and this piece definitely does that to you.