Red Theater’s The Seagull is here to remind us that Time is a Flat Circle

Anton Chekov, one of “The Russians” – greats of modern literature including Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, wrote four famous plays and hundreds of short stories before his early death at 44, while he was also a practicing physician, in case you weren’t feeling accomplished enough today. The Seagull was his first play, and its debut so disastrous he almost quit theater altogether, but in 1898, it was produced again in Moscow and a raging success, and it has confounded and enraged audiences ever since.

The Seagull tells the story of four main characters: the famous writer Boris Trigorin (a melancholy Josh Razavi), the ingenue Nina ( the buoyant Jamie Herb), the fading actress Irina Arkadina (narcissistic queen Anne Sheridan Smith), and her son the symbolist playwright Konstantin Treplyov, played with bruised, desperate intensity by Kason Chesky.

Famous actress Arkadina has come to visit her brother Sorin played loveably by Chuck Munro, a retired civil servant in ailing health. He’s also the de-facto guardian of her son, Treplyov, who she has little interest in. He’s made a small life for himself with his uncle, he’s an aspiring writer and adores his neighbor, the lovely Nina. Arkadina has brought along her most recent lover, the younger Trigorin, who is a successful writer. His fame and melancholy air is immediately attracting to impressionable Nina. Herb’s performance is innocent and joyful, her curiosity and big dreams spill out from her tangibly. Her infatuation sends Treplyov, who is already desperate for love and validation, into a tailspin of despair.

The cast is rounded out by Joe Zarrow as estate manager Shamraev, Ana Ortiz-Monasterio Draa as his wife and housekeeper Polina, Magdalena Dalzell as their sarcastic, unhappy alcoholic daughter Masha, Chris Hainsworth as Dr. Dorn, the only person in the house with any real stability, Ben Murphy as the humble, self-deprecating Medvedenko – who’s deeply in love with Masha, and Bobby Bowman as a delightfully grumpy Yakov.

As ever with Red, the scenic, light and sound design by Hunter Cole, Brenden Marble and Kate Schnetzer is well done, creating atmosphere and sense of place with carefully and sparsely placed strokes, the beautiful, room-sized painting of the lake front serves both as a suggestion of the outside, but also a reminder that the audience is engaging in artwork that is showing humanity back at itself.

What amazed me the most about this production was how little has changed from late 19^th Century Russia to modern American Life. Narcissistic parents, youthful dreams, the desperate, constant need for validation – none of this has changed, if fact, some if it has become ubiquitous. Anne Sheridan Smith’s performance as the aging actress Arkadina is sharp and pitch perfect. Arkadina clutches her desirability to men in a death grip. That, and the adoration of the crowds are the only things that matter. Her son’s health or happiness is a distant third.  Chesky’s Treplyov feels impossible young, his big brown eyes pools of neediness. Chekov kindly makes it clear that Treplyov is not without talent, but the deficits in his emotional being caused by the total lack of love and support ultimately can’t be overcome.

Watching the story play out of a young artist, toiling for recognition but also to make something new and authentic – while the older generation stops him at every turn, felt all to prescient. Several of the monologues from the older characters could have been made by my own Boomer relatives.

The Seagull shares many similarities with Hamlet, a Red Theater production from just a few years ago: there’s a lost young man, a delicate ingenue, inappropriate parental relationships and careless use of the powerless. Chekov had a sharp humor that can be easily missed among all the over-the-top tragedy. Luckily for us, director Ian Maryfield chooses the comedy in the first half. He uses Chris Hainsworth and Ben Murphy’s great comedic timing well. Hainsworth as the bemused straight man, and Murphy as the bumbling, self-deprecating doofus. Magdalena Dalzell is also perfectly dry – while sipping her ever-present flask. It’s a comedy of manners, but with a darkside.

Trigorin is often considered one of Chekov’s “best” male leads, and a difficult role. Razavi comes off as a rather insecure, easy going guy who just can’t say no. It would have been perhaps less of a shock if he had played Trigorin with a little more confidence and maybe would have sold why Nina found him so fascinating. But, as his duplicitousness is slowly revealed, you realize that this mopey dude is the very worst kind of bad guy – he thinks he’s a good guy, a victim of circumstance and irresistible women, and he is happy to pass the buck when things go south. Razavi’s harmless likeability is played to interesting affect here. His toxicity takes the audience by surprise. So too, does the sorry fate of Nina, and the unsurprising one of Masha and Treplyov.

It is a common observation of the play that young Treplyov is the Seagull – a creature destroyed by a man, simply because he can. This interpretation ignores the two young women in the play. Both Masha and Nina have very few choices, and both make a definitive choice, only to pay heavily for them after. Their lives are entirely at the mercy of the men they choose.  However, the only woman with any real power, Arkadina, also seeks validation and self-worth from men. That may actually be the point though. Each character in this story is desperate for recognition and validation, often from the one person they will never get it from. In today’s world of near-constant validation seeking, it could have been written yesterday, or sadly, tomorrow. For a sharp, funny, well produced evening, you won’t go wrong with this production.

Recommended

Reviewed by Alina C. Hevia

Presented at The Edge Off Broadway, 1133 W. Catalpa Ave. February 14 – March 15, 2026

Tickets are available now at www.redtheater.org for $30, student rates are available

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.