Morning:
13°c
London faces a wave of bus and Tube strikes that could cause chaos for millions of passengers as unions walkout over pay and conditions
More...
An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Nicholas de Jongh's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Trevor Nunn.
Cast: Frances Barber, Ian McKellen, William Gaunt, Monica Dolan, Romola Garai, Richard Goulding, Peter Hinton, Jonathan Hyde, Melanie Jessop, Gerald Kyd
Description: Anton Chekhov's tragi-comic play about the lives of a famous actress and her son. Directed by Trevor Nunn.
Trains: Tube: Covent Garden/Holborn 
Phone: 0870890 0141
Website: www.rutheatres.com
Superlative: Romola Garai as Nina (seen here with Gerald Kyd as Trigorin) is the chief glory of this production of The Seagull
Time and a world-tour have been unkind to Trevor Nunn's Royal Shakespeare Company production of The Seagull that I admired at Stratford-upon-Avon. It alights in town all torpid and lethargic, looking distinctly blue and bird-fluish.
It takes three hours and 20 minutes of hard theatrical labour to bring Chekhov's study of unrequited lovers in the world of the idle, modestly-landed gentry to its suicidal finale. Nunn's production is hampered by monotonous langour, conceptual vagueness and melodramatic pointing, such as the vulgar interpolation of Konstantin's suicide attempt.
Christopher Oram's setting mysteriously combines realism and expressionism. It retains the designs for Nunn's King Lear, with that crumbling edifice of a theatre balcony visible. A few birch trees and pieces of furniture are scattered around, with a vague lakeside rear view, as if to suggest The Seagull highlights the dilemma of people for whom life is all theatrical performance.
Gerald Kyd's handsome, bearded Trigorin, who ought to transmit sexual electricity, rises to the challenge of Romola Garai's smitten Nina and succumbs to Arkadina's erotic appeals with all the vigour of a sedated tortoise.
Richard Goulding plays Konstantin on a note of tremulous self-pity.
At Stratford this Seagull was far more bathed in the shades of romantic melancholia - and distinguished by the illuminating, psychological insights of Miss Garai's performance. Shrill, ardent, gawkily demonstrative with her long hands, her still superlative Nina regards Konstantin, who welcomes the girl with puppy-like excitement, as the means to launch her acting career.
She falls for Trigorin with the fanaticism of an obsessive hero-worshipper. She returns to Konstantin after her affair with the novelist, shattered by love, her high voice cracking in the throes of a nervous breakdown. Miss Garai remains this Seagull's chief glory.
Monica Dolan's alcoholic, despairing-Masha and Melanie Jessop, jealously pining for Dr Dorn, beautifully complete the gallery of rejected lovers. And William Gaunt's decrepit Sorin (he alternates with Ian McKellen in the role) exudes a fine, comic dejection.
Frances Barber, who at Stratford burlesqued Arkadina as a Russian equivalent of a Billingsgate fishwife, turns in a dramatically improved, impressive performance. All the farcical flouncing has gone. Her selfish, superannuated actress basks in self-admiration, as if to conceal sexual insecurity. She aspires to be maternal with Konstantin, while heart and ego are otherwise engaged.
Such performances hit home. But, oh, this Seagull's slow-flapping, night flight.
• Until 12 January (0870 890 0141).
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
The Seagull is an outstanding success. Trevor Nunn directs with panache, dazzling the audience with various bits of business all over the stage, like Frances Barber's Arkadina lounging on cushions and William Guant's funny, slightly fey brother in a wheelchair, reminiscent of Lord Marchmain from Brideshead Revisited. This is early soap with tragedy looming large as the brilliant cast fall in love with the wrong people. Their dreams are shot down like the bird of the title. Miss Barber is captivating as the vain, deluded and larger-than-life Arkadina and her scenes with Richard Goulding are powerful indeed. She loves her son but won't be bullied into giving up her lover. Mesmerising and heartbreaking theatre at its very best. Unmissable.
- David, London
