The Seagull at the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh*****

There is no better way to celebrate the Lyceum’s 60 years of Chekhov than with this beautiful production, directed by the theatre’s new artistic director James Brining. If this is a taste of what he has to offer we have a lot to look forward to.

In this new adaptation by Mike Poulton, The Seagull is set mostly on a country estate where a young playwright struggles for the attention of his mother, a famous but fading actress, while she lords it over an assortment of people, from servants to writers. 

From the moment she makes her entrance, Caroline Quentin’s star quality not only fills the stage but the whole auditorium. She is, at times, demanding, commanding, coquettish, manipulative… just spell-binding.

But hers is not the only compelling performance. Chekhov draws his characters so well and each has their chance to shine in these, the right hands. I was especially pleased to see John Bett, famous in the 1970s as a founding member of the 7:84 theatre company, comfortably settling into the role of the estate owner, while Forbes Masson, soon to be seen at the Festival Theatre with his old buddy Alan Cumming, makes a welcome return to the Lyceum stage as the somewhat pompous doctor, after a resounding success in a new solo version of Jekyll and Hyde. 

Steven McNicoll’s huge presence as the farm manager adds to the mix but younger actors also make their mark, especially Harmony Rose-Bremner as Nina, an ambitious but somewhat naive actress whose demise is heartbreaking and almost difficult to watch. Lorn MacDonald as the actress’s son and Tallulah Greive as the snuff-sniffing Masha, daughter of the farm manager’s wife, are also tragic characters who pull at our heart strings. As always with Chekhov’s plays, they may have been written, as in this case, over 100 years ago, but we can still see ourselves in his masterful observations of the human condition.

No review would be complete without praising Colin Richmond and Anna Kelsey’s stunning set and, in particular Lizzie Powell’s superb lighting. Her morning sunlight, moonlight and shuttered gloom are so realistic that, together with such convincing performances, we are truly transported back to 1890s Russia.

Image: Mihaela Bodlovic

The Seagull is at the Royal Lyceum Theatre until Nov 1

www.lyceum.org.uk

It then transfers to:

The Chichester Festival Theatre from Nov 11-15

www.cft.org.uk