I came along to A California Seagull, Alison Careys adaptation of Anton Chekhovs The Seagull wondering why anyone would want to transpose its setting from a wild and dark 19th Century Russian landscape to a modern day golden Californian one and I have left feeling just as bemused.
Although The Red Chair Players live up to their Fringe First reputation and perform Alison Careys adaptation admirably in a pacey and often deeply funny production, it is still impossible to shake the feeling that this is a costume which does not quite fit.
A California Seagull tells of Cameron (Konstantin Treplyov) a young wanna be auteur who is trying to forge new artistic models amongst a background of the established Hollywood elite with his lover Nina, as his muse. It begins with him showing his work to his film star mother Irene (Madame Arkadina) and her writer/director lover Taper (Trigorin) who have come to stay with Irenes elderly brother Peter (Sorin) at his California vineyard and a mismatched group of family and friends. As soon as Nina sees Taper she is drawn to him and as she slowly begins to drift from Cameron the web of unrequited love and hidden feelings which has hitherto tied this group together begins to unravel.
As we watch each character playing out their own tragedy over the next four acts, it is hard to see them existing within the relaxed, sunny and debauched clique of modern day Hollywood. The characters feelings of longing for something or someone else and their desperate need to escape their surroundings are innately tied up into the dilapidated claustrophobic estate that they are trapped on and the unseen society that they are either hiding from or long to get back to. By turning this estate into a sunblushed and relaxed California vineyard, Cameron, Nina, Irene, Taper and the others seem to jar with their environment, it does not inform and create them but directly clashes with them, making them seem like pieces of a puzzle which dont fit their holes. When Christopher Ghaffari as Eugene (Dorn) posits that if society loves celebrities and treats them differently to stable boys then everyone will treat them differently it screams of social commentary and does not sit with his character or the tempo of the rest of the language.
Nonetheless this is an enjoyable show, the young cast are very strong and although slightly tense at the beginning of their run they throw themselves into Chekhovs characters with a real passion. If at all, then I believe that Careys adaptation succeeds in this respect, enabling a modern day audience and group of performers to empathise with the work of a 100 year old Russian playwright.
Of particular note is Annaliese Kirby as Irene, the spoilt, selfish and beautiful film star, who has created a truly detailed and layered performance. Even when Irene is at her most self centered Annaliese Kirby shows her to be a woman of great vulnerability and underlines her entire performance, each word and nod, each response and command, with this fragility, imbuing her with a mature humanity.
This is a production which certainly keeps things moving and gets the job done. Peppered with strong performances, the pacing is quick and the direction solid and there are a number of immensely funny moments for example the reaction of Camerons family and friends to his theatrical debut is a fantastic. However by adding the word California into the title and turning it into a commentary on modern Hollywood, I believe that Alison Carey has diluted some of the power of this play, she has lost the depth of history and social context that each character is innately washed in, making this an ill fitting adaptation of The Seagull but one that The Red Chair Players portray handsomely.
