The Seagull

Interesting Facts

• The play The Seagull was written in 1895 and became one of Anton Chekhov's most famous works.
• Initially, the play was met with a cold reception and failed at its premiere at the Alexandrinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in 1896.
• After the failure at the premiere, the play was staged at the Moscow Art Theatre in 1898 under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, where it achieved great success.
• The Seagull is one of Chekhov's four great plays, alongside Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard.
• The play explores themes of art, love, human ambitions, and disappointments.
• The title of the play is symbolic and connected to the image of the seagull, which appears in the plot as a metaphor for shattered hopes and dreams.
• The main character, Nina Zarechnaya, utters the famous line: «I am a seagull. No, that's not it... Do you remember shooting a seagull? A man happened to come along, saw it, and out of sheer idleness destroyed it...»
• The play The Seagull is considered one of the first works in which Chekhov applied his unique style, combining drama and comedy, which later became known as «Chekhovian drama».