The family meets at the house by the lake. Mother and son, both in the arts, bring their lovers with them. Love sizzles like the summer heat, young Kostya’s new play flops, his mother Arkadina makes fun of it. Chekhov’s The Seagull tells of the desire for freedom, the longing for artistic recognition and an insatiable hunger for life. Young people compete against old, theatre reformers against the establishment.
In his first take on Chekhov, Christopher Rüping approaches the material with actors from his own generation, asking: How do we look at our own life stories when the turbulent years are behind us, but we have not yet grown old, rich or famous? What separates and unites people in midlife?