Chekhov’s celebrated masterpiece The Seagull is given vibrant new life in this dynamic new adaptation by Olivier Award-winning playwright Simon Stephens, directed by Sean Holmes and starring Lesley Sharp as Irina Arkadina.

Unrequited love. Creative jealousy. Guns. Vodka and Art. Switching effortlessly between the ridiculous and the profound, The Seagull forensically examines the transcendence and destructiveness of love. The burning need to create Art, and how harshly that need can be crushed, permeates this classic play.

Lesley Sharp is probably best known to TV audiences as Janet Scott in the ITV drama Scott & Bailey, shown between 2011 – 2016. In 1997 she was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in the The Full Monty. Lesley has been nominated for two Olivier Awards, for Best Supporting Actress for Uncle Vanya, another Chekhov play, and for Best Comedy Performace for A Family Affair.

This adaptation is in a long line of hits by playwright Stephens, whose work includes Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle, which opened on Broadway in 2016 and in the West End in Autumn 2017. Recently, his adaptation of Brecht and Weill’s The Threepenny Opera opened at the National Theatre in May 2016 and his adaptations of A Dolls House and The Cherry Orchard both opened at the Young Vic. He is best known for his adaptation of Mark Haddon’s novel The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, which won both the Olivier and Tony Awards for Best New Play, and is currently on a national tour.

Chekhov’s The Seagull was written in 1895 and first produced in 1896. Its opening night was famously a flop, but when the renowned Russian dramatist Stanislavski revived the production in 1898, it was a huge triumph, and The Seagull entered theatrical canon as one of the greatest events in Russian theatre history, going on to be recognised as one of the greatest plays of all time.

Combining Stephens’ immense talent with a classic script, the Lyric Hammersmith’s The Seagull is an unmissable theatrical event.

Age Recommendation: 14+

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