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A Man For All Seasons: Seagull True Story - Marylebone Theatre

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It's not often that you see a play that tells you not so much a story but gives you a sense of how it feels to be in a situation, how it feels to be silenced, how it feels to be marginalised, how the dead hand of consensus stifles your creativity. However, in Seagull True Story, created and directed by Alexander Molochnikov and based on his own experiences fleeing Russia and trying to establish himself in New York, we have a chance to look beyond the headlines and understand how the war in Ukraine impacted a a group of ordinary creatives in Russia. And how the gradual smothering of freedom and freedom of expression becomes impossible to resist, except for the brave or the suicidal. Against the backdrop of Chekhov's The Seagull, which explores love and other forms of disappointment, it presents a gripping and enthralling depiction of freedom of expression in the face of adversity. After playing earlier this year in New York, it plays a limited run at the Marylebone Theatre . Fro...
Theatre: Aristocrats

Life does go on. On Friday evening I caught the Brian Friel play Aristocrats at the National Theatre which turned out to be an interesting evening of Theatre. Friel wrote this play in 1979 and it tells the tale of a rich land-owning Irish Catholic family that gathers for a wedding and secrets begin to unravel. There is a hint of Chekhov to the goings on as well.

But the first two acts I found heavy going. A lot of exposition (and Irish history to absorb). And after observing a minutes silence for those killed in the bombings prior to the first act commencing, I found it all too hard to focus on the intricate story. But somehow after the interval it just felt like the story all came together, and I don't think it was the interval drinks that did it. It was just the story then began to move.

The most enjoyable part of it was actor Andrew Scott. He played the twit son who perhaps was not so stupid as everyone believed him to be... The rest of the cast were just as good (and included a couple of well regarded Irish actors) but I particularly took a liking to this character. All told it became a very enjoyable evening - once one got past all the exposition.

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