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.
From the start, it's not an ordinary play, with the actors addressing the audience, and the set consists of a stage with dressing rooms on either side. However, it sets the scene of being at the Moscow Art Theatre just before the special operations war in Ukraine is about to begin. The actors have mixed feelings about the invasion, but the up-and-coming director, Kon (Daniel Boyd), wants to continue his avant-garde interpretation of Chekhov's The Seagull. The only problem is that the invasion of Ukraine comes with a whole new series of censorship, restrictions and punishment. Overnight, specific topics are off-limits, unless you want to find yourself out of a job or sent to the front line. You were either with the government or you were a traitor.
Ahead of opening night, a drunken social media post about the government forces Kon to apologise formally to the audience. Instead, he flees to New York based on a vague promise of work from his past. But he finds himself stranded in a foreign land, increasingly hostile towards Russians and without the resources and tools his life in Russia could afford him. Equally, he is unable to return. The war in Ukraine is a turning point for a man unsure where to turn next.
With dancing, simple effects, music, and plenty of humour, this piece has a lot of heart and gives you a sense of how it feels to be lost between two worlds to which you don't belong. The ensemble deftly creates these two worlds - stifling and restricting - yet where people normalise the abnormal. When Kon's mother (Ingeborga Dapkunaite) drops by in New York to see how he is doing, she complains about changing planes three times to get there. It's the inconvenience that's at the fore, not the sanctions.
Earlier this year, when the show was running in New York, an article in The New York Times highlighted how the first few months of the second Trump administration followed a similar path to that of Russia since the turn of the century. It's republished in the programme, and it is tempting to think, particularly in the week where yet another American politically motivated shooting could be a harbinger of a future crackdown on freedoms. Social media is full of alternative facts. Outrage dominates our news cycle. There seems to be a lack of curiosity behind why one individual in a foreign country getting shot should lead the news cycle for several days. But at least we still have theatre that makes you think if you're willing to brave the tube strikes to do so.
Created and directed by Alexander Molochnikov and written by Eli Rarey, with music by Fedor Zhuravlev and Lyrics by Noize Mc, Seagull True Story continues at the Marylebone Theatre until 12 October.
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Photos by Mark Senior
