Little did Anton Chekhov think that The Seagull would become one of his reference works and that 127 years later theater directors would continue making new productions. Premiered in Saint Petersburg in 1896, the play was an absolute failure, to the point that Chekhov hid behind the scenes from the second act onwards and one of the actresses, intimidated, lost her voice. It had to be Stanislavski, with his staging in Moscow, who began the path to success of this fundamental work of contemporary dramaturgy.
The Lithuanian director Oskaras Koršunovas is an old acquaintance of Estación Alta, where he inaugurated the festival in 2021 with an Oncle Vània with Catalan performers. He also presented his version of The Seagull, which has had other productions, such as that of Àlex Rigola or Daniel Veronese.
But now it is an outstanding student of his, only 29 years old, Jokūbas Brazys, who takes charge of Koršunovas' company (OKT), to direct a new version of The Seagull (Žuvėdra), very different from that of his teacher, he assures. Brazys: “I have drunk a lot from Koršunovas' teaching, but I am looking for my way.” The work premieres in Spain this Friday at the Teatre de Salt, and is the last international production of this edition of the Montaña Alta festival.
“The piece tells us about the technical difficulties of the theatrical profession,” says the director. In the production we ask ourselves these questions: Why are we in this theatrical world? Why have we done it like this? Why have we made this decision and not another? It is the cross that Chekhov told us about.”
“The worst thing that can happen to you with a theatrical proposal is that the audience understands absolutely everything. I seek to represent the work as a dream, to manipulate the dreams of the public, even though The Seagull is a very logical work. What I want is for the public to see it with their eyes wide open, and think before going to sleep. It is a tragedy of love and in the play we talk about the complexes of human beings, and that is why it is very hard for the human soul,” he concludes.
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