Snappier dialogue and fresher colloquialisms. Sometimes that’s all we get when a revival of a great play is advertised as a “new version”. But the Headlong theatre company’s short, sharp reinvention blows away the cobwebs so thoroughly that Chekhov’s classic offers the shock of the new once again.
It’s not that John Donnelly’s adaptation deepens the drama exactly. Indeed, Blanche McIntyre’s spare, modern production can be cold to the touch. But this Seagull has an enlivening ability to cut to the chase. We realise this from the off, as a T-shirted Konstantin tells his ailing uncle Petr to get a bit of life. “Life!” replies Petr, on whose estate the young and the old will drift in and out, talking art and love and success