Kostia Treplev, the rebellious young writer claims "new forms" in the first act of Chekhov's Seagull - and in the fourth act he concludes: "no matter whether new forms or old..."
The company of Krétakör made about the same way in more than three months of work with the play. During this time, we felt that we got closer and closer to the secrets of this estonishingly intricate play and we absorbed ever more its complex world and figures. We wished to show it as a story of today about today's people, so we changed or eliminated elements that linked it too closely to Chekhov's age. At the end, we came to a form that is reduced to minimum, with nothing but a few actors: people who live, love, play roles, lie to themselves and let others lie to them, who strive for happiness, love, success - and nothing but inevitable failure awaits them.
A century ago, the Seagull - by Chekhov and by Stanislavsky - started a theatre revolution that still determines our concept of theatre playing. The theatre of Chekhov - as we got convinced during the work - is still alive and valid, and it is as hard to revolt against it as to find veritably "new forms".