By ANTON TCHEHOV
The action takes place in the house and garden of Sorin's estate in Russia during the 'last decade of the last century.
There will be three brief intervals during the play to indicate the passage of time.
The play adapted for broadcasting and produced by BARBARA BURNHAM The Sea. Gull, Tchehov's second play, was first produced in St. Petersburg in 1896. It was given at the benefit performance of a popular comedienne of the day, and so puzzled the audience, who expected a comedy, bv its sombre theme and startling technique, that it was a' spectacular failure. But it achieved a success, when revived a few years later at the famous Moscow Art Theatre, that has been repeated in numerous productions in England and America, and the play has now passed into the international repertory. London first saw it in ioir, and it was revived at the Fortune Theatre in 1929. Tchehov has been represented several times before in the programmes, but mainly in his lighter moods. Three of his many burlesques-The Wedding, The Proposal, and The Bear-have provided light-hearted listening, and the last of his plays, The Cherry Orchard, which was revived with great success recently at Sadlers Wells and the Old Vie, was broadcast in 1929. The Sea-Gull brings another aspect of his genius to the microphone. In a typical Russian provincial setting towards the end of the last century, it presents, with extraordinary vividness, the emotional inter-actions of a set of varied people. But all of them are subordinate to the atmosphere and mood of the play, which is built up with infinitesimal touches, until it becomes the dominating impression.
This play was broadcast in the Regional programme last night.
An article on Tchehov and The Sea-
Gull appears on page 794.