The seagull: the stage mother, the missing father, and the origins of art

In the play that initiated the "modem drama" of this journal's title, Chekhov offers a timeless plot of intergenerational conflict played out on the field of art. The allegorically charged relationships in The Seagull (Chayka, 1896) challenge the audience to speculate as to the ways art and life are intertwined. It is treacherous territory. The sensitive critic is continually aware of the author's voice muttering peevishly in the background, "Unlike some people, I don't presume to know any answers; all I do is ask questions." Chekhov teases anyone who wants to find deeper meaning in his work. Asked his opinion on the lake in Simov's set design for the first performance of The Seagull, he says, "It's wet." Or take his suggestion to Stanislavsky, the Moscow Art Theatre's fist Trigorin, that he should wear not white, but checkered trousers. The critic seems doomed to failure, and the author remains silent. And yet, The Seagull is so clearly about the nature of the relationship between art and life that no in...