Mysuru: City’s amateur theatre group Natana will be staging the play ‘Seagull’ on Dec. 24 at its premises in Ramakrishnanagar from 6.30 pm. The play originally written by Anton Chekov has been translated to Kannada by Hema Pattanashetty and directed by Shwetha Rani, an NSD graduate.

About the Play

The seagull is the first symbol Chekhov used to title a play, written before The Cherry Orchard. The image of the seagull changes meaning over the course of the play. First, in Act One, Nina uses a seagull to describe the way she is drawn to the lake of her childhood home and her neighbours on Sorin’s estate. In this case, the seagull represents freedom and security.

In Act Two, Treplev shoots a seagull and gives it to Nina. Treplev tells her that one day he will be dead in Nina’s honour just like the seagull. Later, Trigorin uses the seagull as a symbol for Nina and the way he will destroy her, as Treplev destroyed the seagull. Treplev mentions that after Nina had the affair with Trigorin, she has written him letters signed, “The Seagull.” In Act Four, Nina returns to the estate and calls herself the seagull then corrects herself, describing herself as an actress. The seagull changes its meaning from freedom and carefree security to destruction at the hands of a loved one. It symbolises freedom at first and then dependence. The seagull also serves as a foreshadowing device. Nina fulfills Trigorin’s prophesy of destroying her just like the seagull and Treplev kills himself in Nina’s honour at the end of the play when she still does not love him.