Published on: Wednesday, July 08, 2009

By David Cannon, Sentinel Arts Critic

Poor Anton Chekhov. Chekhov became famous when top Russian directors staged his plays but the writer never totally liked the productions. You see, Chekov thought of his plays as comedies while directors kept turning them into intimate dramas. While hardly Neil Simon, Chekhov is also not the dreary realist that so many directors turn him into.

Finding the humor in Chekhov is one of the many things that make the current production of The Seagull down at Theater J so interesting. First of all, there is nothing particularly Jewish about the script and Theater J is better known for modern plays, not works from the end of the 19th century. This quite successful Seagull is something of a breakthrough for the group, while providing an interesting new lens on this familiar work.

The full name of the Theater J production is “The Seagull on 16th Street,” a nod toward another Chekhov adaptation, the film Vanya on 42nd Street. Artistic director Ari Roth has adapted this play for this company and has carefully added Jewish themes to Carol Rocamora’s translation. Some of this is purely cosmetic – an outfit here or the insertion of a Yiddish term there (the “L’chaim” toast).

Other changes are more radical. The silly play within a play that Konstantin writes and Nina performs in the first scene has become an early prototype for Jewish Theater. Along with the typical generation gap issues that separate Konstantin and his successful mother, there is the added conflict of fiercely proud Jewish son versus a far more urban and assimilated Jewish mother.

Not all of Roth’s changes and additions work, like some of the more modern musical selections. Rest assured that 90 percent of this play is still The Seagull, a work that explores artistic dreams and generational conflict in more depth than any of Chekhov’s other plays. At the heart of the play is the love triangle between young but immature budding writer Konstantin, who is in love with aspiring actress Nina, who has a crush on older, more established writer Trigorin.

In typical Chekhov fashion, a number of subplots carry the play forward. Director John Vreeke remembered that Chekhov called his plays comedies, and a lot of the early scenes are quite humorous. The fine acting helps bring this off. Naomi Jacobson is wonderfully vain but well meaning as Konstantin’s mother, while Alexander Strain has a field day as the immature Konstantin. Former Round House artistic director Jerry Whiddon brings an interesting twist to Trigorin – rather ordinary and even a little seedy – while Veronica del Cerro successfully shows us a Nina that matures over the course of the play.

Again not everything works but the heart of this Seagull is still what Chekhov wrote and this fine cast proves very adept at Chekhov. After all, while this playwright did not say that the characters is “The Seagull” were Jewish, he did not go out of his way to say they definitely were not Jewish either.

The Seagull on 16th Street continues at Theater J through July 19. For more information, call 1-800-494-TIXS or go online to http://www.theaterj.org/.

3 stars