You? I ask, audibly sceptical. At 55, Blanchett has earned four BAFTAs, two Oscars, and the admiration of auteurs from Steven Spielberg to Terrence Malick, Wes Anderson to Martin Scorsese. It’s hard to believe the prospect of commanding the Barbican stage—where she delivered a virtuosic 20-minute monologue in 2012’s Groß und Klein—would fill her with anxiety, but “yes,” she insists, wrapping her cold hands around a mug of hot water and lemon, “because you don’t know if anything’s going to happen when everybody’s together—because if it doesn’t come alive, it’s nothing. It’s worse than nothing. It’s cringe.”
Given the cast in question, there’s a greater chance of those stuffed gulls flying around the ballroom than Ostermeier’s production being “cringe” when it opens this month. The first of Anton Chekhov’s four major plays—which, in the years either side of 1900, irrevocably shifted the course of modern theater—The Seagull’s plot hinges on the artistic clashes and romantic entanglements on government retiree Sorin’s (Jason Watkins) elm-shaded, lakefront dacha over two summers at the close of the 19th century. Blanchett plays Sorin’s sister, Arkadina, an aging, vain, and volatile actor, who, when the curtain rises, has just arrived from Moscow with her lover, the celebrated writer Trigorin (Tom Burke). By the water’s edge, her insecure 25-year-old son, Konstantin (Kodi Smit-McPhee), is mounting a post-apocalyptic play in which his enduring love, ingenuous country girl Nina (Emma Corrin), can act. Nina, however, is less interested in Konstantin romantically than she is enamoured with Trigorin. Then there are those who, without much in the way of recognition, keep Sorin’s home, its temperamental resident artists, and its surrounding acres in reasonable order: estate manager Shamrayev (Paul Higgins); his long-suffering daughter, Masha (Tanya Reynolds), and longer-suffering wife, Polina (Priyanga Burford); country doctor Dorn (Paul Bazely); and local schoolmaster Medvedenko (Zachary Hart), who’s as infatuated with Masha as Masha is with Konstantin.
