The Seagull Revisited: What's So Great About Kristin Scott Thomas?

I finally got to see Kristin Scott Thomas's award-winning performance as the vain matriarch Irina Nikolayevna Arkadina in the current production of The Seagull on Broadway, and I must say that to my Chekhovian tastes, Scott Thomas was the weak link in the cast.

It's not entirely her fault. Ian Rickson directed the production with a light touch which brings out the nuances in a play that is often victim to overacting and melodrama. But Arkadina (as she is called in the script) is the one character who cannot afford to be softened, because it is up against her icy hardness that everyone else breaks. For the other characters to make any sense - her son Konstantin's self-torture, her lover Trigorin's moral dilemma, her brother Sorin's ineffectual whining - Arkadina has to be a true narcissist, incapable of giving except when it serves her. She drains others of their energy and self-will and fails to give them the love and support they need in return, driving them - especially her son - to despair. But in this production, the volume was turned down so low on Arkadina's self-absorption that the extreme behaviors of the people around her seemed unjustified.

On top of being directed astray, Scott Thomas made some curious choices. Her Arkadina was playful and cute, employing coquettish gestures and prancing in a childlike fashion across the stage. She almost seemed to be flirting with the audience. It made her fun to watch, but seemed ill-suited to a woman that is supposed to be a fading diva past her prime. But this is also a casting problem: Scott Thomas is just too young and beautiful (not to mention in the prime of her Hollywood career) to be believed as a fading anything. Her girlish charm was out of joint with her character's panic over losing her boyfriend to a younger woman and her nostalgic longings for the old days when she was in the spotlight.

Scott Thomas does lovely, subtle work on screen. Her latest is "I've Loved You So Long" in which she not only truthfully conveys the inner torment of a woman with a past, but does it all in fluent French! But one of the problems with Broadway's penchant for casting film stars is that the subtleties of the screen do not always translate to the stage. This is especially a danger in performing Arkadina, who is herself a famous stage star, meaning that the actress playing her must play an actress. Rickson's interpretation does some work towards humanizing Arkadina, and Scott Thomas has some winning moments in the role, but she lacks the power and presence to convince us that she has spent her life on the stage, or that she is someone with the gravitational pull to cause all the other characters to orbit her like planets.

Comments

[hugh eks]

It is such a pity that your Chekhovian tastes were not sated. And I suppose this is the appropriate forum to whine and provide a half-baked criticism about it but you failed to note that this new and wonderful translation by Christopher Hampton was exactly Chekhov's intent---with the play as well as the characters. And Kristin Scott Thomas is exactly right in her subtle, precise, crisp, funny and complex performance as Irina. As a teacher of literature, I can only assume and hope that you knew that. According to your bio, you have lived in Europe...did you see the production in London? It was wonderful and the New York production has only improved upon that. How does this compare to all of the other Chekhov plays you've seen? I am a Professor of Literature, and after seeing at least thirty Chekhov productions (including ‘The Seagull’ several times) throughout the world, this play and especially the performance by Kristin Scott Thomas as Irina Arkadina is brilliant. Please...have Chekhovian taste before declaring you do!

[questar524]

I enjoyed Miss Scott Thomas' performance. I suppose that everything you say makes sense, but not everyone who's seen this production both in London and NY is a Chekov expert or purist and all I know is that the night I saw this play, the audience was very much entertained by her. There were howls of laughter and gasps of surprise at her every turn. I do have to agree with you in your comment about her being too beautiful and too young to have us believe that she could actually lose her lover to a younger woman who, even though I think the young girl who played Nina is pretty, doesn't quite possess her sophiticated loveliness. I think that everyone involved has to give a big thank you to Miss Scott Thomas for carrying practically the weight of the entire show on her shoulders and allowing a Chekov play to succeed immensely on Broadway in this difficult economy. I took my 15 year old son with me that night and he's never heard of this play or Chekov, and he enjoyed it a great deal. Critics from all over America gave it rousing reviews, but I'm sure that the positive word of mouth from the audience is what's carrying it to a succesful run.

[kristenn]

i agree! I especially agree that kristen scott thomas played the character as cute and coquettish. as a result arkadina came off as neither complex nor cruel enough to make the other characters struggles believable.

[Zelda7]

Really disagree - thought she was amazing - a standout in a fantastic cast.

[sallyrover]

"Seagull" Schmegull--she's the Muse of the "Top Gear" Wall of Cool, and that matters far more!