Seagulls review Chekhov musical makes Nina a singer-songwriter | Musicals
Musicals This article is more than 4 years oldReviewSeagulls review – Chekhov musical makes Nina a singer-songwriter
This article is more than 4 years oldBolton Library and Museum
Beth Hyland attempts to shift the male-and-his-muse gaze in her story about misogyny in the music industry
Fiction and history are littered with male artists and their obliging female muses, with women forever relegated to supporting roles. Beth Hyland’s new musical, loosely based on Chekhov’s The Seagull, attempts to refocus the narrative. Trigorin – a global rock star in this version – is pushed into the wings, leaving singer-songwriter Nina in the spotlight.
At its best, Seagulls homes in on the misogyny of the music industry – and culture more broadly. A gifted musician in her own right, Nina soon gets tired of languishing in the shadow of boyfriend and bandmate Con. He wants a muse, not a partner. But in leaving him behind and taking the opportunity offered by Trigorin, Nina walks into a world where she can never be sure if she’s valued for her talent or her looks.
As pretentious dreamer Con, Matthew Heywood has the moody, posturing entitlement of every wannabe male genius, while Flora Spencer-Longhurst’s ambitious, witty Nina slices right through his self-importance. It’s just hard to believe that this self-absorbed man-child would also capture the affections of Lauryn Redding’s gloriously sardonic Masha – whose boyfriend Simon (Tomi Ogbaro) is just as helplessly devoted to her.
Plastered with posters and festooned with fairy lights for Lotte Wakeham’s production, Bolton’s library has the convincing feel of the student union where the quartet’s band plays. The music is one of the show’s highlights – especially Nina’s pointed song Muse – but elsewhere Hyland’s writing can be clumsy and formulaic. While the shift to Nina’s perspective is welcome, in many ways this narrative of aspiration, fame and disillusion still feels like a story we’ve heard a hundred times before.
At Bolton Library and Museum, until 16 November.
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