Themes of communication and lack of understanding, particularly between generations and different artistic traditions, lie at the heart of Anton Chekhov’s 1896 play The Seagull. All of which takes on new meaning in [seagull], an adaptation and transmutation of the play by Belgium’s Olympique Dramatique company, seen as part of Edinburgh International Festival.
It opens on a play, as young Konstantin (Yana Wuytjens) prepares to show his grand dame actress mother Arkadina (Sofie Decleir) and assorted friends his debut stage work. Its star is Konstantin’s lover Nina (Yousra Boukantar) and among the audience is celebrated novelist Trigorin (Serge Vlerick), both of whom will later make their own connection. Arkadina can’t help scoffing at the work, and troubled, artistic Konstantin’s place in her shadow is reinforced.
Performed almost entirely in Flemish Sign Language by eight actors, to a non-hearing, Flemish audience the new text must seem vibrant and rich. To a hearing person mostly reading the words in supertitle, however, the combination of silence and gesture takes us inside both the play’s emotional world and what it is to experience life non-verbally.
Director and co-designer (with Damiaan De Schrijver) Stijn Van Opstal has built a memorable production, for the stark, modern traverse set with a curtain which sometimes divides the audience as well as the distinctive communication of the piece. And in this world the sound or physical vibration of loudly stamped feet, stage gunshots and brief snatches of spoken text feel richly, masterfully poignant.
[seagull], Studio Theatre, until 11 Aug, various times