The Seagull to go (Chekhov in 10 Minutes)

It is a widespread prejudice that the Russian soul is as deep as Lake Baikal, as wide as the plains of Siberia and as fundamentally unhappy as the working class of all countries. In his classical play THE SEAGULL, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov proves this. - This was a joke, he naturally proves that ALL MANKIND is fundamentally unhappy, but see for yourselves. Michael Sommer and his Playmobil cast present a compact and entertaining summary of this great play. DISCLAIMER: WATCHING THIS VIDEO DOES NOT REPLACE READING THE ORIGINAL. It's just a summary, which means I have left out loads of things. I recommend reading it for yourselves, or, even better, staging it! It can be real fun!
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[@annaxxxx99]

This is seriously underrated

[@valeriamontero2693]

Well done! this is such a lifesaver for my theater class

[@ObsidianCrocodile]

You are so funny! You brightened this play up for me soooo much (I have to do an assignment on it and uba Roi by Jarry) please carry on as you have great comedic talent!

[@ashleyf5315]

Great summary! I just read the play for my Russian History class and watching this video helped me put everything together.

[@cryingintomycoffee]

Couldn't stand reading the play, but this was wonderful! Really helps with how many characters there are

[@erinlocke2839]

"Call me weird, but I liked it."

[@TheKyleMarisa]

Is this technically a short film in terms of submissions to the Academy for the best one Oscar?

[@vday16]

Just discovered your channel through this video and it has convinced me to see the stage production of the Seagull at the National Theatre here in London next month. Thanks for introducing me to Chekhov's work

[@swallsskylar]

the Hamlet book as the stage was perfect LOL

[@asmaalisharif7231]

You are actually a life saver!

[@k.c7655]

This video saved my life, thank you! It's amazing

[@patternedfrog]

Loved that! Really helped me make sense of the plot line.

[@gascon861]

Thanks for your video, nicely done, and the Lego figurines really help in remembering who the characters are

[@FireFoxHunts]

this is amazing, you helped me SO much for my exam thank you !!!

[@streptococcus1]

Wooow this is pretty amazing 👏👏👏

[@elShowdeJosefa]

your voice reminds me of Rami Malek's as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody! great video btw ;)

[@andrewemery4272]

Excellent! Just excellent!

[@JupeGiggles]

Nice breakdown!

[@anreuphoria5]

Thank you! Could you consider making a video on Chekhov's 'The Cherry Orchard' ?

[@evanmedd234]

Really great video dude

[@Mally620]

THIS IS AMAZING!!!

[@BillieHands]

brilliant !!! thank you :)

[@seyoon9000]

thanks for this!!!

[@farahhajali4842]

Wonderful..thank u

[@wheelerrr]

WONDERFUL

[@GuyWithThaFace]

Good pronunciation of "Hello", I give it an 8 out of 10 and a sub.

[@thomas9982]

Lool, it was pretty good actually!

[@bruxism666]

you just saved my ass i have a set design assignment for theatre class!!! :) :) :)

[@nbo8644]

How come this amazing video only got 23k views and 500 likes, while some crappy footage of attention seeking kids doing idiotic things get millions.

[@SamIam820]

Sweet

[@loishenderson4344]

You are SO funny!!

[@jamesbaxterfromax]

Not a chekhov fan but this is great

[@sun9_9]

Woahhh this is sooo awesome watched it just before my exam and....... let’s just hope I at least pass it -coughs- rip me

[@PapaStink]

how did it go

[@matthewb2747]

Oh

[@Starry_Night_Sky7455]

I'm imagining having a torrid affair with the narrator now.

[@TheKyleMarisa]

Bonnie Hundley encore. that was amazing.

[@gayatri-ydkh]

He’s saving our asses!! 😂💛✨

[@Skittleburst223]

When did flula get into theatre?

[@myragroenewegen5426]

I feel like the play offer some hope - just not unmitigated hope. For instance, if you want to be an artist and have no resources how should you go about it and what relationship should you have to dreams of fame? Constantine, needs affirmation that he has something important to say, especially from people who are, themselves, talented. Does he have something important to say? The doctor is the one outlier who consistently thinks so, and he has no anterior motives for saying so, so it may be so. Unfortunately, as we see at the stage play in the beginning, Constantine can't really continue doing what he does when he feels that others don't appreciate it, or are critical of it. Even Nina gives useful feedback, wishing his plays had more fleshed out characters and mentioning that she like plays where people fall in love, but although love and people are driving forcrs in his life, Constantine resists . Tragically at the very end, in extreme frustration, he hits on the same idea Nina was getting at near the beginning that he wasn't able to fully internalize because he so needed unconditional support for his art --that he should write more directly from real people around him and from his own loving, beating heart. At the very moment he says that to himself we get this poignant thing where Nina, who he mentions as the source of the heart in his work suddenly appears. Tragically, he confuses her love, acceptance and support for him and his work with the voice of his own heart which is necessary to be a good writer and turns to her as the solution to his life and writing issues, rather than relying on inward strength. Rather like his mother, without enough external validation, he simply implodes and her inability to love him becomes more important than any fortitude he might have, leading him to self-destruct. Both Nina and him are would-be artists chasing fame without money, but she's already seen what can happen when an artist depends on her to feel fulfilled and write good work and while she's still caught in it with Trigorin, she's at least smart enough not to become a crutch for Constantine. Still full of love for acting, even as she feels her acting tallents suffering and audiences hating her, she resolves to endure, sure she has something worthwhile to give. He, on the other hand, never tried to make it without money, fame or approval because he knows he couldn't weather it, something he partially tells her. Anyway, I think the cool thing is that instead of being the typical innocent sacrifice she is set up to be by Trigorin, she endures after she's shot down. Just as Trigorin apparently forgets to write the short story about Nina's fall at his hands and about his wish to have the seagull itself stuffed and made into art, Nina's story in left partially intact unfinished and struggling admirably for hope. Instead, the metaphorical bullet intended for her hits Constantine, the bird who never really left the nest because his mom wouldn't give him enough money to grow strong in his own place and in his own way and find supportive community. To me the point is that art necessitates the ability to endure and believe in what you are and do and not become a dead seagull type just because that's the kind of story artist tend to be cast in by others and ,particularly, by fame.

[@harrietparnell8943]

Ok I like this show but WHY are the names so hard to keep straight??

[@meritxellantunez7539]

im seeing emilia clarke performing as nina in the seagull tomorrow and even though i just finished reading the play i wanted to make sure i understood everything THANKS

[@__samiran____das__8852]

God... I got confused😕

[@MrDukeSilverr]

Das gibts auch auf englisch? Geil

[@sheena2900]

LIKE ;0

[@kallini2002]

I was laughing and laughing and laughing. Note: I never liked Chekhov plays. I much more prefer his short stories that are funny. In my previous life, I was foolish enough to read Chekhov on a subway or, worse still, during a class in high school. Such reading always ended in laughing which ended in trouble. I don't know if it had to do anything with being Russian. A Russian soul is a mystery to me just as the expression "You are VERY Russian". This presentation is hilarious and the story is more confusing than Faust, Odyssey in English and German combined (I couldn't resist listening to it in German even though my knowledge of it has shrunk to about 10%). These summaries are splendid and irresistibly funny. Note: I just watched "Faust" by Sokurov - some psychodelic version of Goethe's work. There might a significance to the fact that Faust is played by a German, but the devil by a Russian. The whole film is in German with some Russian thugs thrown into for no reason. I was wondering if you consider making a summary of "War and Peace"? The book is too bloody long and if you think of it, makes no sense whatsoever. In any case, thank you very much for the laughs. Vielen Dank!

[@SommersWorldLiteratureToGo]

Thanks a lot for your kind feedback. WAR AND PEACE is definitely on the list, but will take some time - my reading time is limited. I'll be grateful if you could recommend my channel!

[@kallini2002]

Yes, I shared and recommended, of course. I made an assumption that you might be a literature major and have read all this "heavy" stuff already. If not, I'd push "War and Peace" somewhere towards the back of that "to read" list. It's overloaded with characters which dilutes the message and confuses any reader including the one who survived the book till the end. In my opinion, the best book about the war is "Im Westen Nichts Neues" by Remarque. The story is always the same - go to war enthusiastically, get some experience, get maimed, killed, damaged and fell off the society forever. Plus the perfect ending that is reflected in and reinforced by the title. No "Seagulls", "Don Quixotes", "War and Peaces", "Odysseys" don't have this major, heavy duty title impact. But "Im Westen Nichts Neues" does - nothing happened. Someone died, who cares? This expression became an idiom of sorts in Russian (speak of reinforcement). I am looking forward to any summary you make. It's fun. Thanks and good luck. P.S. Life is short. Having read too much in my life, I realized that the only books worth reading are the ones I enjoy.

[@GillyWhitfootHaysend]

The Cherry Orchard next?