Through the ATC Youtube channel. You don’t need a Youtube account to watch.

Nothing! All episodes of Chekhov’s The Seagull are free to watch and do not require a ticket or special link.

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Director and co-adapter Eleanor Bishop says, “What are most people in New Zealand doing right now? Having conversations and drinking wine online. The only difference from a Chekhov play to now is that the action isn’t taking place at a Russian country estate but on Zoom: Families are gathering. The young are thinking about their dreams and whether they are possible and older people are reflecting on their lives and their disappointments.

“We want to preserve this classic work but present it in a new way, to see how Chekhov’s mastery of subtext plays out in the intimacy of a close-up camera, and to draw out the romantic and artistic conflicts in a digital setting,” she says.
 
The Seagull – one of theatre’s great masterpieces - is a “comedy of frustrated lives” in four acts. Chekhov himself once described it as, “A comedy, three women’s parts, six men’s, four acts, a landscape (view of a lake), a great deal of conversation about literature, little action, five tons of love.”
 
Eleanor Bishop, who has been referred to as “one of New Zealand’s most daring, intelligent, and political directors”, works across theatre and opera. Her work weaves classical material with documentary forms such as found text and filmed interviews, and it often features video and projection. Currently working between New Zealand and the United States, Bishop’s recent work includes Mrs Warren’s Profession (ATC), Body Double (Silo Theatre/Auckland Arts Festival) and Yes, Yes, Yes, a play about consent, co-written with Karin McCracken, which toured New Zealand and won Excellence in Production at the Auckland Theatre Awards in 2019.

Co-adapter Eli Kent is a writer, director, and performer. He’s a recipient of multiple accolades, including the Bruce Mason Award for emerging playwrights and the New Zealand Arts Foundation New Generation Award. He wrote and acted in The Playground Collective’s All Your Wants and Needs Fulfilled Forever, which played at London’s Vault Festival following successful runs in Auckland and New York. His most recent work with ATC was Peer Gynt [recycled] and The Cherry Orchard.