The Seagull

Summary

1956 Associated-Rediffusion production for ITV of The Seagull by Anton Chekhov.

Theatre play

The Seagull [Chayka] by Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) [more information]

Play synopsis

Comedy. The play dramatises the romantic and artistic conflicts between four characters: the famous middlebrow story writer Boris Trigorin, the ingenue Nina, the fading actress Irina Arkadina, and her son the symbolist playwright Konstantin Tréplev.

Production history

Written in 1895 and first produced in 1896.

Date of transmission

Wednesday 10 October 1956

Time

8.00-9.30am

Series

Play of the Week

Channel

ITV

Production company

Associated-Rediffusion (1955-1964)

Credits

Director

Michael MacOwan

Playwright

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904)

Translator

David Magarshack

Sets / Settings

Fred Pusey

Costumes

Motley

Cast

Kara Aldridge	Paulina
David Ayliff	A Cook
Jill Bennett	Masha
John Bennett	Semyon Medvedenko
David Bird	Ilya Shamrayev
Lyndon Brook	Konstantin
Nicholas Hannen	Eugene Dorn
Perlita Neilson	Nina
George Relph	Peter Sorin
Stella Riley	A Maid
Vernon Smythe	Yakov
Hugh Williams	Boris Trigorin
Diana Wynyard	Irina Arkadina

Additional details

Play tags

19th-century setting; comedy; poetry and literature, as theme; Russian drama

Print sources

Title

TV Times, 5 October 1956 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing and image of Perlita Neilson as Nina on p. 19