The Seagull, written in 1895 and first performed in 1896, is considered the first of Chekhov’s four major plays.  The four act play dramatizes the various romantic and artistic conflicts among the four major characters: Boris Trigornin, a famous but mediocre story writer; Nina, a young ingénue; Irina Arkadina, a fading actress and Trigornin’s lover; and Konstantin Treplev, a symbolist playwright and Arkadina’s son.  The action, which includes various romantic triangles, often proceeds by indirection and subtext and depends on the interaction of an ensemble cast.  Lurid actions occur offstage. Issues are sidestepped. What is not said is as meaningful as what is said.  The seagull of the title is a curious gift to Nina from the emotionally awkward Konstantin. The first performance of the play was a famous flop in Petersburg, with a hostile audience causing actress Vera Komissarzhevskaya to lose her voice and Chekhov to give up playwriting. A subsequent production by the Moscow Art Theatre in 1898 featuring famous actor Stanislavski was enthusiastically received, with the applause being described as “bursting from the audience like a dam breaking”. It continues to be one of the most performed plays in the world.