Royal Court's Seagull Will Land On Broadway in Fall 2008

By Andrew Gans
and Zachary Pincus-Roth
06 Jun 2008

Kristin Scott Thomas as Arkadina in the London production of The Seagull.
Kristin Scott Thomas as Arkadina in the London production of The Seagull.

Ian Rickson's acclaimed production of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, which played a January-March 2007 run at London's Royal Court, will arrive on Broadway in the fall, according to a casting notice.

Rehearsals for the production will begin Aug. 25 with a Broadway opening date to be announced. The limited engagement will play through Dec. 22. (Dates on a casting notice do not necessarily reflect exact production dates.)

The production, which features a new translation by playwright Christopher Hampton (Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Philanthropist), was the final play to be directed by Rickson as the Court's artistic director.

The casting notice is only seeking understudies.

The London company was led by Kristin Scott Thomas as Arkadina, who will likely repeat her work on Broadway. Scott Thomas was previously seen on the London stage in Jonathan Kent's 2005 production of Pirandello's As You Desire Me. The movie star ("Four Weddings and a Funeral," "The Horse Whisperer," "Gosford Park" and "The English Patient") made her London stage debut in 2003 as Masha in Chekhov's Three Sisters. The Seagull would mark the actress' Broadway debut.

Thomas was joined in the London production by Mackenzie Crook as her angst-ridden son Konstantin, Katherine Parkinson (Other Hands) and Chiwetel Eijiofor, who is internationally best known for such movies as "Dirty Pretty Things" and "Love Actually." Stage credits include Blue/Orange and Peer Gynt at the National.

Rickson's farewell production, the last in the Royal Court's 50th anniversary season, was designed by Hildegard Bechtler.