The Seagull
Harold Pinter Theatre, SW1H
★☆☆☆☆
The Southbury Child
Bridge Theatre, SE1
★★★★★
The programme for Jamie Lloyd’s new effort says: “Plays like The Seagull remind us that we beat our wings against the cages of modern life.” Sitting in the stifling stalls while being subjected to Lloyd’s minimalist interpretation, you may indeed feel like a trapped chaffinch. The stage is a bare, doorless, three-sided chipboard box. The actors are barefoot and drably attired on plastic chairs. They eff and blind. When not in a scene, they stare into space or close their eyes. This is also true, soon, of some audience members.
Yes, you feel trapped, suffocated by Lloyd’s pretentiousness. The staging is repeated from his recent Cyrano de Bergerac. That starred
