Play Title 

The Seagull

 Date 

21st November 1990

 Play Synopsis 

This was an adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s Seagull.  The characters and era of the play were changed to China in the 1930s, but the adaptation followed the construction of the original play.  Yi-ling Su（蘇以玲） is a Shanghai （上海）actress. At the beginning of the play, she is bringing her lover, the novelist Guo Lin（果林）, back with her to her brother’s estate.  When the play opens, Yi-ling is watching her son Kang-ding’s（康丁） newly-written play, performed by Kang-ding’s girlfriend Nina.  Yi-ling watches with a careless, mocking attitude, which induces Kang-ding to angrily disrupt the performance.  Nina is captivated by Guo Lin, and when Kang-ding shoots down a seagull to present to Nina, Guo Lin is inspired: “A man sees a girl and destroys her just for play”.  After Kang-ding fails at killing himself with a gun, Yi-ling decides to take Guo Lin away to Shanghai, with Nina following right behind them to chase after Guo Lin.  After Kang-ding becomes a real writer and Nina is abandoned by Guo Lin, she continues with her acting career.  Tired and poor, she returns home and sees Kang-ding.  After Kang-ding sees Nina again, he chooses to kill himself with a gun.   Yi-ling is playing Mahjong when this happens.  After being notified of the news, Guo Lin is told to take Yi-ling away, as she still doesn’t know what’s happened.