ACT ONE
As the lights fade, the sounds of a theatre auditorium increase. Mobile phones, coughing, chattering and general sounds of anticipation. It builds to a cacophony.
Darkness. Chaos.
Suddenly the lights snap up and the sounds cease. We are in the same theatre, but at a different time. A play is in progress, the final act of Chekhovâs The Seagull. A Naturalistic, period set of a study which was once a drawing-room. Doors left and right. A French window opens onto a terrace. It is raining.
Evening. It is dark. One shaded lamp is alight. Trees rustle outside and wind howls softly in the chimneys.
She sits on an ottoman in the centre of the stage next to KONSTANTIN GAVRILOVICH TREPLEV. The lights have snapped up mid-sentence.
Aware of her surroundings, she quickly pours the powder onto the reception desk.
KONSTANTIN: | for ninety years on this earth. My youth robbed from me. |
EMMA looks around the stage and out into the auditorium. It is as if sheâs just come-to and is trying to establish where she is.
| Iâve cursed you Nina. Ripped up your photographs and letters. But itâs no use. I see your face everywhere. I say your name. I kiss the ground you walk on. Iâm bound to you forever. And now youâre here. |
He waits for EMMA to speak. After a while he decides that sheâs not going to say her line, so continues.
| Iâm sad. Lonely. Utterly alone and cold as if Iâve been imprisoned underground. And everything I write is so bleak. |
KONSTANTIN takes EMMAâs hand.
| Nina. Stay here. I beg you. Stay here or let me go with you. |
For a moment, EMMA looks into KONSTANTINâs eyes. She looks down at their interlocked hands.
Suddenly, EMMA stands and quickly prepares to leave, grabbing her coat and putting it on.
| Nina, for Godâs sake, Nina. |
EMMA: | My carriage is waiting. Donât walk me out. Can I have some water? |
KONSTANTIN: | Where will you go? |
EMMA: | Is Irina Arkadin here? |
KONSTANTIN: | Yes. Uncle was taken ill and we telegraphed / for her. |
EMMA advances to KONSTANTIN angrily, interrupting him.