The Seagull

Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

4.9/5 based on 7 reviews (read reviews)

Opens: Sunday, 17 January 2027 -
Booking until: Tuesday, 27 April 2027

Coming soon

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The Seagull description

The Sam Wanamaker Playhouse was made for Chekhov. There is something about the candlelight, the closeness, the sense of being gathered in an intimate space, that makes The Seagull's world of longing and frustrated ambition feel heartbreakingly immediate. And this will be the first time Chekhov has ever been performed at Shakespeare's Globe.

The play takes place at a lakeside country estate, but its real landscape is internal: the space between what we want and what we are able to reach. A struggling young playwright adores a woman consumed by another man. A famous actress cannot bear to acknowledge her son's talent. A young girl falls desperately in love with a celebrated writer who doesn't deserve her. Everyone in The Seagull is aching for something just beyond their grasp — and Chekhov watches them with devastating compassion.

The production reunites Caroline Steinbeis and Rory Mullarkey, the team behind the Globe's acclaimed Three Sisters. Steinbeis, formerly Associate Director at Sheffield Theatres and a JMK Award winner, has a gift for finding the emotional truth beneath Chekhov's elegant restraint. Mullarkey — winner of the James Tait Black Prize for Drama — brings to his translations a clarity and musicality that feels entirely natural in English.

Their Three Sisters was one of the most talked-about productions the Globe has staged in recent years. The Seagull feels like the natural — and unmissable — next chapter.