Chicago Reader
- Highly Recommended
"...If you know The Seagull, you’ll see everything you’re used to: Arkadina and Kostya’s tense mother–son relationship, fraught with her snobbery and his pathological insecurity, the messy love quadrangle that crops up when Nina meets Trigorin, and the slow, still feeling of summer in the country."
Stage and Cinema
- Highly Recommended
"...Ultimately, for me, this production all comes back to Nina. Who would have thought that decades after a short story-Antagonists, also published under the title Enemies-in a high school text book would spark a lifelong adoration of the works of Anton Chekhov, I would encounter my first fully realized Nina Zarechnaya in a small box theater on a side street in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood. Yes, I realize that previous sentence makes me out to be an insufferable snoot. Shut up. Just go watch the damn play."
Around The Town Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...The unmatched beauty of the serene Russian countryside is the backdrop for this play, which centers on a group of artists and lovers whose ambitions and desires collide at a rural estate, owned by Sorin (Chuck Munro, in a heartfelt role). Here his nephew the young idealistic writer Kostya or Konstantin (Kason Chesky) longs to revolutionize the theater and win the admiration of Nina, an aspiring actress (Jamie Herb)."
Chicago Theatre Review
- Recommended
"...It is a common observation of the play that young Treplyov is the Seagull - a creature destroyed by a man, simply because he can. This interpretation ignores the two young women in the play. Both Masha and Nina have very few choices, and both make a definitive choice, only to pay heavily for them after. Their lives are entirely at the mercy of the men they choose. However, the only woman with any real power, Arkadina, also seeks validation and self-worth from men. That may actually be the point though. Each character in this story is desperate for recognition and validation, often from the one person they will never get it from. In today's world of near-constant validation seeking, it could have been written yesterday, or sadly, tomorrow. For a sharp, funny, well produced evening, you won't go wrong with this production."
Buzz Center Stage
- Highly Recommended
"...For some, an evening of Chekhov may sound like pure misery, but Red Theater’s “The Seagull” running at The Edge Off Broadway soars. The original adaptation by Red Theater cohort Ian Mayfield imagines Anton Chekhov’s emotionally searing dramady as a chamber play. Under his direction, this faithful version is a hidden gem of this winter’s storefront theatre scene."
Third Coast Review
- Highly Recommended
"...It’s a Chekhov play, so ….. Everyone is in love with the wrong person. Everyone is unhappy. People live in the country but yearn to live in the city. The time is indeterminate and the dialog is modernized. But it’s still Chekhov, so everyone is miserable."
Splash Magazine
- Highly Recommended
"...In the end, The Seagull lingers not because of a dramatic spectacle, but because it mirrors lives continuing, broken yet persisting, beneath the moving rustle of the world outside."
Werner's Theatre Reviews
- Recommended
"...Red Theater returns to the theatrical canon with Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, officially opening February 14, 2026. Initially premiering at the Alexandrinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 1896, the play marked Chekhov’s first major stage success and remains a cornerstone of modern drama. In this new adaptation, director and adapter Ian Maryfield brings raw emotional urgency to the work, sharpening its focus on unrequited love and the ongoing battle between traditional and experimental art."
