The Seagull is Anton Chekhov's sharply-observed tragicomedy about art, love, and families. A group gathers at a country estate on a summer evening for the performance of a new play. Most of them yearn for what they do not have: Irina, the famous actress, chases her fading youth, her son, the playwright Konstantin, wants to escape his mother's orbit, her lover, the successful but mediocre writer Trigorin, bemoans the genius that eludes him, and Nina, the naïve girlfriend of Konstantin, dreams of a glamorous life on the stage. As the play unfolds, the characters pursue their own agendas, frustrating the others' ambitions but rarely achieving their own, in a bleakly humorous look at human folly.Famous for its clever dialogue and insightful characterization, The Seagull is one of Chekhov's best-known plays, and is essential reading for anyone interested in theater or Russian literature.