San Diego Reader

Claudio Raygoza's reimagination of The Seagull by Chekhov takes place at Vera Cruz, Mexico, in 1910 and 1914. The backdrop could use more emphasis in the piece: Porfiro Díaz, the dictator, rigs elections and jails opponents. The people, denied rights, especially to land, revolt against the gentry, many of whom, it turns out, are characters in Raygoza's version. They live on a plantation and behave - so very Chekhovian - as if nothing will, or even can, change (1915, however, became known as the "Year of Hunger" as people starved throughout Mexico). Raygoza's such a prolific writer he often loads dialogue with too many ideas and images and in the future could concentrate more on compressing speeches. That said, he's one of San Diego's finest playwrights and, although longish and at times talky, La Gaviota ("seagull" in Spanish) has an impressive sweep and intricate emotional complexity: love triangles, requited and un-, hang in the air like the star jasmine wreath above the casa's blue door. Gaviota is, and is not, The Seagull (and would best be appreciated on its, not Chekhov's, terms). In her long-awaited return to a local stage, Linda Castro triumphs as Irene, making the actress at times fire, at others, ice, blazing and, beneath the mask, blazingly vulnerable. As Irene's son, the aspiring filmmaker Nicholas, Steven Lone exudes ferocity that can't conceal a deep-seated insecurity that will be his undoing. Sara Beth Morgan's a terrific Nina, the young, impressionable actress. Bernard Baldan heads the supporting cast with a touching, detailed performance as Pedro, infirm patriarch of Hacienda Murrietta.