Chekhov's celebrated masterpiece is given vibrant new life in this dynamic new version by Olivier Award-winning playwright Simon Stephens. Switching effortlessly between the ridiculous and the profound, The Seagull forensically examines the transcendence and destructiveness of love. The burning need to create art and how harshly that need can be crushed permeates the play. Simon Stephens' new adaption of The Seagull received its premiere at the Lyric Hammersmith, London on 3 October 2017. “...an incisive 21st-century version of Chekhov. ****” ―The Guardian “'... something genuinely moving and at times euphoric'.” ― Fatherland review, The Stage “'There's something generously honest in Heisenberg about ordinariness. With humour and a low-level ache of sadness, it tunes into those small, often overlooked encounters that can spin people's lives off in new directions'.” ― Heisenberg review, The Stage “Classics are there to be reinvented, and the risks that this reinvention takes involve no loss of Chekhovian essence while adding a lot in terms of characters that a 2017 audience might relate to.” ―The Radio Times For more than twenty-five years Simon Stephens' work has been widely translated and produced throughout the world. He has won many Awards including Olivier and Tony Awards for new plays. His 2026 play An Ark staged by Tim Drum Collective at the Shed in New York was one of the first plays ever written for Mixed Reality . His radical adaptation of Uncle Vanya, Vanya, starring Andrew Scott ran in London's West End and at the Lucille Lortel , New York between Autumn 23 and Spring 25 and was screened to phenomenal success on NT Live and NT Home. His adaptation of Jose Saramago's Blindness was made into a light and sound installation that was produced internationally during the Covid 19 pandemic. His most famous play is his adaptation of Mark Haddon's best-selling novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. He has had thirty five original plays produced professionally. He has written new English language versions of masterpieces by Chekhov, Ibsen and Brecht, collaborated with the world's leading theatre practitioners (Patrice Chereau, Ivo Van Hove, Marianne Elliott, Katie Mitchell) and produced original work throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas. He has been Artistic Associate at the Lyric, Hammersmith and Associate Playwright at the Royal Court Theatre. He has taught playwriting workshops in five continents. He has presented four series of the celebrated Playwright's Podcast from the Royal Court Theatre. He is a Professor at the Writing School of Manchester Metropolitan University. His book A Working Diary was published by Methuen Bloomsbury in 2016. He lives in East London with his wife, three children, their snake, two cats and two dogs. Anton Chekhov (1860-1904), Russian physician, dramatist and author, is considered to be one of the greatest writers of short stories and modern drama. Born in Taganrog, a port town near the Black Sea, he attended medical school at Moscow University. He began writing to supplement his income, writing short humorous sketches of contemporary Russian life. A successful literary careered followed, before his premature death of TB at the age of 44. He is best-remembered for his four dramatic masterpieces: The Seagull (1896), Uncle Vanya (1899), Three Sisters (1901) and The Cherry Orchard (1904).