Chekhov himself described this play as a comedy in four acts. Since then, however, there has been some debate over to what extent this play is a comedy or a tragedy. This production seemed to place more emphasis on the comic elements of the play and generated more than a few laughs from the audience - often from the melodramatic actress, Arkandina, played brilliantly by Cathy Oakes, and her brother, the ageing Sorin (Colin Burnie).

The story centres around Konstantin, the frustrated writer who stages a play in the first act which stars Nina, the beautiful aspiring actress, and love of Konstantin's life. The play is not greatly received, and Nina, who is at first enamoured with Konstantin, turns her affections towards Trigorin, his mother's lover. Konstantin is increasingly devastated. He leaves the house and returns with a seagull that he has shot and presents it to her. Nina is confused by his actions and presumes that the seagull is a symbol of something she can't understand; and this is where their relationship ends.

Later in the play when Konstatin's writing begins to be published and his career ensues, he still mourns the loss of his Nina. His melancholy seems to be reflected in his work which is continually noted for its lack of "any living thing" and is described by Trigorin as being "formless". At this point, we wonder if the shooting of the seagull is almost like a sealing of his fate; that some part of him died with the seagull - he cannot live either through Nina or through his lifeless work.

As the play continues it appears that most of the characters in some form can be related to the seagull. There is an overwhelming feeling of unrequited love and loss. Masha, frustrated that her love for Konstantin isn't reciprocated, begins the play dressed in black "mourning for her life". Sorin, now old and partly crippled, mourns the fact that he hasn't achieved the two things he ever wanted in life; to be a "literary man", and to marry. Medvedenko mourns his poverty, and finally Nina mourns her unsuccessful career and her love for Trigorin. When she returns to Konstantin at the end of the play it is not to rekindle their romance, but only to affirm her love for Trigorin who has since left her. She refers to herself as the seagull, drawing a parallel between Konstantin ending the life of the seagull, and Trigorin being the man responsible for ending her life as it once was.

The play closes with an awful tragedy. The finale was both powerful and emotional, a successful end to a very successful performance all round. Hugely enjoyable, this was a great play to celebrate 50 years of the Oxford Theatre Guild.