On Stage: Performing Arts at our Oneonta Campuses by Rachel Frick Cardelle
‘Stupid F***ing Bird’: Chekhov Made Modern, and Funnier
The next play to be staged at SUNY O, “Stupid F***ing Bird,” written by Aaron Posner and directed by Andrew Kahl, has become one of the most produced plays in the country since its premiere in 2013 at D.C.’s Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. An adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s “The Seagull,” “Stupid F***ing Bird” follows roughly the same plot as Chekhov’s play, yet turns it into a modern, irreverent, metatheatrical dark comedy.
When I was in sixth grade, I became enamored of live theater and started sneaking into play rehearsals at the local college. Some very kind college students took me under their wings and got me a spot on the lighting crew for their production of Chekhov’s “The Seagull.” I loved the work and hanging out with this group of super cool grown-ups, but the play itself seemed depressing and silly. Yes, a play that is considered one of the most important plays ever written, ushering in modern realism to the theater, my 12-year-old self brushed off as boring naval-gazing.
Since then, I have never seen the play again and was stunned when I first began doing research for this article and I read about the “quiet, ironic humor” of the play. Even more interesting, though, is that when “The Seagull” premiered on October 17, 1896 in St. Petersburg, it was a complete disaster. The audience (actual grown-ups, not an uneducated 12-year-old, may I point out) hated it, booing and heckling the actors. The lead actress became so rattled she lost her voice during the performance, and Chekhov left the theatre during the performance, swearing he would never write another play. (Which, if you ask me, is a bit like a captain leaving a sinking ship with the crew and passengers all still aboard!)
