When Andy Warhol famously said "everybody winds up kissing the wrong person goodnight," he could have been talking about 'The Seagull'.
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov's comedy is a study in the hilarity of disappointment and heartbreak – everyone loves the wrong person. And every time it feels like anyone hits that moment where it would usually be time for a song (if it were a musical – don't worry, it isn't) all the other characters are too busy being miserable and thinking about their own woes to listen.
Lucas StibbardLucas Stibbard's character is a musician who is in love with a friend who really doesn't feel the same way. She in turn is in love with a brilliant young artist, who is in love with an ingenue actress, who falls for a writer who is actually seeing the artist's mum... You get the idea.
There's nothing like a great moment of soaring angst-y misery (as long as it is happening to someone else). So here are Lucas Stibbard's 5 great moments of heartbreak and tragedy:
A bottle of rum's worth of Dark & Stormys, Brisbane summer, You Am I's 'Heavy Heart' on repeat and a friend's couch in Teneriffe (Autobiographical)
A particularly spectacular break-up lead to this being most of one summer of my life. I am amazed that my very tolerant friends didn't kick me out, or at least tell me to snap out of it. I assume it has to do with the fact that we all love misery when it isn't our own – and that Tim Rogers made a ripper of a break-up song. Yes, this makes my Top 5. At the time it felt like the world was ending. Shut up.{youtube}coEAjgBRwOs{/youtube}
Every young person sound-tracking their lives in the '90s Jeff Buckley
Not only was losing him a tragedy for music but I guarantee that if you were alive and had a heart in the '90s there is a moment that this song lead to all the feels. See? It isn't just me. Maybe the '90s were just really angst-y...{youtube}3MMXjunSx80{/youtube}
Richie and Margot Tenenbaum in Richie's Tent
The Rolling Stones, a tent and Wes Anderson (who I maintain is the modern Chekhov - rich people complaining about their situation in ways that make you laugh and cry in equal measure).{youtube}nGhOnEmqEsk{/youtube}
Paolo Risi (the dwarf) loses Paola Rinaldi (the trapeze artist)
A narrative film clip that riffs on Fellini and Todd Browning – what is not to love? This may have also been a bit of a personal favourite during many an angst-y unrequited love moment. Put it on loud and wail. There's some debate as to who actually loses who but The Edge has been on record stating that it is Paolo who loses Paola{youtube}3Gwahh04Y1Y{/youtube}
Ralph Wiggum Gets Dumped By Lisa
Five words: "I choo, choo, choose you."{youtube}1tFDsL_mwBY{/youtube}
'The Seagull' plays Queensland Theatre Company's Bille Brown Studio, The GreenHouse, 29 August - 26 September.
