NINA

Two years after she ran away to be an actress and lost nearly everything, Nina returns in the rain to the boy who loved her — and discovers that failure has taught her the one thing that lasts.

1:55DramaticTeens–20sAdvanced

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Why do you say that you have kissed the ground I walked on? You should kill me rather. I am so tired. If I could only rest—rest. I am a sea-gull—no—no, I am an actress.

He used to laugh at my dreams, so that little by little I became down-hearted and ceased to believe in it too. Then came all the cares of love, the continual anxiety about my little one, so that I soon grew trivial and spiritless, and played my parts without meaning. You cannot imagine the state of mind of one who knows as he goes through a play how terribly badly he is acting. I am a sea-gull—no—no, that is not what I meant to say.

I have changed now. Now I am a real actress. I act with joy, with exaltation, I am intoxicated by it, and feel that I am superb. I know now, I understand at last, Constantine, that for us, whether we write or act, it is not the honour and glory of which I have dreamt that is important, it is the strength to endure. One must know how to bear one's cross, and one must have faith. I believe, and so do not suffer so much, and when I think of my calling I do not fear life.turn

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Speaking to: Konstantin (Constantine), the boy who once loved her, on a stormy night.
What just happened: Nina left home for Trigorin, lost her child and his love, and has spent two years as a provincial actress. She has come back, unannounced, half-broken.
Objective: To make Konstantin — and herself — see that she has survived, and that endurance, not glory, is what matters now.
The turn: The scattered, wounded girl ("I am a sea-gull—no—no") gathers into a clear-eyed woman: "it is the strength to endure."
Watch out for: Fragmentation into clarity. The repeated "I am a sea-gull—no" must be a mind losing and finding itself, never a recitation.

Full work: The Seagull New to the vocabulary? What’s a beat? →

More from The Seagull2

ARKADINA1:08A celebrated actress fends off the fact of her age by performing her youthfulness for anyone nearby. Vanity worn as discipline, and genuinely mistaken for virtue.TRIGORIN1:06A famous writer, asked what his life is like, confesses that the compulsion to write never once lets him simply live it.

NINA

The Seagull · Anton Chekhov · 1:55 · 280 words

Why do you say that you have kissed the ground I walked on? You should kill me rather. I am so tired. If I could only rest—rest. I am a sea-gull—no—no, I am an actress. He used to laugh at my dreams, so that little by little I became down-hearted and ceased to believe in it too. Then came all the cares of love, the continual anxiety about my little one, so that I soon grew trivial and spiritless, and played my parts without meaning. You cannot imagine the state of mind of one who knows as he goes through a play how terribly badly he is acting. I am a sea-gull—no—no, that is not what I meant to say. I have changed now. Now I am a real actress. I act with joy, with exaltation, I am intoxicated by it, and feel that I am superb. I know now, I understand at last, Constantine, that for us, whether we write or act, it is not the honour and glory of which I have dreamt that is important, it is the strength to endure. One must know how to bear one's cross, and one must have faith. I believe, and so do not suffer so much, and when I think of my calling I do not fear life.

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