The Lower Depths at The Seagull Project Hits All The Right Notes

The Seagull Project, a Seattle-based theater company whose mission is inspired by the artistry and humanitarian legacy of Anton Chekhov, seeks to challenge and redefine the modern American theater through long-form rehearsal process, and international collaboration. The initial idea for The Seagull Project’s current show Maxim Gorky’s The Lower Depths (meaning ‘at the bottom’ in Russian), now playing as a partner production with Intiman Theatre, began four years ago. Having produced all four of Chekhov’s major works, The Seagull Project was looking for their next show to bring to the stage, and a play by Gorky, who was a contemporary and protégé of Chekhov, seemed a perfect choice. Once The Lower Depths was chosen, The Seagull Project decided to utilize the talents of company member, Tyler Polumsky, who had lived for approximately six years in Uzbekistan, is conversationally fluent in Russian, and can read Cyrillic. Polumsky translated Gorky’s original Russian version of the play into English. Since the play was originally written in 1902 pre-Revolutionary, Czarist Russia, The Seagull Project company members were interested in updating the play into a story with a more contemporary and immediate feel. So, they commissioned company member David Quicksall, not only a longtime Seattle actor, but also a seasoned adapter with 14 adaptations for the stage under his belt for companies such as Book-It Repertory Theatre, Seattle Children’s Theatre, and other theaters around the country. Mr. Quicksall was excited to take on the job, and in collaboration with fellow company member, longtime Seattle actor and published poet Charles Leggett, and The Seagull Project’s Artistic Director Gavin Reub, the three worked for more than a year to create a thoroughly modern and updated version of the play.

I sat down with Mr. Quicksall who talked about his process as adapter and actor. He described Gorky as “a revolutionary who sought to illuminate the blunt and gritty conditions of the crushingly poor, the outcasts of society. Through his play, Gorky dared the bourgeois theater-going audiences to confront the down-and-out and see them through a lens of compassion and empathy.” This was not the kind of play most playwrights of the time (certainly not Chekhov) were writing. Mr. Quicksall said he enjoys the challenge of adapting, “taking the work of a writer and bringing in my own sensibility to the work of another, while staying true to the intent of that author and not straying into my own play. I’m using my own creativity to bring to life the words of an author from a bygone period. Mr. Quicksall added, “I do a lot of research on the writer during my process to understand the times they lived in, the social milieu, what they were trying to achieve contextually. That inspires me to use my own imagination to journey into the mind and words of that writer. Mr. Quicksall also noted, “It was exciting because we had a direct translation of the original text, and it was extremely unique and beneficial to the process having the translator [Tyler] right there in the room to help us get the ideas and the context right.” He continued, “one of the other aspects was working for more than a year with the actors who were encouraged to bring ideas they had about the characters they were playing. In this way, Chuck and I could, to some extent, tailor-make the characters to suit the actors.” It was an effective way to create language that was unique to each actor and gave space for the actors to become collaborators throughout the process. Mr. Quicksall, Mr. Leggett, and Mr. Reub were able to make edits and revisions that literally reflected the actors’ input. Actors even chose modern, updated names for their characters: For example, Mikhail became Mickey, Medvedev became Medford, Kleshtсh became Charlie, Vasilisa became Vanessa, though some of the Russian names remained in this adaptation.

Part of what makes the play and this production succeed as a whole is the relevance and how the subject matter from over 120 years ago parallels what is happening in our modern society today. Mr. Quicksall observed that “staying true to Gorky’s writing also meant exploring the thematic elements of his social critique of 1902 Russian society and the fact that so many people at that time were destitute, poor, and/or houseless.” This show feels eerily like art-imitating-life as the curtain comes down at the Erickson Theatre, and theater-goers step out of the theater onto Harvard Avenue on Capitol Hill, where makeshift cardboard huts populate the area and human beings in sleeping bags, blankets, or sheets of paper lie in doorways or on the sidewalk.

Miguel Castellano & Alexandra Tavares / Joe Moore

In addition to the tightly crafted, well-paced script, the performances from each of the 14 actors in this ensemble are strong, ranging from rough, crude, enraged, and bitter to frail, lost, vulnerable, and sad. There is humor sprinkled throughout the play, but it is often fleeting or ironic, and the trauma that all of the characters experience is never far from the surface. The actors have all created clear and complex characters and capture mannerisms, speech and vocal patterns, and body postures that look familiar without feeling stereotyped or cartoonish. Miguel Castellano’s Satin, who is haunted by a family tragedy which brings devastating consequences for him, exudes a gaunt, deep pain in his performance and seems to literally waste away before our eyes, as he repeatedly hikes up his ill-fitting pants which appear to get baggier and baggier throughout the play, as he seems to become thinner and wispier. Amy Thone’s Luka appears out of nowhere and serves as a Vishnu or Christ-like figure who offers aid, comfort, and escape to the down-and-out denizens of Mickey King’s flop house. Ms. Thone brings warmth and a maternal tenderness mixed with a subtle undercurrent of pain and yearning to her performance, which was a new and illuminating experience for this reviewer. Alexandra Tavares’ character, referred to only as The Actor, appears lost, confused, and glazed over by years of addiction. Ms. Tavares turns in a heart-wrenching performance of a lost soul attempting to overcome her station by seeking employment and treatment for her addictions, all of which seem just out of reach, due to her own insecurities and the cruelty of others.

Amy Thone and Sharva Maynard / Joe Moore

The Lower Depths is full of heartbreak and intense subject matter, and yet this production infuses the play with an undercurrent of grit and perseverance which demands that we engage in self-reflection, reminding ourselves that we live in a city where there exists a jaw-dropping wealth gap and every soul living among us, even those who have little, deserve dignity and kindness. If Gorky could have seen this show, he would have been proud!

Intiman Theatre and The Seagull Project present The Lower Depths by Maxim Gorky. Now showing at the Erickson Theatre (1524 Harvard Ave., Seattle, WA 98122) until February 24 with ticket prices range from $20 to $110. Intiman distributes 10 FREE TICKETS at the box office one hour before each performance on a first come, first served basis. For more information go to intimantheatre.org/depths. Get your tickets now—this is a must-see show!