Chekhov's Seagull

I went and saw the Royal Shakespeare Company's version of Chekhov's The Seagull last night at the St James Theatre.

Of course the 'star' of the show (and reason most people were there) was Sir Ian McKellen, as the old man Sorin. It was a masterful performance by Gandalf, who appeared to be having the time of his life playing with the character. But out of the 20-30 strong ensemble cast it was Madame Arkadina (Sorin's sister) that stood out for me. She was hilarious and even sounded a little like Dame Judy Dench at times.

Wasn't all daisys though - there were six cell phone rings (three were from one person), and an annoying woman in front of me who leaned forward so far that she actually covered half my view of the stage - not to mention her slugging back water in a pump bottle (with full sucking and bottle scrunching sounds). Heathens.

Not too worry though as the RSC performance was so good that it didnt really matter.