Much like Benedict Andrews’ adaptation did at Belvoir a few years ago, Andrew Upton’s new version of The Seagull transplants Chekhov’s portrait of addled ambition and creative torpor into dry Australian soils.

Arka Das, Sean O’Shea and Mabel Li in Sydney Theatre Company’s The Seagull. Photo © Prudence Upton

The curtain rises on a makeshift stage on the shore of a lake where Constantine (Harry Greenwood), son of high-profile actor Irina Arkadina, is nervously preparing for a premiere of his latest dramatic experiment. It is, in essence, a repudiation of everything his mother stands for – and ridiculous with it. Constantin’s girlfriend Nina (Mabel Li), a local girl nursing hopes of making it as an actor, stars as The Voice of the Universe.

The show hasn’t pulled much of a crowd. Present are the depressed yet utterly devoted Masha (Megan Wilding, in goth weeds); the ever-lurking Simon (Arka Das), a local teacher determined to win Masha’s hand, even if it’s by attrition; Constantin’s uncle Peter (Sean O’Shea) and the family doctor (Markus Hamilton).

Arkadina (Sigrid Thornton), turns up in the nick of time as usual, with her new squeeze, literary celeb Boris...