How Does Arkadina Change Throughout The Play

In group three’s presentation adapting of Anton Chekhov’s play The Seagull, group members took turns playing Irina Arkadina in order to show the many facets of a character that was portrayed as fairly one-dimensional within the original play. The actor playing Arkadina was represented by donning the identifying costume pieces which include a scarf and a pair of sunglasses. Each shift in characterization was shown by changing the actor and the placement of these pieces on their body. In their portrayal of the exchange between Arkadina and Konstantin in the middle of act three, the costume became an active prop that Arkadina removed from her body. This transformed it from a superficial item to one of caring which was used to clean Konstantin’s bullet wound. Arkadina’s removal of a protective layer of clothing showed the complicated nature of her character in a very literal way as she removed the signification of her status as an actress in order to attempt a motherly relationship with her son while simultaneously showing
The scenes were reordered in a non-chronological manner to focus on Arkadina’s transformation as a character. This reorganization seemed to move from a negative portrayal of the character as a superficial stick character to a positive representation of a complicated woman. Each scene change was marked by switching who played Arkadina which was shown through passing on Arkadina’s costume to another member of the group. Each actor portrayed Arakadina in a different way, which was highlighted by changing the positioning of the costume pieces on their body to reflect the character’s personality at the time of the scene. While both the scarf and the sunglasses were removed in order to mark a shift, Arkadina only chooses to remove an accessory in the middle of the scene once, which she does in order to mop blood from Konstantin’s