Another night, another play

There were parts I liked about the play (some of the longer monologues were thought-provoking, though still, more "telling over showing", and there were some nice connected moments between the characters/actors, when the script allowed for that.  But again, the playwright put a lot of explanation into monologues, and in asides to the audience, rather than in interactions between the characters  And I would have liked to have seen more of the latter.)  And overall, I found the writing to be self-referential, antagonistic (to the audience), overly explanatory, self-consciously clever, and the main protagonist, super whiny.  Not a bad script, but it could be stronger, with another edit and/or rewrite (show me your misery, you don't have to keep telling me you're unhappy.  Trust your performers to get your point across, that's why you have them.  And why this is a play as opposed to a short story.)  The self-centeredness, yet lack of self-awareness, of the main characters (Nina is an exception) make it hard to care. ("Stupid Fucking Seagull" by Aaron Posner, for the record.)

I think it's supposed to be funny, and it had its funny moments. And maybe I'm just feeling surly and slightly deflated by yet another message saying that the best you can hope for in love (or life) is to settle (or be settled for, ugh), that things never work out, and life is only filled with disappointment and unrequited love, so why even bother to love anyone, or to create anything? (Trigorin creates, and he's the only one that's particularly happy at the end, though he kinda' destroyed a couple of lives along the way.)  Bit bleak and cynical, yeah?  All just leaves me feeling that I'd rather be single than be with someone because I was "the best you could do, but not who you wanted," and you don't really love me. (All of which is my own baggage I took into the play, but it also seemed to be the overriding message in it.) Kinda' depressing.

Again, I don't want to be a consolation prize.  I want to be what you want.  I want to be the actual prize.  Not everyone in life has settled.

(It's Saturday morning now.  Rewrote most of this.  Think I need to go dance.)