Life and rehearsal blend together in this filmic portrait of The Seagull, a play that plumbs the splendors and hazards of a human need to create art and make contact with one another.

The story is interpreted by a handful of accomplished actors as they converge on an exurban lakeside retreat where they live and breathe Chekhov. In a menagerie of paper lanterns, circus tents, ten-foot tall puppets and floating furniture, the performers collide with the reckless choices of their characters. In full view of their fellow artists as well as a wider participating audience, the actors’ most intimate impulses are broken wide open.