“The Seagull” soars above Edgewater as the Instrumental Theatre Company finishes out its run with a final sold-out weekend of performances. Instrumental’s adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s famous “The Seagull” isn’t just illuminating — it’s electric. In just 105 minutes, the small and mighty cast faces the Chekhovian giant and seizes the day while performing only half of the original text.

The first act is performed in front of the lake, underscored with crashing waves and a gentle breeze as we watch the sun set. Then, our intimate audience of around 25 follows the cast down a path and into the Berger Mansion for the final three acts.

The story is set in a 1900s Russian estate and centers around young writer Constantine(Levi Denton-Hughes) and his mother and accomplished actress Arcadina (Jennifer Mohr). Constantine writes an avant-garde play, hoping to impress his mother and her friend, the famous author Trigorin (Ian Rigg) — but fails miserably.

Trigorin takes an interest in Nina (Ruby Gibson), a sheltered girl who lives next door and  serves as Constantine’s muse. Furious, Constantine falls into a deep, psychotic depression, while Aracadina, who loves Trigorin, sinks her claws even deeper into him.

It’s more than a love triangle — it’s a love pentagon, if there is such a thing, and each character would die for their lover a thousand times over if given the chance. The worst unfolds in the final act of the play, leaving the stage engulfed in complete devastation.

“The Seagull” was Chekhov’s first play, and it’s what Chekhov does best: the pain of heartbreak in a young artist’s eyes, and the imbued fury of a mother who wishes her son had never been born. The cavernous depths of the human psyche, where not all playwrights dare to go.

The original script is dense and filled with countless side characters, like servants and estate workers. Instrumental decides to cut most of the servants, a risk that pays off in a space as intimate as the Berger Mansion.

The actors play right in front of the audience’s eyes, each with a distinct style that serves their archetypes well. Rigg embodies a sleazy yet weak-willed Trigorin, who harbors enough power to manipulate young Nina but cowers in the face of Arcadina’s wrath.

Gibson’s Nina is jovial and naive, beginning the play with almost childlike gestures and whimsical excitement lacing her words. It makes the transition to the fourth act all the more jarring: a rain-soaked, fraught Nina showing up at the doorstep of the estate, wrecked by Trigorin’s neglect and her failure of an acting career.

Each actor underscores their performance with captivating musical ability, and together  they create a score that emulates the existing symphony of Chekhov’s prose. Guitar, strings, harmonica and accordion give the soundtrack a gritty and folky flavor. The actors carry and move with their instruments during act-to-act transitions, creating small interludes to symbolise the passing of time.

Though set in the original time period, the Instrumental Theatre uses a modern translation, along with ad-libbing and body language. Modernizing any aspect of Chekhov is a dangerous game, as one risks overshooting and creating completely different personalities. Instrumental’s adaptation is a sweet spot: set in the grey area between classic and modern that enriches the relatability of the story and the emotions portrayed.

The climax comes with Constantine and Arcadina’s massive fight, rendering the audience members frozen in their seats, tense and horrified and too engrossed to look away. We become voyeurs in the face of toxic parental codependency, emotional incest  and generational tensions filtered through the lens of artists losing their sense of the world around them.

Every time I reread or watch a production of “The Seagull,” I find myself ruminating on the human condition. The deepest depth of the human experience. The highest highs. The lowest lows.

Instrumental blew the bird out of the water, so to speak, creating a musical masterpiece that does each peak and valley justice.

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