Last Chance

Theater

“The Seagull”--In this Actors’ Gang production, unlike some “Seagulls” you may have survived, everything in Chekhov’s lakeside community of bohemian head cases has been made to matter. Director Georges Bigot has pulled everyone in the ensemble, even the miscast actors, into the same comically unstable universe.

At its best, this “Seagull”--the first production of Tim Robbins’ renewed Actors’ Gang artistic directorship--is the kind of Chekhov you don’t find very often: funny, sad, sad-funny and then, thwap comes the arrow through the heart. But Bigot’s expansively playful approach has its drawbacks. This is a longish “Seagull,” more than three hours, and some of the anachronisms--the 1920s and ‘30s pop tunes sung by Brian Powell’s doctor, in particular--belong to a lesser effort. It’s a tonic despite the problems. The mournful irony of Chekhov’s worldview feels more necessary than ever.

Michael Phillips

*

Today and Friday only, 8 p.m., at the Actors’ Gang Theatre, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, (323) 465-0566.

Also closing this weekend:

“Between Iraq and a Hard Place”--Jill Turnbow’s comical, and sometimes harrowing, solo show about entertaining Gulf War troops closes Saturday at the Powerhouse Theatre, 3116 2nd St., Santa Monica, (310) 396-3680, Ext. 7.

“What’s on the Hearts of Men?”--Malik Yoba’s comedy-drama about three African American men on a journey to find love ends Sunday at the Wilshire Theatre, 8440 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, (213) 480-3232.

“The King and I”--Theater League’s presentation of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical starring Debby Boone ends Sunday at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks, (805) 583-8700.

“The Drama Dept.’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life”--This furious and funny melange, crisply executed by director Alexander Yannis Stephano and a gifted ensemble, ends Saturday at Sacred Fools Theater, 660 N. Heliotrope Drive, L.A., (310) 281-8337.

“In Print: 35 Years of Gemini G.E.L. Prints From the Grunwald Center” and “Through Daumier’s Lens: Photography and Caricature in 19th-Century France” both close Sunday at the UCLA Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood, (310) 443-7000.