Treplev

Question:
I was hoping you could send me a quick sentence or two about Konstantin in The Seagull, when he comes in and lays the seagull at Nina's feet. I am working on it and am running into a trap. I want her to save me...to hug me and apologize for her behavior and promise me everything will be fine and that Trigorin is a cheesy bastard etc. What I find is that I end up going to anger (at the world and myself) when that is not the response. That seems quite "conclusionary" to me, it doesn't go anywhere. Any thoughts or suggestions?
I am just trying to concentrate on the basics of acting again. I feel like I really need it...because otherwise it's just no fun.


Response:
Why does he shoot the seagull?
What exactly does he want her do do when he lays it at her feet?

This isn't just about their love relationship-- it's about something a lot deeper than that.
Remember:  he wants to be an artist. (Why does Act I take place where and when it does?) What does that mean he wants to do? How does an artist know he has succeeded? (Note that all his mother wants is to be center stage and to hear applause.) His relationship with Nina and his relationship with his mother are both connected deeply with his great driving need to create art, to communicate with/to the world, to matter.   What happens to him during his play in Act I?

What's his greatest fear? He refers to it when he's talking with Sorin before everyone arrives to see his play.  And Arkadina cuts him off at the knees with it when they have their fight in Act III.  (Find, in your own experience, this great need and the great fear that comes with it. That's what you're going to bring to the dead seagull scene.)

He is eventually going to put the barrel of  the rifle in his own mouth and pull the trigger. He succeeds at the end of the play. He tries to do it sometime shortly after this scene in Act II.

What does he need?  to be understood, to know that he matters, that he has something to say to the world and that the world hears it, gets  it.  (Activate this in your own soul. I saw it all the time when you were in school--and I'll bet it's still there.)
What does he need from her at this very moment?  "I lay it at your feet".  What does he want to see in her eyes? What could she do that would say "I get it.  I understand."?
If someone, anyone, could let him know that they get it, that they realize where his torment is coming from, they would save his life.

Yes, he's angry. Mostly at himself for not being able to...what? What is an artist's deepest driving force?

If Trigorin weren't a successful writer, even if Nina was attracted to him but she knew he was a commercial hack, what difference would that make to what happens here?

Go beneath the love triangle to the real acid eating at his soul.  That's what makes him shoot the seagull and that is what will make him kill himself.

Where's the Treplev in your "I feel like I really need it...because otherwise it's just no fun"?