Thomas Kilroy's version of Chekhov's The Seagull was first performed at London's Royal Court Theatre on 8 April 1981, directed by its then artistic director, Max Stafford-Clark, and with an illuminating programme note by the literary manager, Rob Ritchie, pinpointing specific comparisons between Russia and Ireland, both societies verging on radical change at the turn of the nineteenth century. At the instigation of an English theatre, an Irish playwright is given an opportunity to use a major European play as a metaphor for his own country's intellectual history. In doing so, Kilroy made a significant turning point in Irish theatre. We could begin to claim international contact, translating key texts into our own speech. But the claim would, initially, stand or fall on Kilroy's appropriation of Chekhov. He succeeded.