ONE of the UK’s most hotly tipped directors brings Chekhov to life on the Nuffield stage this week.

Blanche McIntyre, who won the Critics Circle Awards for Most Promising Newcomer last year among a host of other accolades, brings John Donnelly’s searing new version of Chekhov’s first great play The Seagull to Southampton.

The play has already impressed preview audiences and opens officially tonight before an 11-week UK tour.

Blanche, who was named in the Hospital Club and Time Out’s Culture 100 list of most original and influential people in the UK’s creative industries, won the Off West End Theatre Award for Best Director in 2012, and was the inaugural winner of the Leverhulme Bursary for Emerging Theatre Directors, told Your Entertainment: “I’m really excited about it because there are a couple of special bits in the set and I’ve never seen anything like them in the theatre before.

“The obvious thing to do would have been to add mobiles and bring Chekhov into the 21st century, but I didn’t feel you could illuminate the play by moving it.

“It’s not a political play, I’m really interested in the characters, so I went over the edge rather than cutting edge.

“The awards are lovely and as I worked so hard before that, it did feel like last year’s award was a well done for those seven years with nothing!

“The pressure is now on, but it has given me this great opportunity.

“The adrenalin of directing is incredibly addictive. I love it.”

The play is about unrequited love – a story about how we create stories – and one of the greatest plays of the modern era.

This new version is a co-production between The Nuffield and Headlong, both renowned for their innovative reimaginings of classic texts.

The Seagull runs until April 20.

n See tomorrow’s Daily Echo for our review of the show.