James Belcher, left, and Josie de Guzman, right, performing a scene from Anton Chekhov's classic The SeagullAs The Seagull plays aspiration against frustration, perhaps it is fitting the Alley Theatre’s current production soars intermittently, but at times seems to beat its wings without liftoff.

That goes with the territory in plays by Anton Chekov. The very qualities that make his four masterworks so rewarding — the complex characters, their equally complicated relationships, the juxtaposition of humanity’s most amusing and most pathetic traits — also make it difficult for any production to achieve the perfect realization.

In the Alley’s first Chekhov outing since The Three Sisters 22 years ago, director Gregory Boyd has stocked this Seagull with enough strong performances, funny moments and truly moving scenes to constitute a worthy response. If all the elements do not quite gel, that may be a matter of the time needed for all the players to find their characters and for the team chemistry to take hold more thoroughly.

The Seagull hinges on a favorite Chekhov device: Visitors to a country estate incite emotional turmoil among the regulars. Celebrated actress Arkadina and her lover, Trigorin, a popular novelist, are visiting her ailing, elderly brother, Sorin. Living with Sorin is Arkadina’s son, Konstantin, an aspiring writer who rejects the type of art his mother and Trigorin represent. Konstantin has fallen madly in love with Nina, an aspiring young actress, who does not reciprocate — but becomes enamored of the worldly Trigorin.

Not enough tangled hearts? Masha, daughter of the estate’s manager, loves Konstantin and disdains the dog-like devotion of schoolteacher Medvedenko, but marries him anyway.

That’s far from all, but enough to give an idea of the play’s emotional minefield. Youth laments its frustrated ambitions. Age regrets its wasted opportunities. Young and old resent each other. Parent and child, lovers actual or potential, denounce each other angrily — then collapse in remorse, begging forgiveness.

Striving for a more modern feeling than many bring to Chekhov, Boyd makes the characters register as real people, not idealized poetic souls. To that end, he sometimes takes an offhanded approach to the young characters, and presents Arkadina with less grandeur and more self-deluding pretense than usual. Boyd’s curt, direct approach avoids sentimentalizing the characters, but misses a degree of the play’s lyricism.

Yet Boyd and his cast deliver enough of the play’s meat to satisfy - especially in such highlights as the scene in which Nina and Trigorin’s attraction first asserts itself, and the furious showdown between Arkadina and Konstantin that ranges from rage to tenderness with great power and conviction.

Overall, the production’s tone and sense of community grow stronger as the action advances, achieving a real sense of the passage of time in the final scene.

Josie de Guzman revels in Arkadina’s contradictions — imposing yet careless, lashing out in selfish cruelty at her son, then all tender repentance. De Guzman deftly manages Arkadina’s transitions to full-performance mode, overdramatizing shamelessly.

Karl Glusman conveys Konstantin’s innocence, searching intelligence and painful sensitivity, though has flat delivery in early scenes. As Nina, Erica Lutz projects youthful exuberance, hurt and confusion — though Boyd lets her grow too frenetic at a few points.

James Black makes Trigorin a shrewd and calculating figure, reluctantly confessing the truth about his empty success to Nina, then gradually realizing his chance for renewal through his attraction for her. Loving, but always in a self-absorbed way — like the rest!

Rachael Tice punches across her tough-cookie Masha persuasively. Chris Hutchison is ideal as good-hearted, endlessly patient Medvendenko. Jeffrey Bean’s crusty, honest Sorin deteriorates poignantly. Todd Waite is the epitome of wry detachment as Dorn, the doctor forever diagnosing the folly of others. James Belcher exudes bluff energy as Shamreyev; and Kimberly King gives his wife, Paulina, the pinched expression and air of a wary realist.

Kevin Rigdon’s airy setting is nicely set off by his clusters of stylized birches at opposite ends of the Neuhaus arena, while Alejo Vietti’s costumes help define the characters and their stations, especially the grand attire for de Guzman’s diva.

Perhaps no Seagull can stay airborne all the time. This one hits the dramatic heights often enough to make it a must for all who love theater.

The Seagull
7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays
8 p.m. Fridays
2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturdays
2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sundays
Through March 4
Neuhaus Stage, Alley Theatre
615 Texas
$25-$75
713-220-5700