The Lady With a Dog, the renowned short story by Anton Chekhov returns to the UK stage and is transported to Jazz Age Britain in a full-length bittersweet romantic comedy.
Described by Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov as ‘one of the greatest stories ever written’, this adaptation by Mark Giesser is reimagined in a dazzling art-deco aesthetic with the affluent middle-class characters fully fleshed out merging imaginary conversations with reality to reveal more about their anxieties and desires. With new choreography and movement by Xena Gusthart (The Bodyguard, Bat out of Hell) the production transcends the relevancy of three eras of time: 19th century Moscow and Yalta where the source material is set, 1920s Britain, and the present day that the story is a parable for.
Damian Granville – a banker, devoted family man and serial seducer – has an unconventional way of taking his summer holidays: he travels alone to pursue a new woman every year. This particular year he spots a beautiful young lady, Anne Dennis, walking a white Pomeranian dog and he cannot resist. In this contemporary adaptation, Anne serves as an allegory for the modern politician’s wife, often imprisoned by societal expectations and public image. So when this skilful player, sure of his success, discovers Anne isn’t quite what he bargained for, the two are torn between love and duty.
Writer and Director Mark Giesser said, “The lovers in Chekhov’s beautiful and poignant story live in an ordered world that they couldn’t know was about to be shattered by the First World War, the watershed event that created the world in which we now live. So I wanted to explore how that event might have affected them and the relationship they develop, in a setting perhaps a bit closer to us than Chekhov’s pre-war Russia.”
Mark Giesser is a British-American director, producer and writer. His previous London productions include the Standing Ovation Award nominated Bell, Book and Candle at The Tabard (2023), also at The Tabard the original stage version of Gigi (2015) and his plays Good Morning, Alamo! (2013) and Code of the West (2013). Previously Upstairs at the Gatehouse Mark has also written How To Build a Better Tulip (2022). His adaptation of The Lady With a Dog has also been produced at The White Bear and The Tabard in 2018. In the US, his work has been seen Off-Broadway and in regional theatre and he is a member of the League of Off-Broadway Theatres & Producers.
The Lady with a Dog is at Upstairs at The Gatehouse 13th September – 8th October 2023.
