The Lady With a Dog: Chekhov’s timeless tale returns to the UK stage

Anton Chekhov’s beloved short story The Lady With a Dog returns to the UK stage this autumn.

This adaptation by Mark Giesser brings the affluent middle-class characters to life, blending imaginary conversations with reality to explore their anxieties and desires in a dazzling art-deco aesthetic.

Renowned Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov described The Lady With a Dog as one of the greatest stories ever written. In this reimagined version, the production transcends three eras of time – 19th-century Moscow and Yalta where the original story is set, 1920s Britain, and the present day that the tale serves as a parable for.

The story follows Damian Granville, a banker, devoted family man, and serial seducer, who embarks on an unconventional summer holiday tradition – pursuing a new woman each year. This time, he becomes infatuated with the beautiful Anne Dennis, who symbolizes the struggles of a modern politician’s wife, trapped by societal expectations and public image. As the skillful player discovers that Anne is not quite what he expected, they find themselves torn between love and duty.

The Lady With a Dog will run Upstairs at the Gatehouse from 13 September – 8 October 2023.

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.”

For more information and tickets, visit upstairsatthegatehouse.com