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A jazz age ballet with dialogue
JAN WOOLF enjoys an imaginative revival of the Anton Chekhov classic
Beth Burrows as Anna [Upstairs at the Gatehouse]

The Lady with a Dog
Upstairs at the Gatehouse

WHERE does Eros go when marriages bound by property rights and political facade throttle the libido? Or when love and commitment, rather than existing within one relationship, are found with different people?

Mark Giesser’s version of Chekhov’s famous short story The Lady with a Dog considers this in a time and context switch from Yalta 1899 to a Scottish resort in 1923. The interwar British jazz age.

Two married people holidaying alone, Anna and Damien, fall in love. The bloke has form in this regard, and Chekhov’s original looks at how tomcatting around can lead to the real thing and cause suffering for all concerned.  

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