The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Sebastian, Four Mothers, Restless, and The Most Precious of Cargoes
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A jazz age ballet with dialogue
JAN WOOLF enjoys an imaginative revival of the Anton Chekhov classic
deckchair
JOHN GREEN explores the argument that psychiatry needs to move away from the idea of just seeing and treating the individual
SYLVIA HIKINS applauds a polemic against “cleanfluencers” and considers radical alternatives to current inequalities of housework
RUTH AYLETT admires the blunt honesty with which a woman’s experience is recorded, but detects the unexamined privilege that underlies it
IAN SINCLAIR draws attention to the powerful role that literature plays in foreseeing the way humanity will deal with climate crisis
High quality pulp, rollicking online murders, Abnorman Britain, and high skates drama: reviews of The Get Off, Everyone In The Group Chat Dies, Pagans and First To Fall
DENNIS BROE notes what happens to content when the streaming giants incorporate AI and deregulation into their economic models
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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