Coventry’s Belgrade is teaming up with director Helena Kaut-Howson and Arcola Theatre to produce a new adaptation of Chekhov’s first full-length play.
Presented under the title Sons without Fathers, this new version of his rarely performed play Platonov will start in Coventry and later transfer to London’s Arcola Theatre.
Discovered 16 years after Chekhov’s death and with its title page missing, the play is often referred to as Platonov after the main character, village schoolteacher Mikhail Platonov.
Despite his best intentions he is drawn into a series of extra-marital affairs that all hold the promise of escape from the provincial Russian reality where he and his circle of friends are trapped.
Adapted, translated and directed by Helena Kaut-Howson, the production moves the action to a contemporary setting in modern-day Russia.
She said, “Chekhov’s remarkable first play holds great fascination for modern theatre.
“Its precocious virtues far outweigh its defects. Most adaptations condense the sprawling six-hour-long text with its multitude of themes, subplots and characters.
“This version focuses on one theme only: the predicament of the younger generation left adrift in a world without hope.
“Relocating the action to Russia of today, Sons without Fathers brings to the surface the surprisingly modern preoccupations of the original.
“Paradoxically, this perspective helps to reconcile the tragicomedy of the reluctant Don Juan pursued by emotionally starved women with a state-of-the-nation drama.
“The audience will recognise the quintessential Chekhov but the experience will be unlike anything they may associate with his later plays.”
Sons without Fathers will be Helena Kaut-Howson’s second co-production for the Belgrade and Arcola. She directed Uncle Vanya in 2011.
Most recently she directed A Tender Thing for the RSC at the Swan Theatre, Stratford.
Sons without Fathers runs in the B2 auditorium at the Belgrade from Saturday 13 April until Saturday 4 May before transferring to London’s Arcola Theatre from 8 May until 15 June.