Photo by Shotaro Ichihashi, courtesy of Chiten and The Coronet Theatre.
The Premise
An international affair that sees Japanese company Chiten bring Fyodor Dostoevsky’s 1866 novella to a London stage. The Gambler is the story of a young tutor, Alexei, who falls in love with his employer’s stepdaughter Polina and becomes deeply involved with her family’s affairs which mainly involve gambling and an obsession with wealth. The play deconstructs the original story and pieces it back in the form of dialogue snippets and isolated episodes designed to capture the overall mood. In this sense it succeeds, but prior knowledge of the original story is helpful for getting one’s bearings in an otherwise fragmented show.
The Themes
The plot acts as an invisible thread where status, money, addiction, love and power are tied together, each influencing the others. Priorities differ, but each character tries to balance these elements in order to gain what they consider to be the ultimate prize. For Alexei, it is Polina’s love, but everyone else seems intent on gathering as much capital as possible, and gambling represents an attractive, if dangerous, shortcut. While Dostoevsky creates tension through the juxtaposition of the protagonist’s inner struggle and his public persona, the play focuses on the ensemble. The group share the same pathos, and they alternately rise into ecstasy or descend into despair as their fortunes change.
The Staging
The non-naturalistic approach places the play in Berkovian territory. The characters sit around a gambling table designed to look like, and spin like, a roulette-wheel. The timeless costumes and, above all, the repetitive gestures and almost mechanical movements give the impression that the characters are detached from reality. They seem stuck in a suspended time, unable to shake themselves out of their obsessions and their addictions. Perhaps one of the limitations of the play is that there’s no feeling of evolution: the group is plagued by the same desperation from beginning to end. The dynamism is in part provided by the rock band Kukangendai, who perform right next to the action, and by Itaru Sugiyama’s spinning stage which is a brilliant device that does however become wearisome and almost dizzying after a while.
The Immersive Verdict: A sharp, modern interpretation of a tale that has much to express even when pared down. The play excels in form, and although it loses many of the original’s precious subtleties, it ultimately finds its own edgy identity.
The Coronet Theatre is in London, UK (103 Notting Hill Gate, London W11 3LB).
DATES: 5 – 15 February 2026.
— Mersa Auda
