Sons Without Fathers, at Arcola Theatre, review Sons without Fathers is an adaptation, by Helena Kaut-Howson (who also directs), of a classic play more commonly known as Platonov, which Chekhov wrote, aged 20, and which was only discovered after his death. It is a passionate, rather shapeless, youthful (in the best possible way) script about a chaotic young teacher, Platonov, who is absolute catnip to women. Whenever he's left alone on stage for a minute, drunkenly reclined under a stinking sleeping bag, someone feels the need to come and talk to, drink with, or seduce him. The cast is in every aspect magnificent, finely tuned to the pathos, but more importantly the farcical absurdity of Chekhov's idle, self-involved characters. The script is set in modern Russia, but it could be Britain and feels like it should have come from the pen of one of the new generation of blood-and-guts playwrights (Polly Stenham et al). There's also no justice in the world if we don't hear much more from Jack Laskey, a ragged-trousered sexual philanthropist as Platonov (who is surely an inspiration for Ayckbourn's eponymous antihero in The Norman Conquests). To Jun 15; arcolatheatre.com