Anna Karenina – review

Photo: Farrows Creative

First published in the 1870s, Аnna Karenina has successfully established herself as the ultimate tragic super-heroine. The story is of a woman who has it all. Married to a powerful, albeit stuffy politician, she lacks nothing; except love. Enter Vronsky, a dashing young military officer who relentlessly courts his way into her barely beating heart and sets it pounding as never before. Does she leave her husband and child for true, passionate love or does she return to the status quo of a boring aristocratic existence?

The novel starts out with one of the most quoted opening lines of all time: “All happy families are the same, while unhappy families are each unhappy in their own unique way.” Whereas in the play we begin with the affair between Anna’s brother and his family’s nanny. The only reason why Anna comes to Moscow from St. Petersburg is to try and patch things up between her brother and his wife Dolly. At the same time we are introduced to Konstantin Levin, a man who is searching for meaning in his somewhat empty life. The two stories are intertwined and we are gently handed from one narrator to the other throughout the play.

Minimal props and sets help you to keep your attention on the actors, but it’s not as if you would need any help as they are all quite riveting. This is not only a play, but a form of theatrical performance art that, although recited in English, oozes of Russianness.

Indeed, this performance could have come right off the stage at Taganka Theatre. Helen Edmundson’s adaption is as original as the novel itself was and still is. The actors are very powerful and their stamina is amazing: the first act is 75 minutes and the second is 55 and not one of the actors is still for a moment. A small cast means that secondary roles are performed by actors who are not in the current scene and they are often becoming parts of the set as well or performing semi-acrobatic staging.

Even if you have seen one of the numerous film adaptations of Anna Karenina, I recommend you see this exceptional piece of theatre.

Anna Karenina
Until 16 April 2011

Arcola Theatre
24 Ashwin Street
London E8 3DL