This entertaining co-production of “Anna Karenina”, which transfers from Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre to Bristol Old Vic next month, “began as a dare”, said Fergus Morgan in The Stage. The British-Russian director Polina Kalinina was complaining to the Scottish writer Lesley Hart that Russian literary texts typically “suffered from staidness and staleness in translation”. In response, Hart challenged Kalinina to collaborate with her on a stage adaptation, to put this situation right.
The result is a “fluid and febrile” production that makes frequent use of freeze-frames and flashbacks. Inevitably, much is lost in condensing Tolstoy’s 800-page-plus novel into a two-and-a-half-hour play, but the “central three intertwining love stories are explored with raw, riveting intent” – and there’s a “terrific” performance from Lindsey Campbell in the title role: “fierce yet fragile, vicious yet vulnerable, passionate yet panicky”.
With its “modern Scots inflection” and fiercely feminist slant, this adaptation may not “please purists”, said Joyce McMillan in The Scotsman. But the narrative unfolds with “breathtaking pace and ferocity”, and the production and cast “fairly blaze with a theatrical energy that puts extreme emotion at the heart of the drama, and makes it a visible, living presence”. Hart has done a good job of “isolating the story’s essentials”, said Simon Thompson on What’s on Stage. And Kalinina’s split-screen effect “supercharges the action and allows different scenes to unfold simultaneously”, which helps a long story be told “with speed and fleet-footed narrative edge”.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Even so, far too much has been lost in “whittling” the novel down into a manageable play, said Allan Radcliffe in The Times. And the use of modern speech does not help. Hearing Dolly, for example, swear at her fly-by-night husband, Stiva, is amusing, “but it sits uneasily with Tolstoy’s depiction of a buttoned-up society where deep feeling and honest expression are kept well hidden”. The play has some “stirring moments”, but “little in the way of nuance or psychological depth”.
Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, until 3 June; Bristol Old Vic, 7-24 June. Rating ****
-
6 Broadway shows coming to a local theater near youThe Week Recommends Harry Potter makes an appearance. As do the wives of Henry VIII.
-
Judge rejects top state charges in Mangione caseSpeed Read If convicted, Mangione faces up to life in state prison
-
UN panel finds Israeli genocide in GazaSpeed Read The report found that Israeli leaders had committed ‘four of the five “genocidal acts”’ prohibited under the U.N. Genocide Convention
-
A tour of Sri Lanka’s beautiful northThe Week Recommends ‘Less frenetic’ than the south, this region is full of beautiful wildlife, historical sites and resorts
-
Giorgio Armani obituary: designer revolutionised the business of fashionIn the Spotlight ‘King Giorgio’ came from humble beginnings to become a titan of the fashion industry and redefine 20th century clothing
-
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale – a ‘comfort’ watch for fansThe Week Recommends The final film of the franchise gives viewers a chance to say goodbye
-
The Paper: new show, same 'warmth and goofiness'The Week Recommends This spin-off of the American version of The Office is ‘comfortingly and wearyingly familiar’
-
Rachel Jones: Gated Canyons – ‘riotously colourful’ works from an ‘exhilarating’ painterThe Week Recommends The 34-year-old is the first artist to take over Dulwich Picture Gallery’s main space
-
Born With Teeth: ‘mischievously provocative’ play starring Ncuti GatwaThe Week Recommends ‘Sprightly’ production from Liz Duffy Adams imagines the relationship between Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe
-
Art review: Lorna Simpson: Source NotesFeature Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, through Nov. 2
-
Jessica Francis Kane's 6 favorite books that prove less is moreFeature The author recommends works by Penelope Fitzgerald, Marie-Helene Bertino, and more
