Anna Karenina @ Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh
Lesley Hart's fresh adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina tells a passionate story at a heady pace
It is a universal truth that family relationships can be fraught – the fights, the fractions, the feuds. In Lesley Hart’s rewriting of Leo Tolstoy’s 19th century romantic tragedy, Anna Karenina, the tightening web of lust, love, and deceit that unfolds is equally as suffocating as it is compelling.
This sense of suffocation is magnified by Emma Bailey's clever set design, with a looming spiked metal structure set high above the stage, which descends ominously during points of tension. The clever combination of lighting design (Mark Henderson) and sound (Xana) enhance this further at crescendo moments in the production, proving particularly effective at the dark events at the train station and racecourse.
Directed by Polina Kalinina, the production is led by a stellar performance from Lindsey Campbell as Anna Karenina. Bringing the 19th century text into the present day, the dialogue is injected with swear words as the female characters snarl out their exasperation at their social shackles. Anna is a woman torn between the obligations of motherhood, marriage, the expectations of society and the man she falls in love with after a chance encounter.
When Anna’s affair is discovered, society itself begins to suffocate Anna; the whispers of the local gossips get louder as her pregnant belly grows. By contrast, her brother Stiva’s wandering eyes allow him to cheat repeatedly (first with his children’s governess, then with a ballerina) unchastised by anyone other than his wife, who is left at home looking after their children (how many he has, Stiva isn’t quite sure).
A series of clever flashbacks, character freezes, and asides open a window into the inner emotional angst and torment of the characters as events continue to unravel at a heady speed. From beginning to end this production is raw, powerful, and arresting, with ferocity to match the passion burning at its heart.
Anna Karenina, Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, until 3 June
lyceum.org.uk/whats-on/production/anna-karenina