In true Complicité style, the company’s adaptation of Nobel prize-winning Polish author Olga Tokarczuk’s 2009 novel is visually exciting, technologically slick, and deliciously dark. The story revolves around astrology-obsessed, animal-loving Janina, a middle-aged woman living on a mountainside in a remote corner of Poland. When men from the local hunting club begin dropping dead in dramatic fashion, she suggests that the animal community is seeking revenge for their mistreatment – but is repeatedly laughed out of the room for her seemingly crackpot beliefs.
Fans of the novel won’t be disappointed. This is a loyal but innovative adaptation (dramaturgy by Sian Ejiwunmi-Le Berre and Laurence Cook) that wonderfully brings to life the dry comedy and compelling strangeness of the text – supported, of course, by Amanda Hadingue at the helm, who has stepped in to cover Kathryn Hunter’s unfortunate sudden illness.
