Bristol Old Vic’s summer blockbuster for 2023 is a world premiere of Tolstoy’s 19th century classic, ‘Anna Karenina’, adapted for the stage by writer, Lesley Hart, and directed by Polina Kalinina, which impressively translate Tolstoy’s 600-page novel into a delectable on-stage spectacular.
Anna (Lindsey Campbell) crosses the country by train to help save her brother’s marriage, after his affair is disclosed. At the station, she crosses paths with the cavalry officer, Count Vronsky (Robert Akodoto), and as they fall for one another, her life as she knows it begins to unravel.
Subplots include the on-off romance between Kitty (Tallulah Greive) and Kostya (Ray Sesay) and the comic misadventures of Anna’s chronically-philandering brother Stiva (Angus Miller). Hart merges and interlocks scenes and dialogue so that characters can appear in two scenes at the same time, both describing and participating, and two narratives can take place simultaneously.
