Anna Karenina

Written by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Helen Edmundson
Directed by Stewart Arnott*

Anna Karenina is a sophisticated woman; beautiful, charming, and admired by polite society. Wife to a government official with high rank, she soon grows unhappy and abandons her staid existence, turning elsewhere to fulfil her passionate nature - with tragic consequences. Helen Edmundson's impressionistic adaptation captures both the great sweep and the intimate, human detail of Tolstoy's novel in a surprisingly economical way. The deeply human struggle between following our deepest desires versus leading a useful and healthy life is a timeless theme.