The amazing play based on the book of the same name has an interesting way of telling the story of Anna Karenina. In the book the two main arcs that are followed are treated as two different stories, they have intersecting characters, but the moods and overall feeling are completely different.
In the play the story of Ana and Levine are told in tandem, where the two characters go into an empty void to talk to each other, is as if Levine was the conscience of Ana, only to move from dream-Levine to the real-Levine of the story. The play feels magical and deep and the licenses that are at play with the two main characters talking to one another as in a dream can be translated to a more ethereal and unconventional portrayal of Anna Karenina.
Based on Russian architecture and shapes, the used of concentric, heavily decorated arcs that conform the different locations of the play, train station, all the different houses, balls and the streets. The light comes from different places to reveal different areas of the stage, making the arches appear very heavy or just shadows.
The looming presence of a dark figure that follows Anna around comes together with the presence of the outside world merging together with the columns and arches to create the world of turmoil and the scary outside nature of Anna’s final resting place.
