ANNA KARENINA

Based on the classic novel by Leo Tolstoy

Adapted for the stage by Joanna O'Connor

Hi - we're James, Joanna, Claire, Ryan, James E and Natasha. We'll be filming a fresh stage adaptation of Tolstoy's incredible 'Anna Karenina' at Ingatestone Hall (Stately Home) in Essex in one go at the end of May, to then be streamed and ultimately available to everyone on YouTube as a free learning resource for students, and for entertainment. You can currently view our productions of Ibsen's A Doll's House, Chekhov's The Bear and Crime & Punishment here - Summer Light Theatre Channel, which continue to engage audiences from all over the world and help students with their studies.

About the Show

Anna Karenina, a passionate woman, is trapped in a stifling, cold and loveless marriage, arranged by a society that believes it knows best. Kostya Levin, a progressive, emotional and impulsive farmer, is a fish out of water in the same world.

Tyranny takes many forms and these two individuals both seek freedom, love and meaning against the backdrop of the controlling, hypocritical and oppressive world that is nineteenth century society; surrounded by a body of people who live solely for their own convenience and mock the unusual.

Through her passionate love affair with Count Vronsky, Anna pursues life at its most full. In his quest for the meaning of life, Levin devotes himself to the dream of a world in which there is universal prosperity and harmony – a self-portrait of Tolstoy, who always sought deeper compassion and progress for mankind.

Will they find what they seek, whilst faced with the inevitable opposition of the brute force of their world? Follow their parallel quests in this wonderful adaptation, where the ending could indeed be more open than expected.

Cast in alphabetical order: Claire Aston (Darya Oblonsky), James Edwards (Alexei Karenin), James Kingdon (Kostya Levin), Ryan Livermore (Alexei Vronsky), Joanna O’Connor (Anna Karenina), Natasha Percival (Kitty Levin)