ANNA KARENINA Royal Lyceum Theatre. Edinburgh. Fri 18 Mar—Sat 16 Apr
If you address yourself to the feature on Noam Chomsky elsewhere in this issue. you might be aware of the dangers of a celebrity society. Much attention is devoted to people who don‘t really make any impact on your life at all, and in the meantime your real circumstances, both economic and emotional, are subverted. Emotional authenticity, particularly one's capacity to feel for yourself and those around you, is traduced by a pale and shallow form of empathy for soapstars and pop singers.
It‘s timely, then, that John Clifford, a writer in recent years deprived of Scottish stages outside the International Festival, should make a long overdue return to the Scottish theatre season proper with this adaptation of Tolstoy‘s classic. The tale of love. adultery and repression is well known enough not to reiterate here, yet Anna's passion for Vronsky. her adultery and its destructive consequences have a political dimension often neglected in the more tear- jerking reworkings of the novel we‘ve seen over the years. The work of Clifford, which taps a deep
emotional reservoir, as well as addressing stark political issues, seems well suited to this new version and the days in which we live.
Part of this is bound to be a satire of a repressive and emotionally restrictive class structure in which the characters operate, Anna‘s condition as trophy wife for a rich old codger, and the pointless voyeurism of a scandal obsessed society which, for all its historical distance, has parallels with our own. We‘re promised a minimalist production which eschews the traditional 'come and see the frocks and lavish interiors‘ approach from which the text has sometimes suffered.
This production has much to recommend it. Clifford‘s script alone might impel an experienced theatregoer to attend. but the piece is also directed for the Lyceum by Muriel Romanes, artistic director of Stellar Quines. There‘s no shortage of talent on display in the cast, as well, with Raquel Cassidy (who television viewers will know from her role in Teachers, to name but one) as Anna, and the magnificent Liam Brennan as Vronsky. Given the unreliability of our privatised rail service, a modern Anna might experience delays in her suicide, but beyond that, there‘s a ringing contemporaneity about this piece which promises to reward a viewing. (Steve Cramer)
Theatre
ROUND THE HORNE REVISITED
Theatre Royal, Glasgow. Thu 17—Sat 19 Mar
Au'sirnAL'iAN bANCE THEATRE «u Theatre Royal. Glasgow. Tue 22 & Wed 23 Mar
A' 1’ x ‘ THE LIST 95