An emotionally heavy but rewarding choice for the theatre department's mainstage production this term, "Anna Karenina" opened Thursday night. A group of talented Dartmouth actors and actresses made this difficult work seem effortless.
This adaptation of Tolstoy's arduous novel about the struggle for meaning in 18th-century Russian society manages to overcome both difficult thematic and plot issues and give an engrossing and concise rendition of the novel.
Much of this is the result of Helen Edmundson's artful adaptation of Tolstoy's hulking novel. Edmundson accomplishes what many others have tried and failed: a smooth combination of Tolstoy's two story lines.
The title is deceiving: "Anna Karenina" is not just the story of the title character herself; it is almost equally the story of Constantine Levin, who is in many ways Anna's counterpart.
In the novel, the two main characters' lives do not intertwine until very near the end of the novel, but Edmonson has them both narrate their stories together.
Together Levin and Anna share and judge the stories of their lives. The differences and similarities in their lives highlight the importance of Levin's story to Anna's, even though Tolstoy decided to give Anna the title credit.
Thursday night's performance was carried by Hannah Chodos '06, who gave a captivating portrayal of the complex Anna Karenina. Chodos, who shone in last term's mainstage, "Time Remembered," was remarkable as the dynamic and smothering Anna.
Anna is a member of high society and the wife of a politician. She falls in love with Count Vronsky, a charming army officer. Eventually she leaves her husband and young son when she becomes pregnant with Vronsky's child.
She is never able to gain a divorce from her husband, and is outcast by the society in which she used to be a welcome member. Vronsky, on the other hand, continues to be accepted by the rich and powerful in Russia.
Anna's jealousy of Vronsky's position eventually undermines their relationship. In the end Anna is left desperate and alone, and eventually decides to end her life by throwing herself in front of an oncoming train.
A performance as dark and difficult, not to mention long, as "Anna Karenina" has great potential to be less than pleasant to sit through if the actress who plays Anna does not have a powerful presence, but Chodos managed to hold the audience's attention for the entire performance. She played an Anna that is fully human -- at once desperate, kind and selfish.
When she reaches the heart-wrenching climax of her spiraling depression and realizes that human life is full of loneliness, hate and suffering, Chodos' performance was almost too emotional to bear, but wonderful in all of its horrific power.
Chodos was helped along by a strong supporting cast. Timothy Grinsell '05 did a superb job of capturing the struggling Constantine Levin. Levin, whose story parallels Anna's until their meeting near the end, is searching for meaning in his life. He is dissatisfied with the decadent lifestyle of aristocratic Moscow, and has recently been rejected by the woman he loves.
He moves to his family's estate, a farm where he tries to find meaning and solace in manual labor. Levin soon realizes, though, that a life of solitude satisfies him no more than one of decadence.
Eventually, the woman who at first rejected him accepts him after Count Vronsky rejects her for Anna, and she and Levin manage to find happiness together.
Chodos and Grinsell had a good chemistry together on stage, and managed to show the disparate effect their characters' genders have on their lives, without dwelling on it and thereby losing the subtlety Tolstoy desired.
Robert Strong '04, a member of The Dartmouth staff, gave a solid performance as Anna's lawful husband Karenin. The audience saw him as Anna does: at once hateful and pitiable.
Tyler Slade '03 made an excellent Count Vronsky, and he and Chodos worked well together on stage. Slade accurately captured the dynamic nature of Vronsky's character, first as insatiable lover, and then gradually growing away from Anna.
The supporting cast also gave a solid performance, with some actors taking on the role of several different minor parts. Andrew Verstein '05 was especially notable as Anna's philandering brother.
As with the famous London performance of Edmundson's adaptation, the stage was usually dark and empty except for a few sliding screens and simple chairs the actors occasionally brought out to create the effect of location changes.
The minimalist set juxtaposed with the characters' elaborate period dress made the bleak nature of Anna's existence amid the glamour of Russian society clear. Chodos, in her red-highlighted dress against the drab coloring of the other characters, showed all of the life Anna has in her that can never escape.
Death, a preoccupation in many of Tolstoy's works, is portrayed as an actual faceless character swaddled in cloth from head to toe. Death hovers around behind the scenes, slowly entering Anna's thoughts as the play drives towards its unspeakable conclusion.
A few of the more interpretive scenes, such as one that compares Anna's relationship with Vronsky to his love for horse racing, came off a little bit over the top, and the delicate symbolism is lost. On the whole, though, the set and staging allowed the audience to read into Tolstoy's careful plans.
While Anna Karenina has a little more intellectual weight than a typical weekend outing, the astounding acting and innovative approach to great literature make the mainstage well worth the two and half hours.
