Anna Karenina Read online

  Leo Tolstoy

  ANNA KARENINA

  adapted for the stage by

  Helen Edmundson

  NICK HERN BOOKS

  London

  www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

  Contents

  Title Page

  Author's Note

  Tolstoy's Anna Karenina

  Original Production

  Characters

  Anna Karenina

  About the Author

  Copyright and Performing Rights Information

  Author’s Note

  The first time I read Anna Karenina, I became totally absorbed in Anna’s story. The presence of the irascible Levin was an irritant. I found myself constantly turning the pages to see how long I would have to wait before Anna’s next appearance.

  I was therefore surprised when I began talking to my director, to discover that she’d had virtually the opposite response and was very caught up in Levin’s story – his love for Kitty and his desire to find meaning in life.

  I read the book again. Levin began to appeal, but what really started to occupy my mind was why Tolstoy had chosen to put these two stories together? What is the relationship between Anna and Levin?

  We searched for answers to this question and soon began to realise that the adaptation must involve both characters. Without Levin, Anna Karenina is a love story, extraordinary and dark, but essentially a love story. With Levin it becomes something great.

  Two other things confirmed our thoughts: watching the films of the novel, all of which deal solely with Anna and none of which get beyond melodrama and cliché; then visiting Russia itself and finding that Russians talk about Levin and Anna with equal familiarity and affection. ‘Levin must be part of Anna’, one man told us, ‘and Anna must be part of Levin.’

  Helen Edmundson,

  January 1992

  Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina

  Count Leo (in Russian Lev or Lyovi) Tolstoy (1823–1910) was a robust man with a restless soul, who all his life was torn between his sensual temperament and his supersensitive conscience. His appetites constantly led him astray from the quiet country road that the ascetic in him craved to follow as passionately as the rake in him craved for the city pleasures of the flesh.

  In his youth, the rake had a better chance and took it. Later, after his marriage in 1862, Tolstoy found temporary peace in family life divided between the wise management of his fortune – he had rich lands in the Volga region – and the writing of his best prose. It is then, in the sixties and early seventies, that he produced his immense War and Peace (1869) and his immortal Anna Karenina. Still later, beginning in the late seventies, when he was over forty, his conscience triumphed: the ethical overcame both the aesthetical and the personal and drove him to sacrifice his wife’s happiness, his peaceful family life and his lofty literary career to what he considered a moral necessity: living according to the principles of rational Christian morality – the simple and stern life of generalized humanity, instead of the colourful adventure of individual art. And when in 1910 he realised that by continuing to live on his country estate, in the bosom of his stormy family, he was still betraying his ideal of a simple, saintly existence, he, a man of eighty, left his home and wandered away, heading for a monastery he never reached, and died in the waiting room of a little railway station.

  Vladimir Nabokov

  Lectures on Russian Literature

  Helen Edmundson’s adaptation of Anna Karenina was first performed by Shared Experience Theatre at the Theatre Royal, Winchester, on 30 January 1992, with the following cast:

  ANNA

  Annabelle Apsio

  PRINCESS BETSY/AGATHA/

  Katherine Barker

  GOVERNESS/RAILWAY WIDOW

  DOLLY

  Tilly Blackwood

  KARENIN

  Gregory Floy

  VRONSKY/NIKOLAI

  Max Gold

  LEVIN

  Richard Hope

  STIVA/VASSILY/PETRITSKY/

  Nigel Lindsay

  PRIEST

  KITTY/COUNTESS VRONSKY/

  Pooky Quesnel

  SERIOZHA

  Other parts played by members of the company

  Director

  Nancy Meckler

  Designer

  Lucy Weller

  Lighting Designer

  Ace McCarron

  Composer

  Peter Salem

  Choreographer

  Liz Ranken

  The production then toured to Cardiff, Oxford, Leeds, Leicester, Taunton, Salisbury, and finally to the Tricycle Theatre, London, where it opened on 10 March 1992

  Characters

  LEVIN

  ANNA

  STIVA

  KITTY

  COUNTESS VRONSKY

  VRONSKY

  WOMAN

  AGATHA

  DOLLY

  SERIOZHA

  KARENIN

  VASSILY

  PRINCESS BETSY

  GOVERNESS

  PETRITSKY

  NIKOLAI

  PRIEST

  And servants, peasants, children

  ACT ONE

  Music.

  A man, LEVIN, is standing in the shadows of the stage, watching.

  A bent, muffled figure enters, dragging a sack. He mutters. There is the sound of a hammer on iron.

  A woman, ANNA, follows the figure. She is scared, agitated, but she wants to see his face and hear his words. She tries to get in front of him, but he moves in different directions. She dares to try and grab the scarf away from his face but she cannot.

  ANNA. Let me see. Let me see your face. What? What? Speak louder. Louder. Louder

  She takes hold of the sack, clings to it, and is dragged across the stage. She is desperate. The figure goes.

  ANNA lies still, breathing heavily.

  LEVIN steps forward, cautiously.

  LEVIN. Anna Karenina.

  ANNA (not seeing him). Anna Karenina. Anna Karenina. I was a shy girl with red hands. Now people nod and bow to me and call me Anna Karenina and kiss my hand, which is white. I am Anna. Anna.

  LEVIN. Anna.

  At the sound of his voice, she rises and backs away.

  I am a friend of your brother, Stiva…

  ANNA. You are Levin. You are Constantine Levin. Why are you here?

  LEVIN. I don’t know.

  ANNA. This is my story.

  LEVIN. It seems it is mine too.

  ANNA. I don’t understand.

  LEVIN. Neither do I.

  Pause.

  ANNA. You saw… just then?

  LEVIN. Yes, I saw. What… ?

  ANNA. It has always been like that.

  LEVIN. But why?

  ANNA. I don’t know.

  LEVIN. What does it mean?

  ANNA. I don’t know.

  LEVIN. But you must know.

  ANNA. Why should I know? I don’t know.

  LEVIN. But…

  ANNA. Where are you now?

  LEVIN. I am on a train, on the way to my estate.

  ANNA. Where have you been?

  LEVIN. Moscow. And I’m never going back.

  ANNA. Why? What happened to you in Moscow?

  LEVIN. Nothing.

  ANNA. Something must have happened.

  LEVIN. Nothing happened.

  ANNA. Did you see Stiva?

  LEVIN. Yes I saw Stiva. He’s having an affair…

  ANNA. I know. He wrote and asked me to help him. Dolly has found out.

  DOLLY enters. She is obviously pregnant. stiva runs on after her.

  STIVA. Dolly, for God’s sake, think of the children, it’s not their fault, I’m the one to blame, punish me – I’ll do anything.

  DOLLY. I always think of the children. You only think of them when you want to play with them… well, I’m going to take them away… don’t look at me like that. Do you think we can still live together after this? Do you think it’s possible, when my husband, the father of my children, has an affair with his children’s governess?

  STIVA. But Dolly… what can I do?

  DOLLY. You are disgusting. Your tears are water. You never loved me. I hate you.

  DOLLY runs off.

  STIVA (running after her). This is terrible, terrible… Dolly… Dolly, if you won’t talk to me, talk to Anna, she’ll be here soon, please tell me you’ll talk to her… Dolly…

  LEVIN. Stiva makes me so angry. Dolly is a dear, fine woman and yet he goes round chasing after – what? They’re not even women, they’re vermin. Doesn’t he know it’s going to ruin his life – ruin her life if he goes on like this…

  ANNA. He’s your friend…

  LEVIN. Yes, but he makes me angry. He’s my friend but I can’t stand the way he lives his life. It’s Moscow. That’s what it is. When I think of Moscow I think of hell, I think of sin and dirt and…

  ANNA. What happened to you in Moscow?

  LEVIN. Nothing.

  ANNA. Tell me.

  LEVIN. Nothing happened. I went there and I left.

  ANNA. Why?

  LEVIN. Because the whole place disgusts me. That’s all. It disgusts me to see men with fingernails so long, they can’t use their hands, and people sitting and gossiping and flirting and spending hours and hours over meals, stuffing them­selves with oysters and caviar. In the country we eat our food quickly, then we get back out and work. You work so you eat so you live. Moscow makes me ashamed – of my friends, of my whole class. Sometimes I wish I’d been born a peasant.

  ANNA. You live in the c
ountry?

  LEVIN. Yes.

  ANNA. You own an estate?

  LEVIN. Yes. I own six thousand acres of land. But I work on my estate. I work hard.

  ANNA. Tell me about your work.

  LEVIN. It wouldn’t interest you,

  ANNA. You don’t know what would interest me. Tell me.

  LEVIN. I get up very early…

  ANNA. Yes…

  LEVIN. In the winter the moon is still out. In the summer it’s like the beginning of the world. I check that the cows are being fed and milked, that the fences are being mended, that the machines are in order. I grow clover, for feed, and wheat and potatoes. I have four hundred acres of potatoes. Every stretch of my land is being used. I have forests. I walk in the forests among the aspens and the birches, and sometimes, when it grows dark, I watch the stars come out. They are so clear and so close. No one in Moscow looks at the stars.

  ANNA. You would despise the way I live my life.

  LEVIN. It’s different for you.

  ANNA. Why?

  LEVIN. Because you’re a woman. How do you live your life?

  ANNA. Oh, I am very busy; I dress, I take tea, I play croquet, I converse, I undress, I smile. I move from room to room and house to house and do these things. I do them very well. And now and again I lie down underneath my husband. Does that embarrass you?

  LEVIN (clearly embarrassed). No.

  ANNA. He is good to me. He is an extremely important man, a member of the senate. He gives us… my child and I, we have everything we need.

  LEVIN. You have a child?

  ANNA. Yes, a little boy. Seriozha. He is everything to me.

  LEVIN. If I had a child, I would know why I’m alive.

  ANNA. You don’t know?

  LEVIN. No.

  ANNA. I was taught that I’m alive because God created me.

  LEVIN. So was I. But I find it hard to believe. Do you believe?

  ANNA. Yes. I think I do. So, you have no family?

  LEVIN. I’m not married. My parents died when I was young.

  ANNA. Do you live on your own?

  LEVIN. I live with my housekeeper, Agatha Mihailovna, and Laska – my dog.

  ANNA. What happened to you in Moscow?

  LEVIN. I proposed to Kitty – Ekaterina Shcherbatskya.

  ANNA. Dolly’s sister?

  LEVIN. Yes.

  ANNA. What did she say?

  LEVIN. I don’t want to talk about it.

  KITTY enters and goes to LEVIN.

  KITTY. Oh, you’re here.

  LEVIN. I don’t think I’ve come at the right time. I’m too early.

  KITTY. Oh no.

  LEVIN. But this is what I wanted, to find you alone.

  KITTY. It’s such a long time since you’ve been in Moscow, I…

  LEVIN. I told you at the skating rink this afternoon that I didn’t know whether I would be staying in Moscow for long… that it depended on you… that it depended on you… . I meant… I meant… I came to say this… be my wife.

  KITTY. No, that cannot be. Forgive me.

  LEVIN. It was bound not to be.

  ANNA. Bound not to be.

  KITTY goes. LEVIN is sad.

  Pause.

  I’m sorry.

  LEVIN. I… Where are you now?

  ANNA. I am on the train from St Petersburg on my way to see Stiva. We’re slowing down. We’ve stopped. I have arrived in Moscow.

  There is the sound of a whistle.

  Music. VRONSKY enters. He looks about and sees anna. She turns her head slowly and looks at him. Their eyes lock.

  After a moment, the music fades. The stage is filled with a throng of people and the noise of a busy station. VRONSKY ’s mother, the countess, enters, and he goes to greet her.

  STIVA enters.

  STIVA. Anna.

  ANNA. Stiva.

  He picks her up and spins her round.

  STIVA. Anna. You look beautiful.

  ANNA. And you – you look…

  STIVA. Fat. Is that the word you’re looking for?

  ANNA. Well…

  STIVA. Oh yes. Too much good beef…

  ANNA. And wine and oysters…

  STIVA. And champagne. And that was breakfast. Good journey?

  ANNA. Yes. I travelled with the Countess Vronsky.

  She draws him towards where the countess is standing with her son.

  STIVA. Vronsky is one of my partners in crime.

  ANNA. Countess, this is my brother, Stiva.

  COUNTESS. Delighted.

  STIVA. Anna, have you met Count Vronsky?

  VRONSKY. We did meet once, very briefly. I am sure you don’t remember me.

  ANNA. Oh yes, I do.

  COUNTESS. Madame Karenina has been telling me all about her son, and I have told her all about mine.

  VRONSKY. That must have been very boring for you.

  ANNA (turning away). Well, Countess, our journey is over and just in time. You’ve heard all my stories. I have nothing interesting left to tell you.

  COUNTESS. Nonsense. You are one of those sweet women I would be happy just to sit with. We could travel the world together my dear.

  STIVA. You see, Anna, you’ve made another conquest.

  ANNA. I hope I may call on you?

  COUNTESS. I am counting on it. And don’t worry about your son; it is difficult to leave them, especially for the first time, but you cannot expect never to be parted.

  ANNA. Thank you. Goodbye.

  COUNTESS. Goodbye my dear. Let me kiss your pretty little face…

  There is a piercing scream. a WOMAN enters, distraught. She throws herself at ANNA.

  WOMAN Have you seen my husband? Have you seen my husband? He’s lying there on the tracks, cut in half and they’re scraping him up, he wouldn’t have heard, he was muffled up, muffled up against the cold and working down on the tracks and the train came up behind him and crushed him, they’re scraping him up, have you seen my husband? Have you seen my husband?

  She falls to her knees, repeating the words.

  ANNA. We must do something.

  VRONSKY takes two hundred roubles from his wallet. He steps towards the woman and takes her hand. He puts the money into it and folds her fingers around it.

  VRONSKY. For you and your family.

  The WOMAN looks at him, then gets up slowly and leaves.

  COUNTESS. What a terrible way to die.

  STIVA. At least it would have been quick, I think.

  COUNTESS. Alexei, take me to the carriage. I would like to go now.

  VRONSKY. Madame Karenina.

  He holds out his hand to her – the hand which pressed the widow’s hand. ANNA looks at the hand and then takes it in her own.

  ANNA. Goodbye.

  VRONSKY. Stiva, I will see you at the club.

  STIVA. No doubt. Countess.

  COUNTESS. Goodbye.

  VRONSKY escorts his mother off.

  ANNA is trembling. She stares at her hand.

  STIVA. Two hundred roubles. Did you see? Fantastic. Anna, what is it?

  ANNA. It is a bad omen.

  STIVA. No, no, no. I’m so sorry you had to see that but it’s over now. Oh Anna, I am so glad you’ve come. Dolly won’t let me near her. You must talk to her. She won’t forgive me. I could not bear to lose her, Anna, she is such a wonderful woman.

  STIVA leaves. ANNA watches him go.

  LEVIN. A bad omen?

  ANNA. Yes.

  LEVIN. For who?

  ANNA. For me. For me.

  LEVIN. I don’t believe in omens. Bad or good.

  ANNA. I do.

  Pause.

  LEVIN. That officer?

  ANNA. Count Vronsky?

  LEVIN. What did you think of him?

  ANNA. I thought he was… very handsome…

  LEVIN. What makes him so irresistible?

  ANNA. I didn’t say I thought him irresistible.

  LEVIN. Just because he wears a uniform? Most of our great Russian officers are drunken fools.

  ANNA. I thought he was very kind.

  LEVIN. Kind? Because he gave that woman two hundred roubles? Do you think he would have done that if you hadn’t been there?

  ANNA. What do you mean? I don’t know what you mean.

  LEVIN. Don’t you? What better way to impress you? How generous, how noble. Well, believe me, your Count Vronsky is no aristocrat; his father schemed and clawed his way up from the gutter and his mother has slept with God knows whom. No; myself and my kind are the true aristocrats, people who can go back three or four generations, all highly bred, people who have never crawled to anyone but have lived decent, honest lives. And he thinks he’s got the right to look down on me.