BACK TO ANNA
LIVE & STREAMED WORK IN PROGRESS PERFORMANCE + Q&A
WHEN?
Saturday, 20 March 2021, 4:00 pm
WHERE?
5a Bloomsbury Square
London WC1A 2TA
Click here. Heads up - live tickets sell quickly.
CAST
ANNA/AKSINYA/WOMAN - Sanda Bourenane
LEO/LEVIN - Will Bishop
SOFIA/KITTY/DOLLY - Anita Brokmeier
Written by Anita Brokmeier and Anna Clart
Directed by Anna Clart
Choreographed by Zak Nemorin
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Leo Tolstoy is composing his masterpiece Anna Karenina by dissecting the women around him, particularly his wife Sofia. But she has some objections to the roles her alter egos are forced to play. And as husband and wife leap between paper-puppet world and reality, Anna is watching them, waiting for her train.
Back to Anna is a crisp, multi-rolling play about the forgotten female voices and lived experiences Leo Tolstoy co-opted to write Anna Karenina. It explores authorship as power and writing as negotiation, merging sharp text with vibrant movement. By interweaving two narrative strands – one inspired by fiction, one by the Tolstoy couple’s private diaries and letters – Anna Karenina becomes a prism to examine the Tolstoys’ lives.
After an extensive research & development period, we tested a draft of Back to Anna at a staged reading at Pentameters Theatre London in February 2020, after which the script was longlisted for the Radius Playwriting Award.
Now we're excited to present a work-in-progress sharing of the first act at the Pushkin House London, followed by a Q&A.
The project is being generously supported by the Carne Trust.
