BALLET: Stanley Peskin
IT would be silly to expect any ballet (or, for that matter, film or stage play) based on Leo Tolstoys majestic Anna Karenina to be Tolstoyan in impact. In fact, Andre Prokovskys adaptation of the novel for ballet in 1979 (now a standard work in Pact Ballets repertory) owes more to Clarence Browns spectacular film, made in 1935 with Greta Garbo as the ill-fated heroine, and Julien Duviviers lavish Anna Karenina made 13 years later with Vivien Leigh in the title role.
The range and complexity of the book are not to be found and, arguably, are not missed. The struggles of the Russian peasant, Levins bewilderment and the description of his courtship of and marriage to Kitty have appropriately been jettisoned in favour of the ill-starred relationship between Anna and Vronsky. In short, romantic melodrama has taken the place of Tolstoys meticulous psychological exploration of character and situation.
At the same time, it makes good sense to narrow the focus and to rearrange for dramatic purposes the big scenes in the book: the ice-skating, the ball (with a magical pas de deux at its centre) and Annas humiliation at the opera. An untidy book has been subdued into a two-hour entertainment, constructed as a carefully contrasted series of tableaux which present emotions in a fairly generalised light and which move the action forward at a rapid rate.
If the minute exploration of character in the book has been translated into large, extravagant gestures, what does grip is the plight of the heroine, who is seen as the victim not only of her own pathological jealousy but of male-dominated conventions she can neither ignore nor change.
As Anna, Tanja Graafland (who, together with Johnny Bovang, has been appointed senior principal dancer) dances with a fine range of tone and imagination. If she is perhaps a little cool in some of the more passionate moments in the first act, she rises to the emotional demands made by the ensuing two acts. The choice to be made between child and lover is movingly registered, the wilful abandonment to love and the growing recognition of loss are conveyed in exquisite mime and dancing.
Graafland is ably supported by Iain MacDonald, whose Vronsky, although a little bland at first, settles down into a strong, thoughtful reading. If the weakness and callousness of the character is lost, there is a vulnerability in MacDonalds personality which give a tragic edge to the love affair.
In the second cast, Irina Zyrianova and Bovang, looking more mature than Graafland and MacDonald, are every bit as compelling as their youthful counterparts. Both give performances of great distinction.
Prokovsky has restaged Anna Karenina for Pact and he has tightened the scenario; the result is a smooth and often highly charged ballet. He has been assisted by Guy Voolfenden, who has raided Tchaikovsky to provide a memorable accompaniment to the drama. The lighting designs and the sets and costumes are subtle and rich, and they give an extra vividness of atmosphere to Prokovskys choreography. The famous train is a tour de force.
Anna Karenina is at the State Theatre, Pretoria, until February 10