Anna Karenina: A Play in Five Acts

The original novel on which this play is based, by Count Leo Tolstoy, is generally regarded as the author's second greatest literary achievement, second only to War and Peace. This 1907 dramatic adaptation was the first full-length play by rising French author, Edmond Guiraud (1879-1961). Anna Karenina, wife of Alexei Karenin, falls in love with Count Vronsky. When her husband refuses a divorce, the lovers run off together to Venice to escape the disapproval of Russian high society. But Vronsky is lured back to the old country by an offer of reinstatement in the military, and Anna must follow. There her tragic affair begins to unravel, in tandem with Anna's frail psyche. A classic story of love and betrayal.