The Royal Lyceum's latest World Premiere, an adaptation of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina , transports its audience to a tragic world of Nineteenth Century Russian socialites and into the lives of two very different people: Anna, a fashionable young urbanite who abandons both husband and child to embark on an inevitably tragic love affair, and the idealistic Levin, stewing in his country estate while heartbroken without his young princess.

John Clifford embraces the romance, the tragedy and the philosophy of Tolstoy's work, retaining the essence of the novel while dramatizing the piece beautifully for the stage. Adding humour and wit to his adaptation, he brilliantly recreates the classic bitter-sweet story for the stage.

Muriel Romanes directs, aiding the audience in their journey from town to country and back again. Her direction supports the story and the text, forming the story from the script, encouraging strong performances and sensitively setting the atmospheres for both the relaxed country estates and the mood of the society gossips.

Raquel Cassidy, playing Anna, brings soul and power to the heroin's journey, making the evolution clear and understandable to the audience. Liam Brennan, realises the awkward Levin powerfully, a character of great ideals throughout his helplessness. The supporting cast, take on a plethora of additional roles with enthusiasm and conviction, aiding the pace and narrative of the story as it progresses through Francis O'Connor's enchanting set. O'Connor creates a rustic wood-bound space suggesting urban and rural, freedom and confinement. The entire piece is unified by its unique retelling of the novel, bringing together the two worlds and the creatively linked tales of Anna and Levin.

Anna Karenina is an excellent production that engages the audience with a tragic story, wittily told and sensitively presented. It sets out to tell a beautifully sad story and it does so eloquently. Quality theatre.