War and Peace

Tolstoy’s epic novel has often resisted dramatisation as a one-off theatrical performance – it’s huge, after all, which is the classic BBC series from 1972 ran for fully 20 episodes and Sergei Bondarchuk’s film adaptation from the 60s spanned seven hours in four parts. This version, by celebrated director Rimas Tuminas and delivered by the Vakhtangov State Academic Theatre of Russia, comes in a more manageable four hours plus a (much needed) intermission; but it has still received favourable reviews, with few complaints about its sweep and spectacle – it seems that most of the grandeur and complexity of Tolstoy’s work has been retained, with the Napoleonic Wars as the background for the lives, ambitions, hopes and sorrows of the three families portrayed: the Rostovs, the Bolkonskys, the Kuragins.

It’s performed in Russian with English surtitles. There’s a second performance on 18 January at 5pm.