Why Anna Karenina is the greatest book ever written - Chichester production - video Dailymotion

SussexWorld

Phillip Breen, adapter and director of Anna Karenina at Chichester Festival Theatre this summer (June 7-28), believes the novel to be the greatest ever written.

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon. My name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspaper. It's really

00:05lovely to speak to Philip Breen, who is the adapter and the director for the great event

00:10at Chiff's Festival Theatre this summer, Anna Karenada. And you were just saying in passing

00:15almost that it's the greatest novel, and you quickly said other opinions available, but

00:20the greatest novel. What makes you think it is?

00:22Well, for me, it has all of human life in it. It's a meditation on what it is to be happy,

00:35and what it is to live a good life. It's a meditation on bringing up children, life, love, lust,

00:43all of our angels and devils. But what I love about it as well is that, yes, it sits,

00:51it is blooming. Of course, there is one thing that everyone knows about Anna Karenada, which

00:56is how she meets her end. But of course, Tolstoy never, because he is so plugged into what life

01:03is, he never lets her sit in the gloom for very long, because he also gives equal weight

01:07to the joy and the things that make life wonderful and worth living and the things that I experience

01:16all the time when I, you know, meet my friends or go and spend time with my family or

01:21walk my dog or whatever it might be, you know. So it is a novel that embraces the depth of what

01:31it is to be happy and to be miserable and to be human, I suppose.

01:35Absolutely. And you were saying, Justin was saying to you how he wanted to bring Epic to

01:41Chichester. As you say, if you want Epic, you've got it with this, haven't you?

01:44You've got it, you've got it. Yeah, I've smoked the whole packet.

01:48Yeah, it's a great, it was, I was very excited speaking to Justin when he was going into Chichester

01:55and his plans for the place and of course being, you know, seeing those brilliant productions

02:00last year or the Berlin girl, Coram Boy, et cetera, et cetera, you know, it's really, yeah,

02:06he really wants to put Epic drama centre stage and this felt kind of, you know, a good fit

02:10for both of us, yeah.

02:13Fantastic. Well, I'm conscious that your lunch break is up. I better let you go.

02:16Lovely to speak to you.

02:17I'm very much looking forward to seeing this.

02:20Well, you know, yeah, well, hopefully we'll have something to show you.

02:24You will indeed.

Why Anna Karenina is the greatest book ever written - Chichester production

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