Author: Omar Willey

If control of language means control of thought, it is equally sensible that he who controls images controls identity. Where America and Europe often treat art as commodity or mere “self-expression,” the meaning of art runs quite a bit deeper in this play by David Edgar, given a fine production by the UW School of Drama.

Directors are responsible for choosing an interpretation about what the play means and removing obstacles so that the actors can do their work. Particularly in text-based classic theater, the director must make a convincing argument what this play means and, to some degree, why it is being done at all. Book-It’s Anna Karenina fails to convince because it fails to argue.

The production is three-quarters pure genius and one-quarter excellence. One can hardly complain about that mixture. The whole production gives me an optimism about the stage that maybe other companies will finally try to make a break from the petrifying effects of “seasons” and “shows” and rediscover what the San Francisco Actors Workshop under Herbert Blau and Jules Irving knew back in the 1950s: the play is the thing, and it is ready when it is ready.