ADAPTING Lev Tolstoy’s novel Anna Karenina for the theatre is a massive challenge and staging it takes huge courage and ambition, two qualities the Royal Exchange has in bucketfuls.

But unfortunately this production of Tolstoy’s masterpiece, although courageous, misses the mark by a long way.

Tolstoy’s novel, first published in 1877, is huge in its breadth and has many complex themes — love, loss, the state of Russia as it heads towards a new century and the fecklessness of the ruling elite.

Distilling that into a two-hour stage production requires a tight focus and, while Jo Clifford’s adaptation attempts to tackle the scope of the novel, it ends up confused and disjointed under Ellen McDougall’s direction.

Inexplicably, the shadow of Karenina’s son Sergei is completely absent, while the various capers of the jolly doctor who runs about sticking his finger up various orifices is given some prominence.

The actors appear uncomfortable as if they are unsure where the play is heading. This creates a ponderous and rather plodding spectacle. The lack of any chemistry between Karenina (Ony Uhiara) and Count Vronsky (Robert Gilbert) leaves us cold and indifferent to their plight.

The one bright spark is Claire Brown who, as Karenina’s sister-in-law Dolly, rises above the confusion to give an assured performance.

Joanna Scotcher’s sparse set hardly improves matters. The continual entry and exit of railway rolling stock, along with a narrow trench of wet earth, are heavy-handed symbolic signifiers which lack subtlety.

Ultimately, what is missing is the novel’s soul.

Even so, full marks to the Royal Exchange for taking a risk. That’s what innovative and challenging theatre is all about and in these austere times we need companies brave enough to push boundaries, even if they don’t always succeed.

Runs until May 2, then transfers to the West Yorkshire Playhouse, box office: royalexchange.co.uk, wyp.org.uk

PAUL FOLEY