Tolstoy wrote his short novel The Kreutzer Sonata at a time of great personal upheaval.

In particular, his marriage had become deeply unhappy: by the time of the book’s publication, his wife Sofiya had given birth to 13 children, and hardly surprisingly she was physically and mentally exhausted. Meanwhile, Tolstoy himself had become ashamed of his uncontrolled physical desires.

This situation is reflected in The Kreutzer Sonata: principal character Pozdnyshev has already fathered five children, and tensions are mounting in his marriage: “There were china wars,” he declares, “My wife turned out to be a cup-thrower”. Earlier, he reveals he first met her by chance at a lakeside, and “had thoughts I’d never had before or since”. She is a talented pianist,who becomes entangled with a male violinist as they work on Beethoven’s demanding Kreutzer Violin Sonata.

But director John Terry, in this brand new Chipping Norton Theatre production of the play, doesn’t develop this link, or draw either into the action: they remain in the shadowy background apart from one brief scene, listed in the programme simply as Hannah Watson (piano) and Justin Wilman (violin).

This leaves the coast clear for RSC Associate Artist Greg Hicks to deliver Pozdnyshev’s side of the story, which he delivers to his fellow passengers on a train. How scandalised they must have been to be told, for instance, that he lost his virginity in a brothel at 16 (“it smelt of boiled broccoli”).

Hicks develops the narrative in masterly fashion. At first Pozdnyshev seems quite bashful, with his fidgeting body movements and touches of wry humour. But, steadily and surely, you come to realise that you are hearing a comprehensive piece of self-justification from a totally self-centred man.

Hicks delivers the story in riveting fashion in 100 minutes without any interval, or even a sip of water: an acting tour de force indeed. On until Saturday.

chippingnortontheatre.com

4/5