Inspired by tragic events during the 16th-century reign of Ivan the Terrible, Ilia Tyumenev’s gripping libretto tells the tale of Marfa Sobakina, the daughter of a rich Siberian merchant who wins a competition to become the third wife of the Tsar Ivan IV (known to history as “the Terrible”!). After triumphing over hundreds of other young women to become the Tsar's bride, Marfa was struck down by a strange illness and died just days after the wedding. Dmitri Tcherniakov’s staging transports the harrowing tale to a dystopian modern world in which the media rules in a dictatorship, manipulating the populace through high tech propaganda. In this dark universe, the Tsar is a Big Brother-like concoction of the media, and the competition an inhuman reality show created to amuse the masses… A truly brilliant production that has made waves since its premiere!
Photo © Monika Rittershaus
