Oh dear – what a mess this is! The opera by Rimsky-Korsakov, never previously performed in this country (you’ll understand why if you bother to venture to see it) is really a bit of a pot-boiler woven around an obscure moment in Tsarist history, based loosely (very, I should hazard) on the brief third marriage of Ivan the Terrible to a simple country girl, Marfa. The plot, not based on any historical records, is lightweight and stupid relying on that hoary theatrical standby, the Love Potion. This must have already seemed thoroughly over-used and hackneyed in Rimsy-Korsakov’s day but, if staged with furs, jewels and barbarism, it might just about have been possible to get away with it. Up-dated to present day Russia, as it is in this production, just makes it seem crass in the extreme, and absolutely maddening to watch. Why up-date an opera that has probably never been seen by anyone in a London opera-going audience, and for its first outing ever in this country?

The singing is universally good, Ekaterina Gubanova standing out as the spurned mistress of the villain, Gryaznoy, also well sung by the Danish Baritone, Johan Reuter, though much of the acting and nearly all the direction leave a lot to be desired. All in all this is very much an evening for Rimsky-Korsakov completists only.