Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
Composer:
Composer:
She is young and beautiful and married to a dull businessman. She lives in a dull house, in a dull town with an overbearing and probably violent father-in-law.
Katerina Ismailova is just looking for a little bit of love to make the days go by, but her indiscretion sets off a brutal chain of events.
Shostakovich’s infamous second opera, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, is shockingly good:
Good because of its haunting vocal lines and brittle, brilliant orchestration. And shocking because it takes a grim story of dysfunctional human relationships and turns it into a thrilling night in the theatre.
Performed in English with surtitles.
Running time: three hours including one twenty-minute interval.
Synopsis
Act I
Katerina is bored with her provincial life, her dull husband, Zinovy and her overbearing father-in-law, Boris, who nags her for not having any children. When a new labourer arrives to work at the Ismailov's mill, Katerina is intrigued. Sergei was dismissed from his previous post for having an affair with his master’s wife and while Zinovy is away on business history repeats itself. Sergei and Katerina end up in her bedroom, making passionate love.
Act II
It is a week later. Boris prowls below Katerina’s window, pondering his sexual prowess as a young man. Just then he sees Sergei kissing Katerina goodbye. He catches Sergei as he clambers down the drainpipe and flogs him. He then demands that his daughter-in-law prepare supper. As Katerina cooks it, she puts rat poison in Boris’ mushrooms, which he then eats. End of Boris.
Katerina continues her affair with Sergei, but is haunted by Boris’ ghost. When she hears her husband returning she hides her lover, Sergei, but Zinovy sees Sergei’s belt on the bed and begins beating Katerina with it. Sergei emerges from hiding and, with Katerina’s help, batters Zinovy to death. End of Zinovy.
Act III
Katerina and Sergei are celebrating their wedding when a drunk wanders into the house. Heading to the cellar for more liquor, he finds Zinovy’s rotting corpse. He raises the alarm, the police arrive and arrest Katerina and Sergei.
Act IV
In the long line of chained convicts en route to Siberia, Katerina bribes the sentry to let her get close to Sergei. She wants to talk of love, but it is obvious that he now cannot bear her. Sergei starts flirting with a young convict Sonyetka, who says she can be had for a pair of stockings. Sergei then tricks Katerina out of her stockings to buy Sonyetka. In utter despair, she pushes Sonyetka into the river and jumps in after her. The Sergeant looks in the water after them, decides the current is too strong to do anything about it, and orders the convicts to move on.