The Golden Cockerel

Synopsis  
Lying in bed, Tsar Dodon dreams of retirement. The problem is, people keep invading his country. His astrologer offers him a golden cockerel with magical powers, a weather vane which indicates from which direction danger will come. In his case, it will be from the East in the shape of a charming oriental princess determined to conquer his kingdom.

Monstrous tsar 
The Golden Cockerel is a satirical combination of Rimsky-Korsakov’s work and a century of Russian opera. The composer uses the more outlandish elements of Pushkin's story to create multiple comic situations, with nods and winks to Russian culture. When he shows Dodon as a Don Quixote-like figure, suffering from oblomovism, Rimsky-Korsakov is mocking the Tsars. And by developing the Oriental theme — much more than Pushkin does — he is not just using the music to enhance the mysterious oriental princess’s powers of seduction: he is also introducing some echoes of the Russo-Japanese war and the beginnings of the Revolution. Unsurprisingly the Tsar of the time, Nicholas II, largely censored the work and Rimsky-Korsakov therefore never saw his final masterpiece performed. Australian director Barrie Kosky, who is both a Russian opera aficionado and a highly skilled stage director can be trusted to bring all its symbolism and comic energy to the fore.