Irreverently mirroring the opaque maneuverings of today's Russian power brokers, Donnellan's
interpretation offers an edgy, modern-day staging of Pushkin's drama about the bitter power struggle that ensued in Tsarist Russia after Ivan the Terrible's death in 1584. The Sunday Times of London says, "Donnellan draws fiercely but firmly disciplined performances from his actors: the combination of high octane energy and stylized realism suggests the imaginative influence of Meyerhold...the show has a universal political topicality."