Totally unexpectedly, today I’ve found myself with the opportunity to write about something Russia-related almost as soon as it has become available, namely a one-hour BBC Radio 4 drama on Ivan IV, better-known as Ivan the Terrible. I don’t know a lot about the guy, but if I had to sum what I do know about him up for someone familiar with English history, I’d say, ‘imagine King Henry VIII, only way more so’.
Given that for a lot of the audience, Ivan the Terrible is probably not much more than a fearsome name attached to a mostly non-specifically nasty reputation, the writer Mike Walker’s decision to opt for a non-linear narrative might be regarded as relatively brave. In a way though, the precise sequence of events isn’t hugely important, as the focus of the drama is Ivan’s creeping paranoia and the way in which that manifests itself in his relationships with those close to him and how he attempts to run the state.
The story opens right in the middle, accompanied by the ominous sound of bells and a mournful Russian Orthodox choir. I was just in the process of thinking that this was a bit of an obvious, albeit effective, sonic choice, when it becomes apparent that the initial setting was a monastery. This is where we meet the eponymous *ahem* ‘hero’, who for reasons of his own has decided, for the moment at least, to abandon the throne. The characters who appear next indicate that Ivan’s grasp on reality is tenuous to say the least.
I feel that maybe I’m being a bit lazy by giving in to the temptation to draw comparisons between this and ‘Game of Thrones’. That there is a degree of ‘cross-over appeal’, and some superficial similarities, however, is undeniable. As there are probably still some people about that haven’t hopped aboard that particular bandwagon, I’ll try not to belabour the point. I will say that it seems to be not wholly coincidental that the all the Russian characters have northern English accents, much like the Men of the North in GOT. On top of that, Ivan’s henchman Malyuta has quite a bit besides a canine nickname in common with GOT’s Sandor Clegane, although there also appears to be some Wormtongue and Lavrenty Beria thrown into the characterization for good measure.
It’s certainly not going for ‘measured’; the programme notes on the site call the approach, ‘full-blooded’ and mostly it works well. Occasionally though, there’s the odd bit of writing that’s a tad ‘on the nose’, the most obvious case being when two characters are walking across a frozen river, discussing what is to be done about the way Ivan is handling foreign policy and one warns the other that ‘the ice is thinner than you think’.
On the whole though, Ivan the Terrible: Absolute Power does a great job of bringing making a figure distant in time and place seem vital and complex. Definitely looking forward to part two on Boris Godunov.
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