The second episode of BBC Radio Four’s drama series, Tsar, or ‘Game of Russian Throne’, as I can no longer resist the temptation to call it, was broadcast yesterday.
It picks up almost from where part one, Ivan the Terrible: Absolute Power left off. It begins with a sliver of extremely dark comedy. Ivan is on his deathbed and his extremely on-edge chief retainers go back and forth as to whether he has actually snuffed it.
Ivan's surviving heirs are the frail Fyodor (who reminds me of England's Henry VI) and Dmitri, a ten-year-old boy. This sets off a contest amongst Muscovy's leading families to be the power behind the throne. If a spot of Machiavellian intrigue appeals to you, you will almost certainly like this.
Having played a relatively peripheral role in part one, nobleman Boris Godunov steps forward to assume a central part in the emerging power struggle. For most of the episode, Boris is an enigmatic figure who keeps his cards close to his chest. He espouses a belief in the need for a state less in thrall to the whims of its ruler, but is nevertheless prepared to act outside the law when he believes the situation demands it.
Much is made of the frequently brutal way in which power was wielded in Russia in this period, and by implication at other times, but there is an admirable attempt at balance when Godunov asks the English Ambassador Sir Jerome Horsey (a real historical figure, by the way) a series of very pointed questions about the fate of Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I’s role in it.
As with the first episode, the cast attack their roles with startling ferocity. Special mention here has to go to Elizabeth Berrington as Maria Nagaya, Ivan IV’s surviving wife, who launches scathing, scatological verbal assaults on anyone who crosses her. The subject matter isn’t exactly a barrel of laughs, so it makes a certain amount of sense that an effort has been made to lighten the mood at times. Occasionally this goes a bit far, as I have noted elsewhere:
On the more negative side, the one-hour running time proves a bit of a problem as having spent almost 45 minutes setting up Boris’s rise to power, there is then a lightning charge through his actual reign and indeed the subsequent 'Time of Troubles' until we end with Mikhail, the first of the Romanov dynasty, ascending the throne. Having spent the better part of two episodes with the character of Boris, it is somewhat dramatically unsatisfying to see him crack under the weight of power in almost the blink of an eye. The use of Middle Eastern music at various points throughout seems a little incongruous as well.
As with the first episode, I enjoyed it and came away wanting to know about the real lives the drama was based on. However, I already knew the broad outline of the story, so I'd be very interested to hear the perspective of someone coming to it cold.
