To Die [A Comedy] English National

This exuberant and subversive black farce, by British-Russian composer Elena Langer, mocks and questions our obsession with celebrity – and encourages us to embrace the highs and lows of our turbulent, gruesome, joyful and beautiful life. Originally commissioned by the Stanislavski-Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre in Moscow, this comic opera was cancelled after the invasion of Ukraine. The piece was deemed insufficiently patriotic. The existential angst of Semyón Podsekayev drives him to suicide, but he hopes that playing the tuba will save him. A plan that fails miserably. TV presenter Ivan Vane is one of several characters keen to use Semyón’s possible suicide for their own gain. In the second act, we see Vane’s reality show The Naked Truth, in which Semyón’s desire to commit suicide – and everyone’s desire to profit financially from it – becomes a public game.