RSC outgoing artistic director Michael Boyd this week directs the world première of Adrian Mitchell’s adaptation of Alexander Pushkin's play Boris Godunov.
Pushkin, thought by many to be the greatest Russian poet and the father of Russian literature, wrote Boris Godunov in 1825, inspired by Shakespeare's Macbeth.
Its subject is ruthless Boris Godunov, tsar from 1598 to 1605 and rumoured to have murdered Tsarevich Dmitry to seize power.
Boyd will direct what will be the culmination of a thread of Russian work he has initiated over the past few years including The Grain Store and The Drunks in 2009.
This will be the first time this adaptation has been staged. It was Adrian Mitchell's final project before his death in 2008.
The cast, also appearing in Gregory Doran's The Orphan of Zhao, is headed by Lloyd Hutchinson playing the eponymous Boris Godunov.
Hutchinson was last at the RSC in Boyd's production of Troilus and Cressida in 1998.
His recent theatre work includes roles at the Royal Court, Donmar Warehouse and National Theatre including Derek Jacobi's Twelfth Night, The Observer, Life's a Dream and Collaborators.
Gethin Anthony, who plays Grigory, is Renly Baratheon in HBO's fantasy series Game of Thrones which can be seen on Sky Atlantic.
His recent stage work includes: Carrot at Latitude; In Praise of Love at Royal and Derngate, Northampton; Cling to me Like Ivy at Birmingham REP and Ditch at the Old Vic Tunnels.
The cast also includes: Matthew Aubrey (Rozhnov), Adam Burton (Semyon), Lucy Briggs-Owen (Maryna), Joe Dixon (General Basmanov), Jake Fairbrother (Gavrila Pushkin), Nia Gwynne(nurse), Paul Hamilton (Karela/Shchelkarlov), Susan Momoko Hingley (Rozia), Joan Iyiola (Ksenia), Youssef Kerkour (Kurbsky/guard), Chris Lew Kum Hoi (boy/citizen/soldier), Siu Hun Li (Krushchev), Patrick Romer (Father Pimen), Sadie Shimmin (hostess), James Tucker (Shuisky), Graham Turner, Martin Turner (Patriarch Job/Mniszech), Stephen Ventura (Misail/Margaret) and Philip Whitchurch (Variaam/Rosen).
The production is designed by Tom Piper, the lighting designer is Vince Herbert, music is by John Woolf, sound by Jeremy Dunn, movement by Liz Ranken and fights by Terry King.
Boris Godunov runs in the Swan Theatre from Thursday (15 November) until Saturday, 30 March.