Will our obsession with celebrity be the death of us?

For one night only, ENO welcomes a guest production by Nederlandse Reisopera and Phion Symphony Orchestra for the UK premiere of this exceptional new comic opera, following its world premiere in The Netherlands in April 2026.

Overview

This exuberant black farce, by British-Russian composer Elena Langer, is a satire about our fixation on fame, and the shameless exploitation for profit, entertainment and voyeurism of other people’s misery.

Originally commissioned by the Stanislavsky Theatre in Moscow, this comic opera was cancelled after the invasion of Ukraine, being deemed insufficiently patriotic.

Since Nikolai Erdman’s 1928 play The Suicide, the basis of the opera, was itself banned before its first performance, the opera has therefore helped Erdman achieve the distinction of getting banned on two separate occasions in Russia, a hundred years apart.

At the centre of the opera, set in the chaotic new Russia of the 1990s, is the unemployed and hopeless Semyon Podsekayev. He has missed out on the dodgy economic boom-times of the new country, and when his latest pathetic venture falls apart, he decides it’s time to call it a day.

But his intended suicide is immediately hijacked by a horde of bloodsuckers and crooks eager to profit from it.
Semyon becomes instantly famous, but during the glitzy TV variety show where his suicide is to be broadcast live, surrounded by all these monsters, he realises that his old life might have been worthwhile after all.

But is it too late?

Staging and score

A comic opera in two acts composed by Elena Langer. Libretto by Arkady Zastyrets, translated into English by Maggie F. Gottlieb. Based on the play The Suicide (1928) by Nikolai Erdman.

Singers and creatives

Directing is Sam Brown, Artistic Director of the Nederlandse Reisopera, the Dutch national touring opera company; on the podium is English conductor Adrian Kelly, Artistic Director of the Buxton International Festival.

Co-produced by the Netherlands Reisopera and Phion Symphony Orchestra

This production was made possible by the generosity of The Nicholas John Trust and is dedicated to the memory of Nicholas John, Dramaturge of English National Opera, 1985-1996.

Supported in part by the Performing Arts Fund NL.