Bree Nichols

Marek Prášil

Jaroslav Milfajt

Jana Andělová Pletichová

Michaela Savovová

Silesian Theatre

The allure of forbidden fruit is more powerful than societal conventions. Love can hurt, can make us laugh and cry—but it can also kill. The myriad emotions of love and hate are powerfully portrayed in this libretto and score by Leoš Janáček, who was himself torn by a very unconventional relationship with Kamila Stösslová.

After the success of Jenůfa, Janáček was drawn by the story of another tragic heroine: Káťa Kabanová, based on Alexander Ostrovsky's 1859 drama, The Storm. In an unhappy marriage, the emotionally needy Káťa succumbs to the young Boris, but under the weight of remorse, she confesses this betrayal to her husband. Her mother-in-law, the domineering Kabanicha, proposes a severe punishment—burial alive. A desperate Káťa ends her unfulfilled life in the Volga River.