The distorting mirror of memory, time and place...
Act I
‘The Standart’, August 1914
The imperial family is holding a picnic on board the imperial yacht. Their guests include the Tsarina’s great friend Madame Vyrubova, Rasputin and a group
of naval officers.
The party ends as the Tsar receives the news of the outbreak of war.
Interval
Act II
Petrograd, March 1917
In spite of rapidly growing social unrest, the Tsar is giving a ball to celebrate the coming-out of his youngest daughter, Anastasia.
He has invited his favourite ballerina – with whom he had a liaison before his marriage – to dance for his guests. Anastasia is puzzled by the apparent relationships between certain members of the court. The ball is interrupted by an outburst of revolutionary activity.
Interval
Act III
Some years later
For the woman who believes she is Anastasia, past and present intermingle.
She re-lives incidents from the years since the massacre of the Tsar and his family
at Ekaterinburg: her rescue by two brothers, the birth of her child, her marriage, the death of her husband, the disappearance of her child, her attempted suicide and confrontations over the years with relatives of the imperial family who deny her identity as the Grand Duchess Anastasia.
