Benjamin O’Mahony in Holy Fool [Mark Douet]

THE troubled relationship of Russian composer and pianist Dmitri “Mitya” Shostakovich (Benjamin O’Mahony) and the Soviet regime is well known.

Rosalind Adler and Lea Sellers’s fictionalised biopic takes us through his marriage to physicist Nina (Jenna Augen), and his struggle to preserve his artistic voice under Stalin’s reign of terror.

The play opens in 1936, when Shostakovich’s opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk displeased Stalin, who left a performance early. His music was subsequently banned from the Soviet stage, and he lived in fear of being detained and tortured.

However, the Leningrad Symphony became one of his most celebrated works and was used as propaganda during the 900-day siege, enduring as a symbol of defiance against fascism.

In 1949, Shostakovich was sent to the Cultural and Scientific Congress for World Peace in New York and reluctantly delivered speeches written by Soviet officials.

Holy Fool covers all this and more. There is a subplot involving a young pioneer, Katya (a nuanced Phoebe Pryce), whom Shostakovich inspires to become a musician. Years later she persuades him to release Symphony No 4, which only premiered in 1961, after Stalin’s death. Fergus O’Donnell completes the cast playing other supporting roles with flair.

Kate Fahy’s production is well acted – O’Mahony plays snatches of Shostakovich’s work live on stage and the chemistry between him and Augen rings true. We believe in their passion for one another, despite Shostakovich’s dalliances with other women.

The tension and pace sag a little in the middle and the play occasionally veers towards sentimentality, but for the most part this is a compelling introduction to the composer and a powerful reminder of what artists face in repressive regimes.

Until October 10
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