To Kill a Serpent in the Shell

To Kill a Serpent in the Shell dramatizes the final year of Tsarevna Sofiäs regency, interrogating Russiäs history while subtly confronting the Russia of today. The play, both a riddle and a fantasy, depicts the political rivalry between the regent and her lover, Vasili Golitsyn, on the one hand, and the young Tsar Peter on the other.