Demetrius

At the Polish Diet in Cracow, nobles, bishops, and deputies gather to restore order after political turmoil, only to be plunged into a dangerous debate over whether the claimant Prince Demetrius should even be heard. Before the Archbishop of Gnesen and a divided assembly, Demetrius appears with eloquence and grave dignity, asserting that he is Ivan's son and the rightful heir to the Russian throne. He recounts the murder of the child prince at Uglitsch, his years as an unaware monk, his rescue in Poland, and the intimate tragedies that followed, including his love for the daughter of Prince of Sendomir and a fatal duel. Relics, a marked arm, a Greek inscription, and the testimony of Russian boyars seem to support his identity, and his appeal for justice, alliance, and glory sways the Diet toward war. Yet the political bargain is unstable. Sapieha denounces the rush to conflict, exposes private ambition and bribery, and uses his veto to halt the proceedings, throwing the hall into chaos until King Sigismund intervenes. He acknowledges Demetrius's suffering, dissolves the Diet, and arranges his marriage to Marina, linking dynastic hope, love, and statecraft. Marina, however, proves fiercely ambitious, plotting with Odowalsky and pressing her father to support her dreams of power. In stark contrast, the play turns to Marfa, the sorrowful former empress in a convent, where news that Dmitri lives again rekindles grief, hope, and the haunting uncertainty of fate. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.