IT’S perhaps unavoidable for that formidable opera director David Pountney, known for tackling the more obscure Slavic operatic repertoire, not to pursue the somewhat simplistic comparisons of Ivan the Terrible’s reign to that of Joseph Stalin in this production.

This may be an interpretative conceit too far because, at its heart, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera is the tragic tale of an all-powerful ruler rediscovering his long-lost illegitimate daughter Olga.

Ivan, portrayed as a passionate lover in the prologue, in the final scene has laid siege to Pskov, where he discovers that Olga is in fact his daughter. He determines to spare the city but fails and Olga dies in the cross-fire.

The first half of Pountney’s production is faithful to its 16th-century period setting, with the costumes, echoing the folk illustrations of Ivan Billibin, complementing Francis O’Connor’s superb minimalist set.

Ivan the Terrible is essentially an opera about generational trauma and, although making Ivan a Stalin clone in part works, it hinders the universalist and personal resonance that the piece offers.

The cliche image of Russian history is a land of bloody dictators but Ivan the Terrible killed far fewer people than the Tudors did in the dynastic struggles considered to be a golden age.

Thus what we are presented with is Russia, viewed after the fact, through a Western gaze. And while this very much panders to the tastes of a Grange Park Opera audience it was a shame more of the psychological elements of the opera are left unexplored.

What we are left with are the familiar tropes that Stalin was a malevolent force and that history in Russia repeats itself.

Even so, both Rimsky-Korsakov and David Pountney are great story-tellers. The chorus sing beautifully and are a delight to watch. Adrian Thompson as Nikita stands out as an engaging character actor, while Clive Bayley’s “Ivan as Stalin” convinces as a controlled psychopath.

Evelina Dobracheva, who plays both the adult Olga and her mother, sings the role of the daughter beautifully, though the decision to treat her as a passive victim denies her agency and is a missed opportunity dramatically.

Runs until July 14, box office: grangeparkopera.co.uk