A short overture introduces some of the themes from the opera.
ACT I, Scene 1: A park above the Volga in the small, fictional, provincial
town of Kalinov. Time about 1860.
As Vanya Kudryash sits admiring the beauty of the River Volga and speaking to
Glasha, the Kabanov servant, they see Dikoj (Vanya's employer) beating Boris,
his nephew. They enter as Vanya and Glasha go off. Dikoy berates Boris for being
so lazy and orders him to stay away from him. He then asks Glasha if her mistress
is at home. When told she is still at church, he leaves. When Vanya returns
and asks Boris why he allows his uncle to beat him, he is told that his parents
died and left money for him and his sister on the condition they always obey
Dikoy. Only by staying with his uncle can he make sure his sister does not also
have to live there and suffer as he does.
An orchestral interlude describes the Kabanovs coming back from church. Boris regrets how quickly his youth is passing. When he hears the name Kabanicha he confesses to Vanya that he is in love with Katya, her daughter-in-law. As they appear, Kabanicha is ordering her son Tichon to leave for Kazan this day and scolds him for putting his wife before his mother. Katya says she and Tichon both love her, but Kabanicha orders her to keep quiet and tells her son his wife should know her place. After Katya enters the house, Tichon tries to protest, but Kabanicha tells him he is too easy on his wife and angrily leaves. Varvara accuses Tichon of being drunk and nagging his wife. When he leaves, she comments on how unhappy Katya is.
Scene 2: A room in the Kabanov house.
As Katya and Varvara sit talking, Katya recalls her happy childhood when she
could wander as freely as a bird, and how she imagined angels flying when she
was in church. Then she felt as though she herself was flying. Strange sinful
feelings are besetting her; at night she thinks a man is whispering to her and
that she goes with him. Varvara confesses that she too has sinned. When Tichon
appears Katya runs to embrace him and begs him not to leave. When he says he
has to obey his mother, she begs to be allowed to go with him, but he refuses.
He has to get away. She then asks him to make her promise to never think of
another man while he is gone. Kabanicha comes to tell Tichon it is time to go
and orders him to tell his wife how to behave. Reluctantly, and prompted by
his mother, he tells Katya to respect and honor her mother-in-law, not to sit
idle, and not to look at other men. His mother then makes Tichon kneel and kiss
her, then say farewell to his wife. When Katya throws her arms around her husband's
neck, Kabanicha scolds her for acting like a lover instead of a wife.
ACT II, Scene 1: A room in the Kabanov house
Kabanicha reproaches Katya for not shutting herself in her room and crying after
her husband has left. Even if she didn't feel the need, she should have pretended
to cry to be like other women. [This was indeed expected of Russian wives at
the time.] After she leaves, Varvara suggests she and Katya spend the night
in the summerhouse. She has found the key to the nearby gate, taken it and substituted
another so Kabanicha will not be suspicious. If she see Boris, she will tell
him Katya will wait for him by the gate. Katya doesn't want to take the key,
but Varvara thrusts it on her and leaves. Although her conscience tells her
she should throw the key away, she rationalizes that it wouldn't hurt to merely
talk to Boris. She finally decides she would rather die than not see him and
longs for night to come.
A somewhat drunken Dikoy complains to Kabanicha that everyone wants money from him, and she accuses him of being a bully. He tells her how the Devil tempted him to swear at a peasant then beg his forgiveness on his knees. The disgrace of kneeling before a peasant!.
Scene 2: By the gate in the garden fence.
Vanya sings a folk song as he waits for Varvara. Boris appears has he has been
instructed, and Vanya warns him of the danger of loving Katya. Varvara enters,
and tells Boris that Katya is coming; then she and Vanya walk off together.
When Katya appears Boris greets her ardently, but she tells him to stay away
from her. She is married; does he want to ruin her? Finally she succombs and
throws herself in his arms. Now she can die happy, although she is sure she
has sinned and will surely die. Varvara and Vanya return and tell Katya and
Boris to go for a walk. Varvara is not afraid they will be found out; Kabanicha
always sleeps soundly. Boris and Katya can be heard from offstage declaring
their love for each other. As it grows late, Vanya calls the others back.
Act III, Scene 1: A ruined building by the river. (The play tells us
it is 10 days later.)
Vanya and his friend Kuligin take shelter from a rainstorm and comment on the
remnants of paintings on the wall which depict the damned burning in hell. Other
passers-by join them. When Dikoy pears, Vanya tells him they should have lightning
rods to protect them. Dikoy does not believe that lightning is just electricity.
It is sent as punishment by God; Vanya the mechanic is a heretic and charlatan.
Varvara tells Boris that Tichon has come home unexpectedly and Katya has been acting crazy, wandering around, shaking and crying. Varvara is afraid she will tell Tichon everything, and Kabanicha has become suspicious. As Katya appears moaning that she will die, the passers-by comment on her actions. She breaks completely and does confess she has not kept any of the promises she had made to her husband before he went away. She names Boris as her lover and faints in Tichon's arms.
Scene 2: The banks of the Volga.
Tichon and Glasha are searching for Katya. His mother has said killing Katya
is not enough, she should be buried alive. At least she should be beaten. But
he loves her still and cannot hurt her. Kabanicha has also been shouting at
Varvara who had warned her that something bad would happen. Vanya urges Varvara
to go to Moscow with him, and they leave.
Katya enters searching for Boris. If she can see him again, she will die happy. She hears distant singing that sounds like funeral chanting. She wants to die but death does not come, she must go on living and atone. Boris enters and they embrace. His uncle has banished him to Siberia, and he worries about what Kabanicha will do to her daughter-in-law. Katya replies that she will torture her, people will laugh at her, and Tichon will beat her when he is drunk. There is something else she wants to tell him but she can't remember what it is, then says that when he leaves, he should give alms to every beggar he meets. They finally say goodbye.
As Katya goes to the river and jumps in she thinks of birds flying over her grave. Kuligin sees her and calls for help. The others rush in. Kabanicha restrains Tichon as he goes to help, saying his wife is not worth saving. He turns on her and accuses her of being the one who killed Katya. Dikoj has found Katya, and Tichon falls on her corpse. Kabanicha thanks the others for their kindness.
Note: The play ends the same way but with one more line in which Tichon cries that Katya is free but he is left to live and suffer.