"And in my dreams I see myself
on a wolf's back
Riding along a forest path
To do battle with a sorcerer-tsar
In that land where a princess
sits under lock and key,
Pining behind massive walls.
There gardens surround a
palace all of glass;
There Firebirds sing by night
And peck at golden fruit."
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Alexander Afanasyev (1910)
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A labour of love for its writer, Fire Bird weaves together different renditions of the phoenix story with established Slavic folklore to tell a unique version of the legendary bird’s tale. Inspired primarily by Yakov Polonsky’s children’s fable, ‘A Winter's Journey’ (1884), which sees a rider seeking out the immortal Koschei the Deathless, and orchestrated with key themes from ‘The Firebird Suite’ by Igor Stravinshi (1910), it draws heavily on the translated works of Alexander Afanasyev in ‘Narodnye russkie skazki’ (1855), which were included in ‘The Red Fairy Book’ (1890).
Released as a single, feature length event rather than split into episodic content, Fire Bird tells the story of Prince Ivan Tsarevich, youngest son of a powerful Tsar who leaves the comforts of the Mortal Lands to venture into the Wilds, where creatures of myth still dwell and danger lies around every turn. Unknowingly drawn into a deadly battle of wills by an immortal sorcerer . . .
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