Janacek - Jenufa
For pictures of our past production, see the Jenufa production page.
Act 1
At the mill that has passed into the hands of the Burya family, Jenůfa Burya anxiously waits to hear if that father of her unborn child, her cousin Števa Burya, has been conscripted into the army.
Števa’s older half brother, Laca, also waits to hear the news; he has just returned from the army to a job at the mill, which had once belonged to his own father and mother.
Old Mrs Burya, grandmother to Števa and to Jenůfa, also brought up Laca, but without affection. She reproaches Jenůfa for not helping her with her work, and Laca argues with her. The tension is suspended when a young boy, Jano, thanks Jenůfa for teaching him to read.
Laca confides to the mill Foreman that he loves Jenůfa, and hopes that Števa will be conscripted. The Foreman reveals that Števa has not been taken, and Laca immediately suspects that someone has helped Števa to buy his way out. Recruits enter with a jubilant Števa, and his high spirits take over the scene until interrupted by Jenůfa’s stepmother, the Kostelnička, or church warden, but by trade a peddler.
Kostelnička is stern with Jenůfa, who she regrets ever having brought to the mill. She describes her own unhappy love-marriage to Števa’s uncle, a handsome, drunken spendthrift, trying to save her beloved stepdaughter from a similar fate. Finally she forbids Jenůfa to marry Števa until a year passes during which he gives up drinking.
Their high spirits gone, the crowd disperses. Števa is at first distant with the desperate Jenůfa, then passionate. Laca is so inflamed by jealousy that he argues with Jenůfa, and ends up slashing her cheek with a knife.
Act 2
At her isolated cottage some five months later, the Kostelnička (we never learn her real name) awaits the arrival of Števa. Eight days earlier Jenůfa secretly gave birth to a healthy son, and she clings to the hope that Števa will marry her if he sees the child. The Kostelnička gives Jenůfa a sleeping portion, and then attempts to win Števa over, despite her distaste for him. He offers to support them, but will not marry Jenůfa, who he no longer loves: he is now engaged to the daughter of the Mayor.
Laca then arrives at the cottage, and pleads for Jenůfa’s hand. Kostelnička tells him about Števa’s child, but when it seems he too will abandon her, she tells him that the child died. Left alone, she resolves to drown the baby in order to save Jenůfa, and her own pride.
Jenůfa awakes, and misses her child. Kostelnička returns from the stream with ice for the washing, and tells Jenůfa that she has been sick with fever for days, during which time her child died and was buried.
Laca returns. Meekly, Jenůfa agrees to marry him.
Act 3
Laca and Jenůfa’s simple wedding party is attended by the Mayor and his wife, their daughter Karolka and Števa, and then by some local girls. The Kostelnička has had a nervous illness since the engagement. Before going to the church they ask Grandmother Burya’s blessing.
Suddenly there is a cry outside. The body of a baby has been found beneath the millstream’s melting ice. Jenůfa identifies the red cap as that of her child. The Kostelnička thinks of killing herself, but is prevented by Jenůfa’s vulnerability. The townspeople’s hostility to Jenůfa is halted by Laca, and then by the Kostelnička’s terrible confession.
At first horrified, Jenůfa realises that love drove her stepmother to murder. She forgives her before the Kostelnička is led away. Jenůfa tells Laca that he is free to leave her, now that she is disgraced. He chooses to stay with her, and they understand that after terrible sacrifices they have found love.