Declan Donnellan has brought Boris Godunov to Britain. Kate Bassett asked him why.

"Pushkin is much bigger here than Shakespeare is in England. This is one of the difficult things for a foreigner to understand about Russia," declares Declan Donnellan. Manchester-born of Irish stock, 47-year-old Donnellan has become a top-rank, globetrotting director over the last three years. That's since he and his long-term partner – set designer Nick Ormerod – put their small but impressive UK company, Cheek By Jowl, on ice.

We are in Moscow, and Donnellan is talking with characteristic intellectual enthusiasm about his provocative modern-dress production of Pushkin's history play, Boris Godunov, coming to Warwick this week and later appearing at the London International Festival of Theater.

Of course, we Brits have heard of Pushkin. The Fiennes family recently translated his novel Eugene Onegin for the screen. Still, most of us would first name Chekhov, Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky if listing Russian literary greats. Opera-goers know Godunov's plot from Mussorgsky's adaptation which charts guilt-ridden Tsar Boris's fall against the rise of Grigory – a monk-turned-pretender who, in 1604, claimed to be Ivan the Terrible's son (previously presumed assassinated). But Pushkin's play is almost never staged in England.

By contrast in Russia, Donnellan says: "Pushkin is quoted every day and he's a national hero because he died young and glamorous." Godunov is atypical of his work, however. "This stonking great chronicle play – inspired by Shakespeare's histories – is often regarded as heavy. It has never really been allowed to breathe until now," Donnellan argues.

Some Russians advised the director that the piece was virtually unstageable. Pushkin certainly didn't make things easy with epic directions along the lines of, "Enter the people of Moscow" and "Grigory exits on horseback". Getting this show on the road has been tricky. "The gestation period began in 1995," Donnellan says, rolling his eyes. Two years ago, he was planning to do Godunov at the vast Red Army Theater outside Moscow. Donnellan wheezes with laughter when asked what happened to that idea. "Well, Nick tentatively asked if we might get a jeep or even a tank on stage. And they replied, "You can have an atom bomb if you have the money." So," he exclaims, "we didn't go there!

"I chose to do this play," he underlines, "because it's fantastically modern depicting the manipulation of public opinion." With some poetic licence, his Grigory is a crowd-pleasing leader-cum-gameshow-host who parades around, mike in hand, dishing out rewards to fawning admirers. Donnellan says the characters aren't satirically specific but admits Grigory's troops might look like Chechnyan rebels.

Though most reviews have been glowing, one Russian critic has damned the production as culturally simplistic Euro-fare, supporting those academics who doubted that Donnellan (who rehearses with a translator to hand) could understand Pushkin's portrait of their nation. Yet Cheek By Jowl always specialised in foreign classics and Donnellan is the first non-native director to receive a Golden Mask trophy (Russia's equivalent of an Olivier Award). He's also been honoured with a Crystal Turandot Award (for foreigners making outstanding contributions to the nation's culture). Donnellan`s written a book for Russian thespians called The Actor and the Target and, just after our interview, he's whisked away to meet Putin – apparently a fan.

As for Godunov, he was able to hand-pick an extraordinary star cast. Though he has felt "slightly worried" about promoting Western freelance casting to the detriment of Russia's permanent companies, he feels confident those traditional ensembles will survive because "there is a great need to belong here", and "though audiences fell away after perestroika when everyone stayed home to see Baywatch, theaters are now full again". Meanwhile, beyond Russia, Donnellan has directing Verdi's Falstaff for the Salzburg Festival. In New York this autumn, he's staging The Homebody, Tony Kushner's new play about an English family embroiled in Kabul's militant Taliban. And in Sydney, he's putting on a production of The Mysteries.

But what about his UK roots? Some British critics have feared his move abroad will become permanent, as Peter Brook's did. One could understand Donnellan waving goodbye, as his last two West End shows, Hayfever and Antigone, received some sniffy reviews. Also, Trevor Nunn has conspicuously failed to find him a slot at the National even though he was an applauded associate director under Richard Eyre, staging Kushner's Angels in America and Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd.

But Donnellan is keen to scotch the notion he's a bitter emigre. "Nick and I are still based in London," he stresses, "and though Russian actors, because they're valued, have terrific self-assurance, I miss working with British performers." He reveals, "We will be bringing back Cheek By Jowl in a couple of years. And we've had discussions about projects at the Almeida and the Royal Court." Just two weeks ago, it was announced that Donnellan will be taking the helm at the RSC's pioneering new acting academy in Stratford. "Over the last couple of years, spending at least part of my life teaching has become very important to me," he explains. "Then lo and behold, Adrian Noble phoned up." For the moment, the RSC project is still an embryonic dream. But at least Donnellan's homecoming is assured.