Information for The Queen of Spades at Garsington Opera, High Wycombe (Opera or Operetta). Based on Pushkin's story of the same name a young man falls in love with a girl he discovers to be the grand daughter of a Countess. To be taken seriously he'll need to be seriously rich, so he decides on a gambling route. Now, the person who knows the secret of the three-card game is the Countess herself but in forcing the secret from her she dies - a twist that sets the plot, and the young man's life, on a new course.