On December 14, the premiere of the ballet "The Queen of Spades", based on the novel of the same name by A.S. Pushkin, took place on the historical stage of the State Academic Bolshoi Theater of Russia.
The choreographer of the performance was Yuri Possokhov, who has been collaborating with the Bolshoi Theater for a long time. Previously, he directed such projects as "Cinderella", "The Seagull", "A Hero of Our Time". The idea to present The Queen of Spades came to Possokhov after the death of British choreographer Liam Scarlett.
The Queen of Spades is one of his last performances, I saw it at the Royal Danish Ballet. There is an amazing ending, a fantastic monologue by Hermann - as if Liam predetermined his tragic departure, - the press service of the Bolshoi Theater quotes the choreographer. "But the general concept seemed strange to me as a Russian: the countess was such a young socialite. And I had a desire to stage The Queen of Spades in my own way."
The libretto for the ballet was written by screenwriter Valery Pecheikin. The score is based on the music of Pyotr Tchaikovsky, adapted by the St. Petersburg composer Yuri Krasavin.
The plot of A.S. Pushkin's work is familiar to many: the young engineer Hermann lives modestly and tries to accumulate a fortune. He is fascinated by cards, but instead of playing, he prefers to watch the process. One day, his acquaintance Tomsky tells the story of how his elderly grandmother, the Countess, lost a large sum of money in her youth, and when she came to ask for a loan from the Count of St. Germain, he revealed to her the secret of three winning cards. Thanks to this secret, the countess managed to win back.
Upon learning of this, Hermann seduces Lisa, the Countess's pupil, and later sneaks into the bedroom of an elderly lady with an unloaded pistol in his hand to extract the secret from her. Out of fear, a woman has a heart attack and dies. After that, Hermann begins to have frightening visions, and at night the ghost of the Countess appears to him and names the winning cards: three, seven, ace. After a visit from the deceased, Hermann becomes obsessed with three cards, which he sees everywhere and in everyone around him.
When the famous gambler Chekalinsky arrives in St. Petersburg, Hermann decides to play with him and wins the first two times. On the third one, without realizing it, he bets all the money not on the ace, which should bring him victory, but on the queen of spades. The young man loses everything, and instead of a picture of a lady on the card, he sees a countess grinning at him. A ruined and insane man ends up in a psychiatric hospital, where he constantly mutters under his breath: "Three, seven, ace."
- Ballet "The Queen of Spades"
- © Press Service of the Bolshoi Theatre
Doomed Herman and the elderly countess performed by Lopatin
The audience of The Queen of Spades will see a large-scale two-act production that combines classical ballet and modern elements. It begins with a St. Petersburg ball, which is attended by the Countess with Lisa and Herman (in the original work, the hero bore the surname Hermann, while in the libretto by Pyotr Tchaikovsky and in this ballet, the character is called Herman). From the very beginning, the audience feels an invisible connection between the protagonist and the elderly lady.
The artists of the Bolshoi Theater subtly and very emotionally convey the characters and behavior of their characters. The emotions of the characters are easy to read and resonate in the soul at the right time with pain, compassion, and sometimes even fear.
The role of Herman on stage is talentedly performed by the principal dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet Igor Tsvirko. The dancer holds himself perfectly on stage and performs all the ballet movements with precision and exactly as the audience should see it – easily. Herman Tsvirko turned out to be very excited, apprehensive, but determined. According to the actor himself, his character seemed to know in advance what outcome awaited him in the finale.
"My Herman seems to know in his heart what will happen to him. He is already partly doomed to his fate. Therefore, from the first minutes, this thought haunts him, prevents him from simply existing and being an ordinary person. My Herman is doomed," the artist said during the presentation of the production.
Tsvirko noted that he carefully prepared for the performance of his part: he watched other performances based on this work of the Russian classic, listened to the opera, and his work is undoubtedly noticeable to the audience.
"When we first found out that there would be a play of The Queen of Spades, I began to learn about all the possible productions that had been done before. And bit by bit he made up a kind of vision of his Herman, who would appear in front of the public," the artist admitted.
Beautiful, sensual and at the same time strong Liza is performed by the prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater Elizaveta Kokoreva. Her heroine is full of kindness and faith in the best: she takes care of the Countess, loves her and suffers greatly when she dies. Kokoreva manages to convey the subtlety of nature and at the same time the strength of the spirit of her character.
According to her, initially the heroine of Pushkin's story was presented to her differently.
"I saw Liza as calmer, more peaceful, gentle and, of course, brave, but Yuri Mikhailovich gave a goal – to show that Liza is a very strong woman in our performance," the ballerina explained.
It is a great pleasure to watch Elizaveta Kokoreva in this part. Her movements are polished, but at the same time smooth and plastic, fully conveying the character of the heroine. The actress seems to fly around the stage, which fascinates the viewer.
The image of Herman's friend Tomsky is embodied by the Honored Artist of Russia Artyom Ovcharenko, who cannot help but attract attention with the amplitude and beauty of his movements.
His character gets everything without much difficulty: he enjoys life, plays cards and easily wins, knowing the winning combination.
"My character, it seems to me, is the antipode of Herman, because for him the world does everything possible, and I do nothing for it. He knows the combination of three cards that allow him to win. And he does it easily, he is lucky, and Herman, on the contrary, tries to do his best, but he is unlucky. And my character is a guide for Herman into this world of cards," Artem Ovcharenko explained.
He also admitted that during the preparation of his game he tried to make Tomsky brighter: less faceless and indifferent.
Special attention should be paid to the amazing actor and ballet dancer Vyacheslav Lopatin, who at first is difficult to recognize in the image of the old countess. The actor looks organically in this part. His movements convey the Countess's fatigue with social events. In the second act, the viewer sees a more dynamic ghost of the Countess, who no longer evokes sympathy, but excitement and fear. The final part of the performance looks very impressive, to the point of goosebumps, when the ghost, appearing from under the gaming table, seems to drag the main character into the abyss of horror.
All the actors involved in the production prepared their parts with special attention, studied the characters of the characters, which is why they perfectly got used to the roles, giving the audience the opportunity to fully immerse themselves in the mystical story unfolding on stage.
"Artists are all different, each of them has their own personality. I can say that they helped, and I am also pleased that we have both venerable dancers working side by side in ballet, and at the same time very young ones, even those who graduated that year," said Yuri Possokhov.
- Ballet "The Queen of Spades"
- © Press Service of the Bolshoi Theatre
Colors as a Reflection of Obsession
There would be no atmosphere of mystery and mysticism without appropriate scenery, music and costumes. And in this case, all the elements, like puzzles, came together into one flawless picture.
The scenography impresses with interesting solutions by the production designer Polina Bakhtina. Some details remind the viewer of the time in which Pushkin's characters exist in the story, while others make it clear to the viewer about a new, modern reading of the text.
As a rule, the scenery changes each other in the course of the production, however, there is one invariable detail that can be seen in almost every scene - a cubic minimalistic transparent room. This is a unique element that, depending on the unfolding events, has a different purpose. At the same time, this very small enclosed space seems to embody the life of the protagonist — he is a hostage of his fate and obsession.
According to Polina Bakhtina, the team tried to make the performance cinematic and in the horror genre.
"We wanted to make a real horror ballet, so to speak. Therefore, there are a lot of visual transformations, something seems, something is imagined. It's a very canonical and spectacular story," the artist explained.
Meanwhile, the costumes of the characters are no less impressive and with a hint of modernity. For example, the officers' uniform, the top of which resembles a bomber jacket.
"As for the costumes, this is not a historical construction. This is a new reading, and it was very important for me to give the addresses, to give the marks of the present. Basically, I was making a kind of epic. This is both about the present day and about the original time of writing Pushkin's story. Therefore, you will find many allusions and references to the historical period," Bakhtina said.
In the first act of the production, light shades predominate, while later the viewer sees gloomy and bright colors: red, dark blue, black, purple. It can be assumed that the change of palette is related to the emotional tone of what is happening: at first, everything is peaceful and quite joyful, but the death of the Countess brings the bitterness of loss and fear. Also, the color schemes can represent the degree of Herman's obsession.
The music performed by the orchestra under the direction of conductor Pavel Klinichev perfectly complements the unfolding story and at certain moments creates the right mood. Thanks to the added instruments - drums, grand piano, accordion - Tchaikovsky's music sounds in a new way, with a greater degree of mysticism, and is flawlessly combined with choreography. By the way, this was one of the main reasons why the score of the great composer had to be rethought.
The Queen of Spades will not leave any viewer indifferent. Yuri Possokhov and all those who were involved in the creation of the production managed to present the well-known text in a new, large-scale and brilliant way. From the first to the last minute, the audience seems to live in a gloomy story, which is played out by talented artists of the Bolshoi Theater troupe.