Театральная компания ЗМ

THE SEAGULL

Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre, Moscow
Choreographer: John Neumeier


The director of the Hamburg ballet and one of the pillars of modern dance, John Neumeier, has transferred his Seagull onto the Moscow stage. He staged the play not just in response to a call of the heart, but with a scientific purpose: to find “a new way of rendering drama”. Bearing in mind that “transferring” drama through ballet steps has been happening for over 150 years (in the 19th century ballet laid its hands on Hamlet, and in the 20th century on almost every major literary figure), the choreographer’s idea seemed, to put it mildly, not very original. The director's decision to transform Chekhov’s actresses into ballerinas and his writers into ballet masters seemed even more obvious. The contrast between safe classics and doubtful “new forms” followed on quite naturally. It was thus even more surprising that Neumeier, who had applied Stanislavsky's system to ballet practice, quite unexpectedly discovered a “new path”. He distinguished himself from the traditional (dramatic ballet) just as much as the “realist” direction of the Maly Theatre of a hundred years ago had differed from the realism of the Moscow Art Theatre. Nothing similar has ever happened in Russian ballet theatre on the level of naturalness of acting and coordination of ensemble.


TRAVELLING COMPANY
161


PERFORMANCE SPACE
20 m x 18 m

Proscenium opening – 15 m x 8 m

FOR AUDIENCE OF
900-1600


FRIGHT
120 m3


GETTING IN
Two days before the performance




Photo © Vadim Lapin, Oleg Tchernous, Anna Klyushkina