The Queen of Spades, modern style: Radu Poklitaru to present his fourth ballet to music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky
On October 13 the famous Ukrainian choreographer Radu Poklitaru and Kyiv Modern Ballet will present their next production — “The Queen of Spades” to music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, but not to the eponymous opera, rather to his Second and Sixth symphonies. It will be a two-act contemporary ballet.
On 13 October, the renowned Ukrainian choreographer Radu Poklitaru and Kyiv Modern Ballet will present their latest production — «The Queen of Spades» set to the music of Pyotr Tchaikovsky, though not to his opera of the same name, but to his Second and Sixth Symphonies. This will be a contemporary-choreography ballet in two acts.
The opera of the same name by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, who had Cossack roots, appeared in the spring of 1890, although at first the much-sought-after composer refused for two years to fulfil the commission of the Imperial Theatre, justifying his decision by the absence of «proper theatricality» in the plot of Alexander Pushkin’s novella. Incidentally, the Ukrainian translation of the title is «Vynova kralia».
Thereafter the work — about the whims of fate, desires and the ability to fulfil them, and ultimately love — had many stagings on opera stages and in cinema. There were ballet productions too, though few.
In particular, there are two ballets — from 1978 and 2001 — by the Frenchman Roland Petit.
For the readers of «Ukraina Moloda», Radu Poklitaru tells us what to expect from his ballet The Queen of Spades.
Radu, why did you decide to stage «The Queen of Spades» this time? What place or events inspired you? How will you surprise the audience in the new ballet?
Considering that I have already staged ballets to three of Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s ballet scores, and that I did not want to part with the composer’s work, I decided to continue our collaboration. This time it is work with «The Queen of Spades». It is an incredible plot for a ballet performance. There is mysticism here, and fantasy, and an incredibly high degree of dramatic feeling, a love story. The full set of everything needed to create yet another bestseller for Kyiv Modern Ballet.
In the secret recesses of my creative treasury, the idea of creating the ballet performance «The Queen of Spades» had been kept for many years. So if we are talking about the first impulse, it was the music of Tchaikovsky’s opera.
But I did not manage to stage the ballet using the opera score, because while creating the scenario plan and the musical arrangement I accidentally realised that the text was «getting in my way». So I had to abandon this idea, because I saw how the choreography was turning into a banal dance crib, devoid of allegory and emotional independence.
In August of this year I visited the Kamianske Historical and Cultural Reserve, the Davydov estate. It was here that, in various years, the great Tchaikovsky rested, worked and created — he came there to visit his sister over the course of 28 years — as did Pushkin, who was there twice. The Davydov estate was precisely a place of power for their work. After the trip to Kamianka, I had the feeling that I had enlisted the support of great predecessors — and the work began to flow more inspiredly.
Since we are staging a ballet, and the foundation of any ballet is choreography, I hope that this time I have found new colours in my choreographic palette. With each year it becomes more and more difficult to come up with something new. It seems to me that this time everything worked out; we have a lot of choreography and many elements that I have not used before. As for the technical component, this time the author of the video content, Olha Nikitina, and I decided to try adding new technological tricks. So I am eagerly awaiting the premiere.
If we recall the literary source, which of the main characters have you kept? Will new ones appear in the production?
Yes, of course, I have kept the main trio — the Countess herself, Hermann and Liza. The secondary characters fell away, but a new character has appeared who was not in Tchaikovsky — the mystical Count Saint-Germain. An astonishing character of the 18th century. This will be our know-how, since there is no such character either in the opera or in the literary source. There are, of course, other new characters who figured in Pushkin’s text but never had a stage embodiment. The audience will learn about them at the performance itself.
Who will perform the leading parts in the ballet?
I hope that on 13 October the audience of our theatre will see the following cast of artists: the part of Liza will be performed by Kateryna Kuznetsova, the part of Hermann — by Vladyslav Detiuchenko, the part of the Countess — by Olena Saltykova, and the part of Saint-Germain — by Artem Shoshyn, Honoured Artist of Ukraine.
Who is on the ballet’s production team this time? Why these particular artists?
To the production team of the ballet «The Queen of Spades» I invited artists with whom I have already realised more than one premiere at our theatre and in whose work I am confident. If we recall our ballets «Viy» and «The Little Prince» — «The Queen of Spades» is created by the same team. The costume designer, a master of his craft — Dmytro Kuriata. This time he has created two parallel worlds for the ballet: one for the first act and one for the second. And everything to do with virtual objects is the work of Olha Nikitina. She is constantly experimenting with video material. This time we will work with the continuum of «augmented reality». How it will look — the audience will see on the stage of the October Palace on 13 October.
This is the theatre’s second ballet created with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation. One might say this grant collaboration has turned out well. Are you trying (continuing) to attract funding from other sources?
We are incredibly grateful to the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation for supporting the extraordinarily large projects «The Little Prince» and «The Queen of Spades». We very much hope that our collaboration will continue. Thanks to the UCF, all of Ukrainian art has received incredible support for realising the boldest, most extraordinary projects. We are also looking for other sources of funding — in our difficult times this is not easy, but we are working on it. In addition to the UCF, the performances «The Little Prince» and «The Queen of Spades» received financial support from the Culture Department of the Kyiv City State Administration.
Quarantine restrictions are looming again. How and when will «The Queen of Spades» meet its audience?
We very much hope that we will be able to show «The Queen of Spades» in live contact with the audience. Because online screenings will never replace live communication between the audience and the artists. An online broadcast will take place in any case — it expands the opportunity to see the production for those who are not in Kyiv.
