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Swan Lake
Malvern Theatres
**** When a Prince falls in
love with a swan, you know things will not end well.
Swan Lake
was Tchaikovsy’s first ballet score, begun in summer 1871 to entertain
his nieces The music was adapted and lengthened four years
later when Moscow’s Imperial Theatre commissioned a full-length ballet,
which has now been reinterpreted and performed on stages worldwide for
almost 140 years. This is an ambitious
tour, which sees The Russian State Ballet of Siberia performing runs of
five ballets in various towns and cities across the country. In each new
venue, as well as Swan Lake
they perform The Snow Maiden,
Sleeping Beauty,
Giselle
and The Nutcracker
– a most admirable feat. With artistic direction from Sergei Bobrov and
choreography by Bobrov as well as Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov , there
is no doubt as to the talent and dedication of everyone involved with
this production. However, I do wonder whether touring with so many
ballets at one time isn’t stretching the performers a little too far.
Dancers already double as more than a single character in one show, so
the dances they need to master to be involved in several shows must make
for an incredibly gruelling workload. It is hard to fault the dancers in Swan Lake, and Maria Smirnova-Nesvitskaya’s sets and costumes were beautiful, but for me there seemed to be something lacking from the production – that extra spark, the joy that was evident in the production of The Nutcracker I saw recently by The Royal Ballet. I realise that the
moods of the two stories are very different, but unfortunately I just
did not feel any great sense of emotion during
Swan Lake,
nor any passion between Prince Siegfried (Yury Kudryavtsev) and Odette
(Ekaterina Bulgutova), which surely needs to be convincing enough that
the audien It was striking how few smiles there were in the
whole of Act 1, even though the first scene depicted the prince’s
birthday celebrations. Only Benno (Georgiy Bolsnovskiy) stood out as
appearing to be genuinely enjoying himself. P The action then takes us to the lake, but oddly
the castle backdrop is in place throughout the park and some lake
scenes, so the setting is rather confusing. The lake backdrop when it
appears is lovely though, and the swans are at times mesmerising to
watch, although still unsmiling. Dances between Odette and the prince I
found less compelling, and I was often more focused on the wonderful
harp playing than the dancers. I know the pair were
supposed to appear torn because of their situation, but I found Odette’s
sorrowful expression and the prince’s concerned demeanour too constant
and unfaltering. Surely they would have
some moments
of joy at their newly discovered love? Fortunately The Russian State Ballet of Siberia
Orchestra, conducted by Alexander Yudasin, added some sparkle where for
me it seemed to be lacking on stage. After the break, it seemed as though the dancers
had been reminded to smile, and the Hungarian, Russian, Spanish, Italian
and Polish dances in honour of the prince at The Grand Ball added
lightness and colour. The Russian and Spanish dances were especially
fun and brought some much needed happiness into the production, and
Alyona Churilova as the Spanish maiden would have made for a far more
exciting bride for the prince. When the evil Odile appears at the ball,
distinguishable to us (but not the prince) by her black costume and her
grin, the prince is captivated and his fate is sealed. The final scene
returns to the lake, where the prince battles with the ever looming
raven. For anyone who doesn’t know how the ballet ends, I shall leave it
there, but must add that if I hadn’t read the programme I would still be
unsure myself. An astounding effort then, with much talent. The
strength and grace of these dancers should not be underestimated.
Overall though, the cast didn’t seem to spark off one another so
although each individual performance was to be lauded, for me this
production lacked the depth and emotion that I would hope for in a
ballet at this level. The Russian State
Ballet of Siberia are at Malvern until February 13th
and will then be touring Britain throughout the spring. Amy Rainbow 11-2-16
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