20.07.2012
Vyacheslav Okunev Travels Back in Time with Don Quixote
The ballet Don Quixote, which has returned to the Mikhailovsky Theatre, can justifiably be called a traveller: its history is linked with Moscow and St. Petersburg in equal measure.
It was first performed with choreography by Marius Petipa at the Bolshoi Theatre in 1869; three years later, it came to the Mariinsky Theatre. At the turn of the 20th century, the ballet was revised by Alexander Gorsky. He created a new version based on Petipa’s choreography that was also transferred from Moscow (1900) to St. Petersburg (1902). The Mikhailovsky Theatre is now presenting Gorsky’s revised version. Set designer Vyacheslav Okunev explained how the scenery for the Mikhailovsky Theatre production was created.
“My scenery for Don Quixote is an invention based on the original productions. The show has a rich history, and I wanted to convey the atmosphere of the old theatre where it was first performed. I studied old prints that depicted the scenery created by Shangin, Isakov, and Shenyan in the 1870s; the set design for Don Quixote at the Mikhailovsky is an attempt to go back to its roots.
“Each act in the ballet has its own colour, both in terms of the music and, quite literally, in the scenery. Act I is bright and frivolous. The action takes place on a sunny day in Spain, which explains the warm gold-red tones. The tent that appears to be stretched over the stage was a device that was regularly used in set design in the late 19th century. In creating the evening tavern for Act II, I recalled the works of the old masters who painted bodegones — genre scenes in taverns. I borrowed their colour range of dark umber shades with splashes of ochre. In the gypsy scene, I used a device from graphic art: the silhouettes of the scenery and the dancers stand out against the background of a twilight sky. Don Quixote’s vision is of a paradise full of palms that seem fanciful to Russian audiences; the unreality of the vision is emphasized by the emerald green of the scenery and the cold, semi-transparent shades of the backdrop. The final act takes place in the palace, and the classical scenery has been designed in accordance with the canons of 19th-century scenography”.
It was first performed with choreography by Marius Petipa at the Bolshoi Theatre in 1869; three years later, it came to the Mariinsky Theatre. At the turn of the 20th century, the ballet was revised by Alexander Gorsky. He created a new version based on Petipa’s choreography that was also transferred from Moscow (1900) to St. Petersburg (1902). The Mikhailovsky Theatre is now presenting Gorsky’s revised version. Set designer Vyacheslav Okunev explained how the scenery for the Mikhailovsky Theatre production was created.
“My scenery for Don Quixote is an invention based on the original productions. The show has a rich history, and I wanted to convey the atmosphere of the old theatre where it was first performed. I studied old prints that depicted the scenery created by Shangin, Isakov, and Shenyan in the 1870s; the set design for Don Quixote at the Mikhailovsky is an attempt to go back to its roots.
“Each act in the ballet has its own colour, both in terms of the music and, quite literally, in the scenery. Act I is bright and frivolous. The action takes place on a sunny day in Spain, which explains the warm gold-red tones. The tent that appears to be stretched over the stage was a device that was regularly used in set design in the late 19th century. In creating the evening tavern for Act II, I recalled the works of the old masters who painted bodegones — genre scenes in taverns. I borrowed their colour range of dark umber shades with splashes of ochre. In the gypsy scene, I used a device from graphic art: the silhouettes of the scenery and the dancers stand out against the background of a twilight sky. Don Quixote’s vision is of a paradise full of palms that seem fanciful to Russian audiences; the unreality of the vision is emphasized by the emerald green of the scenery and the cold, semi-transparent shades of the backdrop. The final act takes place in the palace, and the classical scenery has been designed in accordance with the canons of 19th-century scenography”.
