Choreography by Boris Eifman Music by L.van Beethoven, G. Mahler Sets
and Costumes by V. Okunev
Premiere was held on 24 June 1999
Choreographer Boris Eifman in the ballet addresses to destiny of tsarevitch
Pavel I. It doesn't dramatize a well-known plot from Russian history – race for
power between Ekaterina and her son - and with psychologism peculiar to it,
tries to comprehend and analyse philosophically how the power deforms human
relations and destroys the person, transforming the power propertied into the
semimadman.
"The fate of Tsarevich Paul, so reminicent of Hamlet’s fate (Paul in his
lifetime was known as “The Russian Hamlet”), is shrouded in mystery and mystical
omens. Born with a naturally radiant outlook and having received a brilliant
education, Paul was grooming himself to serve his country but, as a result of
his father’s murder, his mother’s inability to love him – she was afraid of her
son and heir – and of the atmosphere of constant surveillance, intrigue, fear
and humilation, the young prince began to suffer from hallucinations,
persecution mania and spiritual loneliness.
Paul, who had been inclined
to mysticism ever since childhood (the incident of his meeting with Peter’s
ghost is well-know), had a foreboring of his own tragic death and therefore was
in a hurry to ascend to power in order to bring about progressive reform in
Russia. But, not understood, he was cruelly murdered and cursed.
The hero
of “Russian Hamlet” is the young Tsarevich Paul. The ballet deals with the
period of his early, ambitious hopes and of the first tragic catastrophes. This
was the time of his search for the answer to Hamlet’s eternal question: “To be
or not to be”.
Libretto
Prologue Catherine is humiliated by the
drunken debauchery of her husband, Tsar Peter III. Her Court Favorite aids her
in staging a coup against the Emperor. Little Prince Paul becomes an involuntary
witness to the murder of his father.
ACT I We are in the Russian Royal Court Chambers in the
middle of 18th century. Young Prince Paul feels alone among the hypocritical
courtiers, in the atmosphere filled with empty chatter of the maids, gossip and
intrigue, His mother—the Empress—is inaccessible, always shielded by her
Favorite. Catherine keeps her son away from the throne—for her, power is
indivisible.
The Favorite's attempts to accustom the Prince to the
depravity of Court life do not bring the expected results, and so the Empress
decide that an early marriage must distract him from any thought of inheriting
the throne.
Paul is happy with his wife, but she is filled with ambitious
plans - she dreams of power and pressures him to fight for the throne of Russia.
The Empress discovers the young bride's intentions. Lies and treachery are
commonplace in the struggle for power, and Catherine's next scheme destroys
Prince's happy life in marriage —his wife becomes Favorite's prey. But even that
is not enough: the death of his beloved is the full price paid for her pursuit
of the throne. Paul is scared in the midst of the endless chain of betrayals
and crimes.
ACT II The events of the past haunt Paul;
his fantasies intertwine with reality. The hostile labyrinths of the Royal
Palace frighten him and take away the hope of breaking free from the power of
the Empress, who still keeps the Heir away from the slate affairs. Paul finds
gratification of his ambitions only in the world of toy soldiers, which he loved
since childhood, in the neat military ranks governed by order. But, realizing
that this is only an illusion of power, he, for the first time, decides to stand
up to his mother—and is crushed again.
The Ghost of his father,
surrounded by black knights, is calling Paul to revenge. Agonizing memories of
the murder ignite the son's rage, which seeks a way out.
The Royal Palace
continues inventing new forms of entertainment. Catherine the Great presides
over a masked all, which soon turns into an orgy. The favorite spectacle of the
Royal Court is a theatre play, but this time the actors perform a scene, in
which a wife and her lover kill her husband. The Empress is furious - everything
points to her role in the murder of Peter III. She tears the mask off the actor
who played the murderous wife, revealing Prince Paul. The Empress broods.
Many sacrifices have been made in the struggle for power, and there is no peace
in her soul. The Favorite is also in turmoil. With his caresses, he tries to
reclaim his power, but in vain—his rule has ended, and he must leave the
political scene.
The Heir is restless dreaming of power. In his fantasies
Paul takes the coveted revenge—the Favorite dies in the arms of the ghost of
Peter III, whom he had murdered.
In the wirlwind of fantastic images,
Paul sees the Empress—now it is in her turn, he only has to wave his sword… but
he cannot raise his arm to deal о deathly blow to his mother.
One vision
is replaced by another—and the Empress is alone again. Her price for the throne
is a complete spiritual isolation. She is separated from her son by the wall of
hatred, which she herself has erected. The image of the Tsar, whom she had
murdered, does not leave her alone, tortures, suffocates her. Even in his
daydreams, ascension to the throne does not bring joy to Paul—he is not destined
to attain the glory of his mother. And as soon as his illusions dissipate, Paul
understands: he is only a shadow of his dreams, a reflection of his own
phantasmagories.