THE SEAGULL Makes Its Bolshoi Theatre Debut July 1st

THE SEAGULL, a ballet by Yuri Possokhov for adults only makes its Bolshoi debut on July 1st.

The cast includes Svetlana Zakharova, Artem Ovcharenko, Ruslan Skvortsov, Maria Vinogradova, Alexander Vodopetov, Anna Tikhomirova, Anna Balukova, Artemy Belyakov, Vyacheslav Lopatin, and Jacopo Tissi.

Composer Ilya Demutskym, Choreographer Yuri Possokhov, Director Alexander Molochnikov, Music Director Anton Grishanin, Designer Tom Pye, Costume Designer Emma Ryott, Lighting Designer David Finn, and Video Designer Sergei Rylko.

Director Aleksander Molochnikov, who worked at the Bolshoi Theatre before (two years ago he staged a performance, based on Menotti's operas at the Chamber Stage) but is working for the first time in collaboration with Possokhov - Demutsky, has his personal relationship with this play. At one time he worked on its production at the Moscow Art Theatre, but the production remained unfinished. Now he is even glad about that, since he hopes that his stage ideas will find a more successful and fresh expression in plastique. It is capable of delivering the main idea - the state of the characters, the imagery of events and the dispute between two conflicting powers in the arts. "In any of the productions of The Seagull that I have seen, there was no answer to the questions, whether Arkadina is a successful artist or whether Treplev is talented. Might he be a young Serebrennikov or Dodin, who no one has ever listened to? Could Kostya be simply not talented? Of course, it is more interesting to think about talented people. For me, this ballet is the opportunity to clash strong powers and totally different points of view. What is more important: the love of a mother to her son or a creative dispute? Should one sacrifice one's life for it?". As always, it is the audience who has to decide.