Shapinskaya E.N.
Russaian Classics in the View of the Other: “Evgeny Onegin” in British Interpretation.- In: Journal of Cultural Research, No 3(13)2013
… Evgeniy Onegin on ROH Stage
Another example of British cultural producers addressing Pushkin’s poetic narrative is in the field of music – it is Tchaikovsky’s opera “Evgeniy Onegin in ROH (Director Casper Holten, 2013). This production is relevant from the point of view of general interest to Russian classic music in the West, and implementing this interest is more difficult in opera than in other music forms, since singing is to be done in Russian. From linguistic point of view “otherness” of Russian culture is overcome with greater difficulty than in case of more common opera languages….
…Well-known English baritone Simon Keenlyside doing the role of Onegin has several perfomances of it in different European theatres to his credit. Though not speaking the language he used it so well that every line was projected and it seemed he was free in the language. Both the director and the performer say that only in the fusion of language and music the real beauty of Tchaikovsky’s and Poushkin’s text is brought out, and in spite of all the difficulties of singing on the unfamiliar language, only this gives the real impression to the spectator/listener.[18]
…But the difficulties of Russian pronunciation is not the main thing for creating a convincing rendering of an art work which has become a part of world heritage and at the sametime has the status of masterpiece of Russian culture. Opera has been from the start a cultural form greatly influenced by intercultural exchange. Russian opera school has been formed as a result of combination of authentic and borrowed elements, and in case of shifting it into alien cultural context the complexity of its music-cum-verbal-cum-imagery structure is growing….
…Another difficulty in productions of such type is finding in a popular text staged by different Russian and foreign opera theatres, known to British audience because of the film about which we wrote earlier, an original solution in the space where there are plenty of ways to show the Other as attractive and interesting. The director of this version of “Onegin” – Casper Holten, for whom this was the debut in Covent Garden, was mostly interested in the story of the lost past, of love which stayed back in youth, in the lyricism of remebrance. Hence his unusual doubling of Onegin and Tatyana sung by Simon Keenlyside and Krassimira Stoyanova by a ballet pair which shows in dance the story of failed love of the heroes.The ideas of the director, who belongs to the generation of globalization and dissipation of otherness, coincide with those of Martha Fiennes, the director of the film “Onegin” about the great stories crossing the time borders …[20] …
… No doubt, one of the most important points in staging a work belonging to different culture is the interpretation of the main characters, in this case of Onegin and Tatyana. In case of operatic Onegin understanding and embodiment of the hero is more complicated than that of “transparent” and lyrical character of Tatyana, having “Russian soul” but brought up on French novels and dreaming of love as any girl of her age. Onegin is a more complicated personality, embodying, as we pointed out earlier, the features of “existential other”. For the performer belonging to a different culture it is important to understand his essential otherness which is probably the core of his character. Simon Keenlyside speaks about the complexity of the character of young Onegin which combines cynicism, charm, humour and who, as he puts it, unfortunately, did not understand the main thing in life. The otherness of Onegin has been emphasized by the artist – his anti-hero is socially and emotionally estranged… and Keenlyside renders it quite well due to mastery of voice and gesture….
This interpretation of the character is close to screen interpretation by Raif Fiennes who speaks about the importance of Onegin’s story today…. The coincidence of interpretation of the main character in the film and in the opera is not a matter of chance, it shows the tendency of European cultural producers to look for general human problems in a literary or musical text, for the possibilities of their solution or escape from them, for new understanding of such aspects of human existence… as love, memory and all types of interpersonal relations….
[18] См.: URLhttp://www.roh.org.uk/productions/eugene-onegin-by-kasper-holten
[20] URL http://www.ralphfiennes-jenniferlash.com/article.php?id=130

What to say? The critics were kind. The final scene of Eugene Onegin was written as a duet of high emotion and drama. Kasper Holten presented it as an attempt to copy a bad film of Ingmar Bergman. He injected forced symbolism through the whole scene, which distracted from the drama. As a member of the “audience” my attention was diverted from Onegin’s and Tatyana’s anguish to asking questions. Why was the body of Lensky still on the stage? Perhaps after Pavol Breslik fell to the stage after being “shot,” he fell asleep and no one wanted to disturb him? Why was that strained symbolism of the dead branch still on the stage? Had the stage hands gone on strike? Why did Peter Rose enter a scene which was much more dramatic with only the two principals performing? Perhaps he got lost on the way to his dressing room, opened the wrong door and decided to fake it out? And the interruption of the younger couple did not enhance, but only interfered with Tchaikovsky’s intended dramatic climax.

Instead of a dramatic climax in which Tatyana exits the stage and Onegin is left alone, Holten had Tatyana sit down and read her book, accompanied by a “dead” body and stared at by her husband, while Onegin exits. No climax at all! As SK turned and exited through one of the many doors, I was sure he was mumbling, “I’m out of here!”

Marilyn

Regardless of my negative personal view, I must admit that I felt very fortunate to see SK, Krassimira S, and Pavol B’s excellent performances in person.

Lastly, to Vivienne, in the Pushkin’s novel, Gremin was one of old, and perhaps close, friends of Onegin, and he must have known Onegin’s past life in St. Petersburg before his moving to the country.

Cheers
Kew

FRANCES BECKFORD

Marilyn

May I add a word of praise for the excellent singing of the male “peasant” soloist, who I think, from the cast list in the programme notes, was Elliot Goldie. What a beautiful voice! I hope we hear more of him in the future.

Why did Lensky drag in that dead tree? As a symbol of his own death?

I’ve never seen Gremin actually appearing to lecture Onegin as if he knows his past history, or was this meant to represent his words (which I picked up from the subtitles!) making Onegin feel guilty when in fact no lecture was intended? Also never seen Gremin watching that final farewell – that seemed strange to me, and a little unnecessary to see horror on his face. I always understood that scene is private between the two characters. All in all though a wonderful and very emotional evening.