In bed before the duel

"Eugene Onegin" directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski

“Well then? It seems that your enemy has not appeared” - “He will appear now” - “But still it’s a little strange to me that he’s not there: it’s seven o’clock! I thought he was waiting for us!” Meanwhile, the enemy is right under the noses of those talking: lying across the double bed, on which Lensky is sitting on the other side, Onegin involuntarily hears his friend’s conversation with Zaretsky, standing at the head of the bed.

And this is not a joke. This is how the duel begins in the new version of the opera “Eugene Onegin” in Munich, which has not been performed here for more than 30 years. There are two circumstances in this scene that clarify the essence of the production of the main Russian opera in one of the main opera houses in Europe by one of the promising directorial talents - Krzysztof Warlikowski. The first is a glaring discrepancy between words and actions, which causes bewildered laughter even among the Germans, who are clearly not on friendly terms with the work. The second is the lack of motivation: a radical plot device appears out of thin air and hangs meaninglessly in the air.

I would like to clarify: amazement does not arise at all because two characters familiar from childhood open up in an unexpected way - and spend the night before the duel in the same bed. The question is one of cause and effect. If we consider the Munich “Onegin” as a serious theatrical statement, which both the status of the Bavarian Opera and the name of Warlikowski, a forty-five-year-old Polish director, who had productions at the respected Paris Opera before his debut in Germany, lends itself to this, then you expect, first of all, not so much bright decisions, but a clear argumentation: why are these people in such relationships, how did these relationships manifest themselves before, what does all this mean in the semantic structure of the play, and what is the production all about? However, there is not only a clear answer to such questions, but not even a hint of it: the director's style is dashing art shots, not supported by the development of the whole. The play, which takes place in some provincial corner of the socialist camp, is structured like a quick change of comic book images.

At the opening, when the theme of Tatyana’s dream gradually blossoms in the orchestra, the old woman Larina and the nanny Filipevna - faded painted beauties - stare at the TV for a long time and senselessly. Here Olga (Elena Maksimova) and Tatyana (Olga Guryakova) - two provincial dummies - take microphones to, imitating the capital's television stars, sing the duet “Did you hear?” Now the room was filled with a large number of people, similar to the residents of a factory dorm, who, lined up around the perimeter of the stage box, sing a thoughtful peasant choir and then dance something like a twist to a lively dance song. Who are all these characters, what difficult situation has brought them here, what is their relationship with each other, what is happening? In the absence of a director's development, something that in German has a precise but untranslatable definition of Personenregie, the result is dummies that resemble familiar images, but not real people whom you believe - with characters, stories, destinies.

The entire performance is an extreme journey through familiar Russian places that have suddenly become unrecognizable. Tatyana, who at the first meeting shied away from Onegin (Michael Folle) trying to talk to her, at the second meeting sharply changes tactics: after Onegin’s sobering rebuke in the presence of a crowd of witnesses - on the right and left are the hostel aunts who have come for no clear reason - she jumps on the neck the hero, wrapping his arms and legs around him. Throwing off the corrected etiquette, Onegin says: “Learn to control yourself!” Here a feeling of satisfaction, rare for this performance, arises: action and word have entered into a short but impressive connection.

Munich's Onegin does not even take advantage of opera's music and singing. The orchestra, under the direction of the general musical director and artistic director of the Bavarian Opera, Kent Nagano, does not sound magical at all and sometimes even disagrees with the singers, which seems incredible for a theater of this rank.

Nevertheless, this performance, which seemed to have turned into one big minus, violating the elementary laws of modern theater, and art in general, is very worth watching. There is a special drive in him - some kind of shameless daring: it makes you numb, but it also delights. You look and wonder: to what extent can you neglect the meaning in your statement, and sanitary standards in your profession? It’s worth visiting the Bavarian “Onegin” for such spiritually uplifting shock therapy. The next time it can be seen is in February (conducted by Jon Marin, currently working with the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia), next to the existential “Khovanshchina” by Dmitry Chernyakov.

Marina BORISOVA