Cinderella in Soho

Desperate dancing in CAF de Paris before a disastrous bombing without prejudice and short. The famous English choreographer Matthew Burn brought to the Chekhov Theater Festival his famous Cinderella - a modern reading of the ballet Sergey Prokofiev. One and a half dozen performances will withstand Bourne ballet in Moscow - this is a festival record in the dark sky visible airframes of barrage, the howl of sirens and the sounds of shooting anti -aircraft guns are added to Prokofiev’s music. Cinderella lives in London, the year 1941, and the Germans are bombing the English capital. Matthew Burn chose such a time of action not by chance - Prokofiev composed this music in the war years. The choreographer dedicated the ballet to his parents: during the blitz (the British call multi-day bombing from the fall of 1940 to the spring of the 41st) they were children-and they told their son about bomb shelter, light paper and street patrols.

The Prince Builder Burn in childhood had the feeling that war is primarily something associated with light. With spotlights directed to the sky, with blazing fires, with the radiance of lights inside the nightclubs, where people went to escape from longing and despondency. And when he took up Cinderella, he, firstly, called to the work of one of the best artists of the worldwide, Nile Austin (and he gave everything as expected, the first class-and the spotlights, the shadows, and the glow), and secondly, the coveted ball, the same fairy-tale ball where the heroine should get, arranged in the nightclub. In Soho, CAF de Paris.

On March 8, 1941, a bomb hit this club in the entertainment quarter of London, the building turned into ruins, and people died. Needless to say, on what evening it was about to have fun in CAF de Paris Zolushkino family? By the way, it became even more monstrous than in an old fairy tale: not only two evil sisters, but also three crazy brothers, one of them, a fetishist obsessed with shoes, is all eager to try on the shoes of the heroine, the dad is completely helpless, he is in a wheelchair, but the stepmother is indifferent to alcohol.

In the roles of the evil Cinderelles - Zizi is Stratla and Sofia Herdley that evening the heroine meets in the cafe of her hero - he is not a prince at all. That is, for her, of course, the prince and center of the world, but actually he is an ordinary heroic pilot. And his name is Harry. And of course, they lose each other after the bombing. The guiding shoe remains on the ruins.

The degree of the experiences of Matthew Burn, who had stepped in the sixth ten last year, is famous not only for the fact that in the “Swan Lake” (he was brought to us on tour four years ago) forced the hero-printer to yearn for a male swan, and in his Car Man (this is exactly the same, because this is what the auto mechanic) was a devilishly seductive creation. man. He is known for never learning the classic dance (the center of the Laban, where Bourne began to study late, at 22 years old - a famous but purely modernist school), and therefore may look at the legendary ballet stories from the outside. There are no prejudices, there is no Shor, and therefore he more precisely takes out emotions and meanings from played music. The artists for his New Adventures, which he created in 2002, he takes from everywhere: from classic schools and contemporary studios - modern dance, drags from musicals and even dramatic performances. He looks primarily at the expression on his face, and not at the legs (although then the ballet class is required in the studio). Because it is important to him the ability to empathize, and not just the ability to move.

For example, to experience this monstrous Tchaikovsky longing that was presented by the composer for the prince from Swan Lake. At Tchaikovsky, she drives the hero to shoot the birds on the lake, at Bourn to drown. To experience disbelief in the sweetness of the fairy tale, the belief that a happy dream will end, again Tchaikovsky spelled out in the “Nutcracker”, and at the same time show an almost hysterical desire in this dream: Bourn children live in a shelter, and they seem to be a disgustingly aniline disneard. The choreographers of the year before last and last centuries considered it a good tone to not speak, not to put the tragedies at all, even if pure despair sounds in music. Burn is not so merciful.

Alien and his own , and also he does not like psychological implausibility (which is quite strange for the choreographer, isn't it?). And, composing the performance, carefully considers the social atmosphere, characters of heroes, the rhythm of life. Therefore, in this “Cinderella”, the heroine and her prince Harry are spent at night - it seems important to reproduce this feeling that is mastering during the war people who are not at all inclined to adventures: tomorrow there may be nothing. Tomorrow to the pilot to the front, and what will happen next is unknown.

A person of the postmodern century, Bourne willingly take other people's motives into work and quotes other authors, completely not hiding him, readily listing sources of inspiration. The “morning” scene of farewell to Cinderella and Harry will remind the farewell of Romeo and Juliet in the ballet of the famous British Kenneth Macmillan. The filmmakers will quickly understand that Waterloo, Bourne, had a legendary film shot by Morgan Leroy in 1940 fifty times. But both of the reference is just a respectful bow of the choreographer for those people who in his youth brought him so much enthusiasm in theatrical and cinema halls. Yes, many Burne performances appeared due to the memoirs of the cinema (for example, Car Man-about the picture “The postman always calls twice”, “Dorian Gray”-about “velvet gold mine”), but these are the worships and sources of inspiration, the text is completely independent. Everything is invented by Bourn. An angel that helps Cinderella instead of a fairy-cross and traveling on a stroller motorcycle. Frantically fun dancing in CAF de Paris. Tender - and bold at the same time - the plastic of Cinderella, dressed in a gray cardigan. Probably Prokofiev would be very surprised. But he would like it.

Matthew Burn was born in 1960 in London. He studied the dance in the center of Laban, after graduation, he danced in the troupe of the center. He took up choreography in 1987, when he gathered his first troupe, which quickly became popular. In 2002, he created New Adventures. Cavalier of the Order of the British Empire, the owner of more than three dozen international awards, including Tony Awards. Along with work on classic ballets, he participated in the production of the famous musicals “Oliver”, “My Beautiful Lady”, “Mary Poppins”.