Ruth Leon recommends… Mariinsky Theatre – Foxtrot Productions

Mariinsky Theatre – Foxtrot Productions
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​ Margy Kinmonth’s film looks at the rich history of the Mariinsky Theatre in the birth and growth of the Russian tradition in opera, music, and ballet.

It’s always fun to be able to sneak backstage and see what really goes on while the swans are floating elegantly above you on the stage. Backstage, it becomes a frantically busy and labyrinthine world of underground passages full of scenery and costumes that link the rehearsal rooms.

With interviews with Gergiev and other current opera and ballet commissars, it’s all irredeemably positive, although Gergiev does allow that the theatre used to be run by ‘criminals’ but that, of course, was before his time and he quickly disposed of them as soon as he took over.

There’s a lot of self-congratulation and, in typical Russian fashion, everyone falls in line behind Gergiev’s party line. There’s no hint of the various scandals and violence that have plagued the theatre in the past, but the Mariinsky itself is beautiful and many of us never get a chance to see the St. Petersburg penchant for gold and curlicues up close.

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