Ballet "The Taming of the Shrew" by Jean-Christophe Maillot: peculiarities of authorial interpretation of the images of Katherine and Petruchio

Abstract

The subject of this research is Jean-Christophe Maillot’s interpretation of the images of Katherine and Petruchio in the context of ideological-imagery parallels with the original text – W. Shakespeare’s comedy "The Taming of the Shrew". The article determines the expressive means and choreographic elements used by the choreographer to stage the lead roles, as well as their contextual comparison with the original literary text. The theoretical framework leans on the principles of ballet analysis developed by the ballet theoretician and historians Dobrovolskaya, Krasovskaya, Slonimsky, and Surits. The works by Lopukhov serve as the methodological basis for analysis of the shape and choreography. Other sources include video materials from the archives of Monte Carlo Ballet and Bolshoi Theater, recordings of staged rehearsals that took place from April to June 2014 (author's archive). The research employs the methods of ideological-artistic analysis, semantic analysis of construction and choreographic solution of the roles of Katherine and Petruchio, as well as method of included observation (personal participation in the performance). The novelty lies in revealing the innovative and modernized classical elements of choreography and staging developed by Maillot (leitmotif plasticity combinations, transforming symbolic moves). The detailed semantic analysis of the composition and choreography f the images of Katherine and Petruchio became the main instrument of research and allowed making the following conclusions. Interpretation of the images of the protagonists in the first act is conceptually similar to Shakespeare's text and slightly adapted in accordance with the expressive potential of ballet art and authorial artistic tasks. In the second act, the choreographer shifts the compositional and plotline focus, highlighting not the final scenes, but the full-scale duet of the protagonists, where the plasticity solution is transformed depending on the changes in their emotional states. Namely abstract and visual plasticity ideation individualizes the choreographic style of Maillot and underlies his interpretation of the profound plotline of Shakespeare's comedy.