Boris Eifman's new ballet "Up and Down", based on Scott Fitzgerald's "Tender Is The Night" premiered in London on Tuesday. Now, using the plot of a complex psychological novel for a ballet production might not seem plausible or even a good idea, but Russian choreographer Boris Eifman has taken up the challenge with his new work.
The ballet is based on Scott Fitzgerald's "Tender Is The Night" - a work in which personal tragedies are set against the backdrop of moral and psychological decline in society.
In the novel, Fitzgerald explores the life of Dick Driver, a psychologist in the 1920's, who falls in love with and then marries one of his patients, Nicole. A life initially wrapped up in wealth and glamour soon begins to unravel with tragic consequences.
Boris Eifman's new ballet "Up and Down", based on Scott Fitzgerald's "Tender Is The Night" premiered in London on Tuesday.
Eifman said "Up and Down" is an important work for him where he has tried to portray an individual's state of mind through dance.
"For quite a while I have been interested in psychoanalysis and Sigmund Freud in particular. I've always wanted to approach this topic through movement and using the body to express this inner world of a person that is endowed with this specific mad fantasy," Boris Eifman said.
Oleg Gabyshev said he watched episodes of the hit American television series "House M.D." to help him get into the role of Dick Driver.
"Surprisingly, I found the 'House M.D.' television series rather helpful. Every episode is full of tiny psychological details and one can always find certain things. However, we are in a different situation here (with dance). Ballet is not a TV show, so we need to show and express the characters inner world," Gabyshev said.
A two-act ballet, "Up and Down" is set to the music of Gershwin and Schubert, with the stage settings switching between a jazz club and a psychiatric ward.
"Up and Down" is the fourth production by the Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg to be performed by the company in London and opened at the city's Coliseum Theatre on Tuesday. The ballet was first staged outside Russia in May 2015, opening in New York where it received mixed reviews.
