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Sergei Polunin - Hamlet (Schaufuss) May 2013 London


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"Finally, anyone hankering for a sighting of ex-Royal Ballet wunderkind Sergei Polunin, back in Russia since he left the company almost a year ago, will want to note his starring role in Peter Schaufuss's Hamlet (at London's Bloomsbury Theatre, 15-24 May) which unusually promises dance-drama laced with spoken text. Schaufuss has, let's say, interesting form. Consider yourself warned."

 

The Independent , 6 January 2013

 

I think Midnight Express will be adventurous enough for me, don't know about this one. Have watched a trailer and it seems like a very odd concept. Has anyone seen a previous staging? Any views?

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I wonder if this is the production created by Schaufuss when he was AD of the RDB. Part of it was shown at the Harrogate Festival in the early 1990s. The production was to be shown at Rosenborg Castle in Helsingor. The role of Hamlet was danced, in Harrogate, by a certain Mr Johan Kobborg!

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  • 1 month later...

I wonder if this is the production created by Schaufuss when he was AD of the RDB. Part of it was shown at the Harrogate Festival in the early 1990s. The production was to be shown at Rosenborg Castle in Helsingor. The role of Hamlet was danced, in Harrogate, by a certain Mr Johan Kobborg!

Thank you Janet.   I've got my ticket, so will let you know!

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So, it was announced by Jenny Gilbert in "The Independent" that Polunin will dance Hamlet:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/ios-dance-preview-of-2012-all-the-best-dancers-know-their-lefts-from-their-rites-8439679.html

I went to Bloomsbury Theatre today and tried to get some confirmation about casting before buying my ticket. Polunin's name is mentioned neither on Bloomsbury Theatre's website nor in the leaflet: http://www.thebloomsbury.com/event/run/1758
The box office hasn't been given the casting list yet. Since the tickets cost £25 (cons. £20), it is probably better to wait till the casting is announced.
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What he is dancing however, is "Mayerling" with the Stanislavsky Ballet (sadly.not in London) on March 22,23,24. Considering that David Wall said that dancing Rudolph shortened his career by 10 years,I find it hard to credit that he will dance three consecutive performances.

 

Of course this also gives rise to the succulent speculation of him replacing the injured Johan Kobborg in the RB's forthcoming revival. Wouldn't that set the town on it's ear !

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Thank you, Marine, for your link about the Schaufuss’ site: https://twitter.com/SchaufussBallet


Although it opened for me with the line: ‘Sorry, that page doesn’t exist!’, I trust that you have seen the official twitter before. It might be that The Independent’s critic confused 'Hamlet' with another Polunin-Schaufuss collaboration - ‘Midnight Express’.


 


Where Polunin’s other performances are concerned they look to be plentiful.


There was a special event at the Bakhrushin Theatre Museum in Moscow earlier this week where Sergei met his admirers. He told them about his plan to make a big tour of some Russian cities, then he will dance in Japan and London.


Apart from ‘Mayerling’ at Stanislavsky in March he hopes to dance in ‘La Sylphide’ and ‘The Snow Maiden’, which are in the theatre’s repertoire. In October, there will be Polunin’s gala there: he will dance ‘Marguerite & Armand’ with Zakharova and ‘Le jeune homme et la mort’ plus something else. Also ‘Spartacus’ is planned for him with Novosibirsk Ballet and Zelensky as Crassus.


Zelensky who was present there said that in his career he didn’t have a choreographer who made ballets for him and he is now looking for a suitable choreographer who can create a ballet for Polunin.


Edited for typo.


Edited by Amelia
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What he is dancing however, is "Mayerling" with the Stanislavsky Ballet (sadly.not in London) on March 22,23,24. Considering that David Wall said that dancing Rudolph shortened his career by 10 years,I find it hard to credit that he will dance three consecutive performances.

From what other performers have said over the years, I'd say that if he actually could do 3 in a row he wouldn't be putting enough into it :)

But no, someone else must be doing at least one, surely?

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Quote:


"From his earliest performances, Polunin was electrifying. His childhood training as a gymnast had not only developed his natural plasticity but also instilled in him a hankering for risk, which he indulges in breathtaking eruptions of virtuosity. 


In Polunin's dancing, the Russian-male bravura is never an end in itself, and is always tempered by an English finesse: freeze the frames on YouTube and the transitions between steps are paradigms of perfection though they retain a resolutely masculine vulnerability."

 

This quote is taken from CR Fashion Book magazine: http://vk.com/photo-48675996_300420085 


The link also offers a good pastime at weekend - to see 236 photographs of Polunin, spanning his performances, rehearsals and life events from London to Moscow to Novisibirsk. Fascinating.

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Bloomsbury Theatre have just advised that Hamlet has been cancelled due to 'on-going technical difficulties on the part of the organisers'.   Full refunds being offered...

"Finally, anyone hankering for a sighting of ex-Royal Ballet wunderkind Sergei Polunin, back in Russia since he left the company almost a year ago, will want to note his starring role in Peter Schaufuss's Hamlet (at London's Bloomsbury Theatre, 15-24 May) which unusually promises dance-drama laced with spoken text. Schaufuss has, let's say, interesting form. Consider yourself warned."

The Independent , 6 January 2013

I think Midnight Express will be adventurous enough for me, don't know about this one. Have watched a trailer and it seems like a very odd concept. Has anyone seen a previous staging? Any views?

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If it's similar to the one he did for RDB, part of that was presented at the Harrogate International Festival in 1997ish. What we saw looked really rather good! I'm glad other commitments meant that I couldn't go or I would have wasted good money on a train fare!

 

I think it's a shame it's been cancelled.

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