Someone has created a marionette production of Stravinsky’s Petrushka, I discovered in my journey through the youtubes this morning. And a strangely unsatisfying thing it is. Marionettes can be wonderfully expressive, but dancing marionettes veers towards unintentional parody. And in any case, the entire point of the ballet scenario is that a puppet comes to life. A man may make a plausible puppet; it’s a tougher prospect for a puppeteer to convince us that a puppet has a soul. (Although that’s no reason not to enlist Bartók’s help and try.)
More interesting is the set of four clips making up what appears to be the entire ballet in a Bolshoi made-for-video production, a kind of dramatisation with dancing rather than a ballet as such. I like this production. It’s colourful and festive in an earthy way, and it’s very busy, but it doesn’t undermine the dark and sinister side of the scenario.
The First Tableau at the Shrovetide Fair brings competitive busking, competitive palm-reading and finally a very sinister magician with his three puppets. The Ballerina looks like a doll; Petrushka gives a convincing impression of sawdust filling (which becomes important in the finale).
The Second Tableau is the disturbing scene in Petrushka’s Cell, what wouldn’t Thomasina give to have seen Nijinsky dance this.
In the Third Tableau, the tropically appointed Moor’s Room, Petrushka eavesdrops as the Moor (a violent and slightly stupid puppet) makes out with the Ballerina (a vain and slightly stupid puppet – what does Petrushka see in her?). She enters playing one of the repertoire’s big trumpet audition pieces on a toy instrument. If only it were so easy.
In the Fourth Tableau, evening at the Shrovetide Fair, the frantically jealous Petrushka is killed by the Moor. Except you can’t kill a sawdust-filled puppet, the magician reassures the crowd. Guess you can’t. But you also can’t get rid of its ghost…