“Iolanta” by P. I. Tchaikovsky in the director’s interpretation by A. Zholdak

Abstract

Using the parameters of cultural and theatrical analysis, the staging of P. Tchaikovsky’s opera “Iolanta”, performed by director A. Zholdak in the Mikhailovsky’s Theater (St. Petersburg) in the 2018-2019 season, is interpreted. Its conceptual ideological principles, aesthetic paradigms and peculiarities of narrative organization are defined. It is proved that the declared ideas of symbolism do not have their adequate realization in the stage narrative, which involves the presentation of two stories: Iolanta’s blindness and the insight as well as the story of P. Tchaikovsky’s creation of the eponymous opera. The double narrative leads to the complication of the characters’ system, the primary dramaturgy and the script restructuring. As a result, there is an artistically contradictory buildup that provokes a conflict of its interpretation both by the audience and by professional critics.