Set design by: Sergey Kuznetsov, Agniya Sterligova, Victoria Kosareva
Directed by: Ilya Ivanov
The opera “The Magic Flute” is one of the most popular in the world, the number of both present and past productions is such that working with this material might be considered a serious creative challenge. The fantastic plot can interpreted in a myriad of ways; thus we spent some time looking for a suitable “key” or approach, and elected to reveal the theme via stage design. The image of the amusement park-mirage came to us via a conversation with the director of the performance. The approach suggested by Ilya Ilyin outlined the importance of the separation of the male and female worlds. The background for the unfolding confrontation and subsequent reconciliation became the images of fairground rides that are known to us all from childhood: the terrible snake that chases Prince Tamino turns out to be a roller coaster train, a giant glass with popcorn is the throne of the Queen of Night, a large-scale rotating carousel is the Temple of Wisdom, spinning both the heroes and storylines around. The performance is presented in 2 versions: both for children and adults. It is intriguing to see how a slight shift in emphasis can turn an ethereal fairy tale for children into an adult performance, filled with fatal passions.