The ballet «The Gambler,» which will premiere on the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theatre by the Sevastopol State Opera and Ballet Theatre, is the first‑ever large‑scale choreographic adaptation of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky’s novel of the same name.
The production continues the development line of the Sevastopol Theatre, which commissions new ballets based on outstanding works of world literature. After the performances of «Polukushka» based on Leo Tolstoy’s story and «Wuthering Heights» based on Emily Brontë’s novel (awarded the Russian National Theatre Award «Golden Mask»), the team turns to Dostoevsky’s work, exploring through dance the contradictions of human nature, the power of passions, and the drama of moral choice. The project is being carried out with the support of the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives. In the new work, the choreographer‑director of the production, John Paul Cook, combines classical choreography with modern plasticity, creating an expressive stage language capable of conveying the subtlest psychological states of the characters.
