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ACT ONE
In a quaint little village in 19th Century Central Europe, doctor Coppelius is a toymaker who also dabbles in alchemy and magic. He makes wonderfully life-like mechanical dolls and dreams of one day giving them real life. His crowning acheivement is 'Coppelia', a doll so life-like he passes her off as his daughter, placing her in a chair on his balcony reading a book. Franz and Swanilda are sweethearts, but Franz is mesmerised by the enigmatic Coppelia which makes Swanilda angry. The Lord of the Manor arrives to announce the gift of a new bell for the town. To mark the occasion, anyone who marries on that day will recieve a special gift. Coppelius leaves his house locking the door carefully behind him, but as he crosses the square the key falls from his pocket. Swanilda finds the key, and curious to find out more about her rival, opens the door to Coppelius house and slips inside accompanied by her friends. Coppelius returns and, finding the door open rushes inside. Franz, also arriving, takes advantage of the open door to slip inside behind coppelius.
ACT TWO
Inside Coppelius' house, Swanilda and the girls tiptoe timidly into the darkened workshop which is filled with strange figures in various poses. Curiosity soon overcomes their fears and they marvel at Coppelius' wondrous creations. Discovering the mechanisms which animate the dolls they are delighted at their jerky, comical movements. Swanilda finds Coppelia behind a screen, and is greatly amused to find that her 'rival' is a doll too. Just then, Coppelius bursts in and chases the frightened girls out of the house, all that is except Swanilda who hides behind the curtain with the Coppelia doll. Franz, who has followed Coppelius into the house, tries to evade detection by pretending to be a doll but is soon discovered. He explains to Coppelius that he his in love with his 'daughter', Coppelia. Coppelius drugs Franz and, bringing his Coppelia doll out from behind the curtain, begins to perform a magic spell to transfer Franz life force into the doll and so bring it to life. He is unaware, however, that 'Coppelia' is now in fact Swanilda in the dolls clothing. Pretending that the spell has worked, she 'awakens' and Coppelius is overjoyed that his doll has come to life. Swanilda seizes the moment, and wakeining Franz the pair flee from the workshop, leaving Coppelius heartbroken with his lifeless doll.
ACT THREE
The following day the celebrations begin for the arrival of the new town bell. Franz has learned his lesson and come to realise he truly does love Swanilda. They are to be married and receive the promised gift. Coppelius then arrives, demanding compensation for the insult perpetrated against him. Franz protests that he has no money and looks to the Lord of the Manor for help. The Lord drops his purse as he turns and leaves the square which Franz then picks up and uses to pay off Coppelius (15th Mar, 2009 - The Lord presents Franz with a purse as a dowry, Coppelius snatches it but the Lord returns it to Franz and pays off Coppelius with another purse). Coppelius leaves satisfied and the whole town celebrates as the two lovers are married.
Coppelia is one of the happiest of romantic ballet's, as well as the best known comedy ballet. An endearing story with beautiful music and first class choreography it provides an ideal introduction for the ballet novice as well as a treat for the experienced enthusiast. It was performed on this occasion by the Russian Classical Ballet Theatre, a moderate sized company with a wealth of artistic talent.
The story was somewhat simplified from the usual interpretation with a number of aspects, mostly minor, being missing. For example, when Swanilda and her friends enter Coppelius house, usually one of the girls is more timid and has to be pushed or pulled inside, an opportunity for a moment of humour not taken up on this occasion. In the same scene, Franz normally enters the house via a ladder to the balcony, not through the left open door as on this occasion. A more significant change was in the final scene where, instead of a number of happy couples waiting to be married, we had just Franz and Swanilda with the other couples replaced by a number of, presumably, blond-haired bridemaids.
The sets for the three scenes consisted mainly of painted canvas backdrops. For the first act, the exterior of Coppelius house was a canvas covered frame, back centre stage, with door below and balcony above. For the workshop inside Coppelius house in act two, a painted backdrop had a curtained opening in which Coppelia was concealed. For the third scene, there was a simple painted canvas backdrop with a rather beaten and tired looking 'new' bell suspended on flowered garlands from above. Although simple and of relatively low quality, the sets were at least appropriate and mostly adequate to the scenes they were intended to portray. The music, played by an orchestra of around thirty pieces, seemed a little thin and lacking in intensity. The costumes meanwhile were colourful and varied and all beautifully made.
Nadezhda Schepachiova as Swanilda opened the proceedings with a superb virtuoso performance in her solo opening dance. She gave every appearance of effortlessness in her dance whilst bringing out the sense of curious adventurousness that make her character so particularly charming. Egor Schepachiov worked hard as Franz though he was was given little to stretch his talents until the final act. Igor Gherchiu as Coppelius approached the role with the exageration of a silent movie villain, playing strictly for laughs. His exits from stage and re-entrance from another quarter were so rapid that one was left wondering whether there were two performers in the role. The unnamed dancers portraying Swanilda's friends did so with a superb lightness of touch, their shows of timidity creeping into Coppelius workshop being a highlight of the show.
30th March, 2007
Nadezhda Schepachiova was again superb as Swanilda, dancing with an effortless lightness of touch and finishing her routine at the end of the third act with no less than 33 consecutive pirouettes. Her husband, Egor Schepachiov worked hard as Franz and gave a superbly athletic performance in his third act solos. Igor Gherchiu as Coppelius approached the role with the exageration of a silent movie villain, playing strictly for laughs. The unnamed dancers portraying Swanilda's friends did so with a superb lightness of touch, their shows of timidity creeping into Coppelius workshop being a highlight of the show.
15th March, 2009
This was a somewhat improved version of this delightful ballet compared to the company's previous offerings. Back, for example, are the timid ingenue and the ladder for Franz's entrance to Coppelius workshop. These are relatively minor touches but added to a generally improved choreography and much improved sets they raise the performance up a notch. In the leads roles on this occasion were Karina Shatkovskaya as Swanilda and Vladimir Tkachenko, two more very accomplished dancers who handled their roles with great style and assurance. Anton acheives great height with his leaps and easily completes two rotations whilst airborne. Karina is a delicate and very expressive dancer who filled the part with great panache.
Colourful costumes and superb technical performances combine for a delightful and memorable production.