By Mareike Sophie Drünkler
Gustave Flaubert was hardly thinking of ballerinas when he wrote down Emma Bovary’s tragic fate. And neither, apparently, has anyone else since the story appeared in Paris in 1856. Nobody, except Christian Spuck. The choreographer has now brought the story to the stage as a literary ballet for the Deutsche Oper.
Surrounded by black widows, caught in rural dreariness, haunted by dark tones. A beginning that is also the end. “Bovary” tells the story of a woman searching for freedom. A doomed search that ends in death. It has to end because everyone here is not free.
Weronika Frodyma shows us that a search with a fatal end can still be better than a lifeless life. Cast in a title role for the first time, the 35-year-old celebrated two premieres on Friday. With an almost weightless reserve she danced Emma Bovary, as pale and fragile as Flaubert described her.
“Bovary” is exciting and beautiful thanks to the Berlin State Ballet ensemble, which remarkably implements Christian Spuck’s ambitious vision. Spuck’s choreography placed the individual in the foreground. The result was a multi-layered production with impressive group photos.
The dancers were accompanied by the German Opera Orchestra, pianist Adrian Oetiker – and the Flaubert-reading voice of actress Marina Frenk. This is how Madame Bovary became “Bovary”, the novel became a dance. A rushing dance with death that caused emotion, cheers and standing ovations in the audience.