A scenario,
not a score
Maria Novotna: The Ballet is presented as a narrative and dramatic scenario rather than a prescribed choreographic score. It sets out the characters, action, emotional journey and theatrical images envisaged for the ballet.
References to particular musical works and to choreographic possibilities are intended to communicate mood, rhythm and dramatic purpose. They are suggestions rather than prescriptions. The finished choreography, musical structure, orchestration and staging should be developed collaboratively with the choreographer, musical director and creative team while preserving the narrative and emotional arc of the work.
Where the scenario says that a character “tells”, “explains”, “warns” or “pleads”, the finished ballet must find a physical, musical or visual means of making the essential dramatic information intelligible without spoken dialogue.
Dance descriptions express dramatic intention rather than fixed choreography. References to pas de deux, solos, ensemble movement and other movement ideas may be interpreted, developed or replaced. What should remain constant is the story being told, the relationships between the characters and the emotional purpose of each scene.
Follows Maria Novotna and the prodigious pianist Yevgeny Dmitrov from the Academy in Ukraine to London. Their artistic attraction grows as Yevgeny’s career accelerates, but addiction destroys his prospects. The two become vulnerable outsiders and are drawn into a criminal world in which Maria is trapped and Yevgeny is taken from her.
Follows Maria’s attempt to protect Yevgeny and escape exploitation. Yevgeny survives, undergoes rehabilitation and returns to musical success. Maria becomes caught between her love for Yevgeny, her own artistic ambition and Stephen Kline’s controlling patronage. War calls them both back towards Ukraine. Before leaving, Maria returns to help trafficked women escape and is killed. Fifteen years later in Paris, Yevgeny passes Maria’s locket to his daughter, also named Maria, before encountering the memory — or ghost — of the woman he has never forgotten.
Nine roles
A gifted young Ukrainian pianist. Ambitious, spirited and increasingly defiant. Her journey moves from artistic aspiration and romantic fascination through exploitation, resistance, sacrifice and memory.
A brilliant young pianist whose exceptional talent brings rapid recognition. Addiction precipitates his fall, but he later rebuilds his life and career. His bond with Maria remains the emotional centre of the ballet.
A formidable Academy teacher: eccentric, disciplined and authoritative. He recognises talent but understands that Maria and Yevgeny’s futures may lie beyond Ukraine.
A powerful musical figure in London. Exacting and pragmatic, he becomes central to Yevgeny’s professional rise, fall and eventual return.
A middle-aged schoolteacher who becomes Maria’s patron and would-be Svengali. His assistance is entwined with possession and control.
An older Russian madame within the criminal world. Complicit in exploitation, yet capable of moments of protection.
One of the women working under Illeana. Initially contemptuous of Maria, she develops sympathy and becomes an ally.
Luca is a physically intimidating criminal enforcer whose presence embodies menace and coercion. Ivan is his accomplice.
Dramatic & musical threads
Musicianship is translated into movement. The ballet need not mime piano playing literally: dance can embody the character, discipline, virtuosity and emotional content of performance.
Recurrent thematic material can become a leitmotif for Maria and Yevgeny’s artistic and emotional bond: aspiration, partnership, recovery, memory and the final apparition.
A modest object carrying emotional value across time: Popov to Maria, Maria to Yevgeny, and ultimately Yevgeny to his daughter Maria. Its worth lies not in money but remembrance.
Jewellery, contracts, celebrity and patronage repeatedly contrast with loyalty, artistic integrity, freedom and memory.
Two acts, fourteen scenes
and an epilogue
The full scenario for each scene — setting, dramatic purpose, action, choreographic intention and musical note — is supplied on request.
Development guide
Indicative choices, offered to communicate dramatic function. All selections should be reviewed as a complete score, and all necessary rights cleared.
Theatrical, not naturalistic
Transformations — Academy to Gala, ironing board to concert hall to war — should be theatrical rather than naturalistic. London, the Royal Albert Hall and the Paris chateau may be suggested rather than reproduced literally.
Difficult material must communicate threat without literalised sexual violence. Stylisation, ensemble manipulation, shadow, distance and symbolic movement can preserve the horror while protecting performers and avoiding voyeurism.
The knife duet and Maria’s death should be highly stylised and rehearsed with appropriate fight and intimacy expertise, designed around symbolic control rather than realism.
Two principals, ensemble company
Available on request
The complete scene-by-scene scenario — every setting, dramatic purpose, action sequence, choreographic intention and musical note across two acts, fourteen scenes and the epilogue — is supplied directly to ballet companies, artistic directors, choreographers, music directors, producers and venues.
Enquiries are answered personally. info@thirstyword.com
Performance rights
Performance rights are available directly from the author. Receipt of this development edition does not grant permission to stage, reproduce, adapt, record, distribute or publicly perform the work.
Any production must also clear all necessary rights in the musical compositions, arrangements and recordings used.
All works are copyright © Mike Schirn. All rights reserved.