Interview with Gabriela Pewińska – Maria Sartova

Interview (abridged)

Gabriela Pewińska: : Is it Parisian music from the good old days that you have staged for the audience?

Maria Sartova: Absolutely! It is indeed based on French tradition. The rendition is somewhat more modern but the libretto is unchanged. Everything is the way Offenbach would have wanted it to be.

G.P.: In typically French style, in other words?

M.S.: While the stage design is definitely abstract, it refers to the surrealist painting of Magritte. And by bridging reality with a dreamlike universe, the costumes are an allegory for a sublimated mythological theme.

G.P.: When you stage the works of French artisits, do you always introduce elements of French culture?

M.S.: As I have lived in Paris for over 40 years, I have the atmosphere of Paris and the culture of France deep within me. And I have no intention to escape that, on the contrary, especially in the case of Offenbach, whose work has been designed and written with Paris in mind. But this was already the case for La Boheme and it will also apply to Orpheus in the Underworld.

G.P.: In 1874, a reviewer from the French daily Le Figaro decribed the show by saying that: « No one in Paris has ever displayed such taste and humour when undressing dancers: they are all naked and yet they are by no means indecent ».

M.S.: I don’t go that far, primarily to avoid imposing any stress upon dancers, who tend to be quite modest. But the cancan we do has not lost any of its eroticism, believe me. As a matter of fact, the eroticism in Offenbach’s work offers a wide array of playful liberties.

G.P.: We spoke about Paris of the good old days. What does this city mean to you?

M.S.: I have seen the city change. When I arrived in Paris, the streets were dirty but you could sense the freedom. Then it became cleaner but it is less mischievous than it used to be.

G.P.: Which is best?

M.S.: Well, nowadays Paris is no longer as clean as it once was and the sense of freedom has waned. I can see things change wherever I go in Paris. Fortunately, the tolerance I cherish has not waned, though it is not quite the same as when I decided to settle in Paris for good.

G.P.: Is it better to dream of Paris or to live in Paris?

M.S.: It’s a tough city to live in. The clichés you see in Woody Allen’s movies are far from reality.

G.P.: CIt was in Paris you met your mentor, the remarkable opera stage director Bronislaw Horowicz.

M.S.: Yes, I was his assistant on radio drama productions. I learned a great deal from him. He has inspired me.

G.P.: Your dog has sat through our conversation.

M.S.: It sometimes attends rehearsals. This dog does not react to sound. Even when someone sings off key.

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