On Saturday, 29 March, following World Theatre Day, employees of the GDIP organised a fascinating tour entitled Behind the Scenes of the National Opera of Ukraine.
The participants included the Ambassador of Australia, Paul Lehmann; his deputy, Tim Millikan; the Ambassador of Spain, Ricardo López-Aranda Jagu; the Consul of the Embassy of Finland, Terhi Hakala; and representatives of the Embassies of Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, and Slovenia, as well as international organisations, namely the EU and Mercy Corps.
The National Opera of Ukraine is a proper abode of creativity where emotions swirl not only on stage but also in every corner of the building. During the visit, foreign guests were given an interesting tour of the building, where they learned the secrets of the theatre’s backstage life, observed the behind-the-scenes routine, and felt the vortex of emotions and the creative mindset of the performers preparing to enter the stage. Moreover, diplomats learned that the team that works to provide aesthetic entertainment to up to 560 viewers includes almost a thousand employees: opera and ballet performers, choir singers, art and production workers, light engineers, costume designers, stylists, administrative staff, etc. The guests were incredibly impressed with the depth of the titanic work of props artists during the viewing of the decorations used in the Marriage of Figaro ballet. Those are often large structures, which the workers swiftly replace between the acts.
During the tour, the participants — like real actors — even entered the main stage, equipped with decorations for the Marriage of Figaro ballet; in the rehearsal room, they witnessed a trial performance of an artist who is soon to make her debut on stage with a solo part in the Don Quixote ballet. On top of that, they also viewed the breathtaking costumes of the ballet characters and entered the makeup room and the hairdressing salon, where the actors were busy shapeshifting into ballet characters.
The highlight of the tour was when Serhii Chernenko, a senior specialist in the theatre’s furniture and props department, spoke about the interesting intricacies of his work and showed examples of small props used in different kinds of plays.
In addition to the impressions they experienced from the richness of the theatre’s audience hall, crystal chandeliers and antique Venetian mirrors, and props for opera and ballet performances, the foreign guests were mesmerised by the quant stories from the lives of the artists.
This interesting journey to the National Opera of Ukraine made an unforgettable impression on all participants. Employees of foreign missions were amazed by the complex and multifaceted work hidden behind the scenes. After getting acquainted with the performance preparation processes — from the creation of costumes and decorations to the orchestra and artists’ rehearsals — the guests discovered the genuine magic of theatre, which begins long before the premiere. The journey to the world of opera allowed them to understand better the amount of effort and labour behind each performance and reflect on the role of opera in a country’s cultural life.
