Creation by the Ballets Russes, at the National Theatre of the Paris Opera, with choreography by Leonide Massine, May 15th 1920

 

Version by Nils Christe created by the Scapino Ballet

in Amsterdam, November 4th 1987

 

Premiere by the Ballet du Capitole, October 24th 2012

 

Music  Igor Stravinsky, after Giambattista Pergolesi 

Choreography  Nils Christe

Sets and costumes  Tom Schenk

Lighting  Kees Tjebbes 

 

Pulcinella features the traditional Neapolitan character from the commedia dell'arte, an inveterate womanizer, braggart and pugnacious who take us off in an eternal love game that combines neoclassical body movements, acrobatics, pantomime and slapstick.

This version by Nils Christe has a beautiful dramatic unity with choreographic and theatrical inventiveness. Once the curtain rises, the public is transported in Naples, home of Pulcinella with its linen to the windows, its earthy characters like the Doctor and Tartaglia, its mischievous young men who think only about love, its misunderstandings, its deceptions and its big farce, indispensable dramatic motives for any self-respecting commedia dell'arte.