The Art of Time Ensemble presents
THE KREUTZER SONATA
Stage Adaptation by Ted Dykstra and Andrew Burashko
Directed by Ted Dykstra

A story of marriage, love, hatred and sexual jealousy, dramatically underscored by Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata. This innovative program of music and theatre, adapted for the stage from Tolstoy's novella and inspired by Beethoven's masterpiece, is performed by the award-winning Ted Dykstra (actor), Andrew Burashko (piano) and Marie Berard (violin).

Running Time: 75 minutes with Intermission OR 50 minute One-Act version

Size of Company: 4

 

The Kreutzer Sonata, also known as Sonata for violin and piano No. 9 in A Major, Op. 47, was published in 1802 and has since inspired numerous works. The sonata, known for its broad emotional range ¬- from furious, to meditative and finally joyous and exuberant - was originally dedicated to violinist George Bridgetower who performed it with Beethoven at the premiere in 1802. After a dispute with Bridgetower over the honour of a friend, Beethoven retracted his dedication and subsequently dedicated the piece instead to Rodolphe Kreutzer, widely considered to be the finest violinist of the day. Ironically, Kreutzer never performed it.

Leo Tolstoy's The Kreutzer Sonata, a dark story about sexual jealousy, is adapted for the stage by Art of Time Artistic Director Andrew Burashko and Dora Award-winning actor and director Ted Dykstra, who directs the piece. The resulting one-act dramatic monologue is performed by one of Canada's leading film, television and stage actors, R.H. Thomson. Thomson has played lead roles for many of the country's major theatres including Manitoba Theatre Centre (Death and the Maiden), Canadian Stage (Oleanna), Necessary Angel (Glenn, Inexpressible Island), Tarragon Theatre (Democracy), Toronto Free Theatre (Hamlet) and the Stratford Festival. He has become a mainstay of Canadian historical dramas in film and television where highlights include Charlie Grant's War Glory Enough For All (Gemini Award), Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story, October 1970 and The Englishman's Boy.

James Kudelka's 15 Heterosexual Duets, a virtuosic contemporary ballet choreographed by one of Canada's most eminent choreographers, set to Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata, is danced by eleven dancers from the acclaimed Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie to the accompaniment of Andrew Burashko on piano and Marie Bérard on violin. Like the Tolstoy story, the choreography, in a series of striking duets, explores male-female relationships. While Coleman Lemieux have performed the piece elsewhere, this Art of Time presentation marks their Toronto premiere of it. When they performed it in New York, The New York Times called it, "the evening's jewel." A work involving split-second timing and complex partnering, the dancers include Kate Alton, Bill Coleman, Laurence Lemieux, Michael Sean Marye and Graham McKelvie, all of whom were in the original 1991 premiere.