Ian McEwan, born in 1948, is one of the most important voices in contemporary English literature. In his successful 2001 novel Atonement , he tells of the lifelong atonement of an early guilt.
By deliberately making a false statement, Briony Tallis, a pubescent, overzealous writer in 1930s England, puts her older sister's inappropriate lover in prison and destroys the lives and love of two people.
Atonement is a very rarely used word in both English and German. Yet the humble request for forgiveness is a deeply human act and a testimony to great remorse and self-conquest. Although she helps the two lovers in a novel to achieve the happiness they were not granted in life, Briony Tallis does not succeed in gaining forgiveness for her grave offense. Her guilt stays with her for the rest of her life. McEwan's novel is more than just a tragic love story set against a historical background. Through the terrible consequences of a single lie, he not only exposes the mechanisms of British class society, but also reflects on the dangerous side of artistic creativity and questions the morality of writing.
The Zurich Ballet, Bella figura dance, 2019 © Gregory Batardon
In her first new creation for Ballett Zürich, Cathy Marston and her long-standing artistic partner Edward Kemp transfer the events of Atonement to the world of ballet. In her adaptation, Briony Tallis becomes a celebrated choreographer who seeks to process the fateful transgressions of her youth in her dance pieces. In her large-scale story ballet, Cathy Marston reflects on the small and large self-deceptions that shape our memories and on the difficulty of dealing with guilt - the guilt of others, but above all our own.
The music for Atonement was commissioned from the renowned English composer Laura Rossi. Jonathan Lo, the music director of the Australian Ballet, will conduct the Philharmonia Zurich.
World premiere April 28, 2024
Further performances: May 1, 12, 14, 23 and 30, June 1, 2 and 7, 2024
