Northern Echo, UK
Tony Mercer sees himself as a 'Crazy Englishman' when it comes to staging ice rink shows at the theatre costing £4.6m per tour. But his cast of Imperial Ice Stars recruited from Russia to put Swan Lake On Ice, is so good that Russian ambassadors want to adopt the show. Mercer and top two skaters, Vadim Yarkov and Olga Sharutenko, talk to VIV HARDWICK
Bringing together one of the world's test-known pieces of music with some of the planet's best ice skaters has cost a cool £4.6m. Artistic director and choreographer Tony Mercer, who tours the world with his The Imperial Ice Stars company, laughs and says: "Let's be happy that my bank manager is happy. The sets and costumes for this tour cost me over £500,000 and the UK tour expenditure to keep the show on he road for 30 weeks is going to be around £4.6m."
Swan Lake arrives at Sunderland's Empire Theatre with a massive rink to be constructed and 25 skaters out of a total touring cast of 44 which runs to doctors, back-up staff and technicians.
He reveals that the recent tour of Australia and New Zealand was so popular that he found Tchaikovsky's masterpiece had been adopted by the Russian ambassador because all of the cast are from the former Soviet Union.
Skating star Vadim Yarkov, when asked why Russians are so much better at skating than a lot of other a entries, says: "We are better because so many Russians start on the ice from the age if four and we have special schools for children who want to be in the sport."
His ice partner Olga Sharutenko adds: "The government supports the schools and helps to bring the children into ice sports and parents see the benefits of their children adopting a sports-style life. Even if you can't be a professional sports person you can still have fun."
Mercer, who puts together the shows which benefit from this state conveyor belt of skating talent, says: "We've been in Australia and New Zealand for four months and it was fabulous. We got to Canberra and out of courtesy invited the Russian ambassador to see the show. He said he was amazed and in love with the show because all the performers were Russian.
"He asked me what an Englishman was doing with so many Russian people. I said it was because I loved producing shows and he asked if he could invite other ambassadors to come and watch. And he started going around the embassies in Canberra saying 'hi, come and see my show' because he was so proud of his fellow countryfolk being there and introduced me as the crazy Englishman looking after his people."
Yarkov has been in ice shows for many years, having shifted from the gold medals of the competitive ice rink to earning silver from entertainment in 1995.
He says the shows he's been part of have completely changed in 11 years. "They are far more theatrical and emotional and completely different to what we were doing before and, of course, there are no rules about what we can do on the ice," he says.
Sharutenko, who featured in the recent ITV Dancing On Ice series, says about the risks involved when flying around high over the heads of the audience: "It's unusual for anyone to be so high on the stage and being lifted but I've been doing it almost all of my life.
"The only thing that you're afraid of is the people who are sitting in the front row because you can see they're scared when your partner passes along the front of the stage with you held aloft. When I competed I was allowed to do the high lifts because I was an ice dancer and the rules always meant you weren't allowed to do certain things. When I first became part of the company Vadim showed me how to do the lifts and people can see how much enjoyment we are having."
The partnership has performed together for the past three years and Vadim admits that starting from scratch each time is difficult but adds: "it works because we are all talented people and everybody knows how the moves must go together. We are all professionals." Sharutenko jokes about falling into the audience one day but quickly points out that this has never happened. "For me the best story so far was a lady who sent me an email saying 'I have five children and they were inspired by watching your show to perform on ice and they wish to go and skate'. For me that was the best thing to hear that people are inspired by our show. It's most important that children like the show and take something from it."
Mercer works hard to sell his ice shows because he acknowledges that competition has always been fierce with Disney On Ice and Holiday On Ice two of the forerunners of this style of entertainment.
He adds: "The very first ice show in a theatre was during the 1940s, so nobody can claim currently to be the first in doing this. The only thing different that I do is that I look to the degree of excellence and production value. I'm not looking to interpret ballet onto ice. I have a different way of presentation. Tchaikovsky's music is wonderful and with this particular production I have tried to break down the barriers and combine dance and method acting rather than mime. The music was written not for the ballet but as music and I think we have interpreted Swan Lake as the composer intended.
"And the set is worth the price of a ticket alone. It's been designed by Eamon D'Arcy who was the production designer for the Sydney Olympics in 2000. 1 think the quality of Sunderland's theatre and ourselves makes a happy marriage."