Most theatres are labyrinths. I imagine even veteran actors get disoriented once in a while. The Mariinski Theatre in St. Petersbourg, Russia is no exception. We filmed all over the old building, all the while following our guide. By the end of the two days of filming, I began to recognize some hallways and could sometimes get an idea of where I was, but if the guide left for a bit, I just stayed put, not wanting to forever roam the halls with ghosts of other lost journalists or stage hands.

The Mariinski has seen a lot of history and has artfully interpreted passing epochs. The evening we filmed, English director Graham Vick presented a modern version of the 19th Century opera Boris Godunov by Alexandre Pushkin. It put the storyline in the events of the fall of the Soviet Union. I felt a bit old watching it, because here is an opera about events which I lived through! They even had a television crew on stage filming the protests.

A new Mariinski theatre will open at the end of this month and I'm glad we got to film in the old one. People working there seemed very proud of their work and inspired by the history and tradition of Mariinski. The new building will have a modern stage built for modern, more technical plays and operas. The old theatre will continue, though and maybe the ghosts of lost soals will simply have another building to wander.