As Novye Izvestia has already reported, the famous actor, director and teacher, the founder of the theater school named after himself, Konstantin Raikin , was fired from this school. It sounds like nonsense, but it is reality. The theater community is shocked by this news. Journalist Olga Belan writes in her blog: “The best interlocutor, actor, improviser, clown and tragedian, reader ... I can list further - I have never seen. This is a firework of knowledge and emotions! He is a brilliant storyteller and parodist, director and actor, all rolled into one. I would listen to him and listen with bated breath. As long as no one interferes."
Belan tells about the causes of the conflict from the words of Raikin: “Once Raikin sadly said that he practically does not teach, that he is in conflict with the rector of the school, which, although it is called the Raikin School, is actually the school of Anatoly Polyankin, whom Raikin himself appointed when - the rector.
To my indignant exclamations and questions, the actor replied that work in the theater took too much time, yes, in fact, it took all of him, and he could not sit on two chairs - to head the Satyricon and the theater school. We agreed that Polyankin would handle all household and paperwork, and Raikin would teach and be called an artistic director. But, apparently, the economic affairs at the school were not going very well, since the rector decided to close the school and drive Raikin out.
In reality, events unfolded as follows: in the summer of 2021, Anatoly Polyankin, rector of the Higher School of Performing Arts (Konstantin Raikin Theater School), tried to liquidate the Arkady Raikin Foundation for the Support and Development of Culture. However, the court did not satisfy his claim. Then, in August, he fired two teachers from the school, but they filed a lawsuit against the university, and the court found the dismissals illegal. In response, instead of reinstating them in their positions, the rector ordered the guards not to let them into the university.
Further - more: on March 24 of this year, Polyankin signed an order to suspend the work of the university for three months, since "there has been a tendency for a significant deterioration in the financial situation of the institute for a long time," which is funded by donations, and "some individuals deliberately discredit the institute." To this, teachers and students said they were filing a class action lawsuit. “We will fight against the closure of the school and will do everything to prevent this unlawful, illegal, unprofessional and immoral action,” said Konstantin Raikin at the time.
Raikin himself explains in an interview with Rise (recognized as a foreign agent in the Russian Federation): “Polyankin removed this name, removed me, removed the position of artistic director. It's just that there is no such position. He doesn't care what happens, he wants to get his hands on it, like some kind of real estate.
He is considered to be a rector, but he drew up a charter for himself that was not agreed upon with anyone, closed all artistic questions on himself, because he knows how badly both teachers and students treat him. He does not appear at the institute at all, has not seen a single work, has not been in for more than two years. He manages only papers, prohibitions and orders.
Raikin is going to challenge the decision of the rector: “I have such an obvious rightness on my side ... This is the result of my 50 years of teaching. I did a lot of things on this road.”
Meanwhile, RBC reports that the students of the Theater School. Konstantin Raikin appealed to the authorities because of the decision of the rector to dismiss Konstantin Raikin. They state that they are "categorically against the dismissal of Konstantin Arkadyevich as the artistic director of the school, the creator and custodian of its creative concept."
“Students are already rebelling, and they can be understood - they love Raikin. Learning from him is an absolute pleasure. All his students say this - before the creation of his school, Raikin taught at the Moscow Art Theater School.
Konstantin Arkadyevich, dear! After all, your dad, People's Artist of the USSR Arkady Raikin, said that you should stay away from fools. Because “a fool is a person in the wrong place,” Olga Belan completes her post.