Posted 28 июня 2020,, 20:48

Published 28 июня 2020,, 20:48

Modified 24 декабря 2022,, 22:37

Updated 24 декабря 2022,, 22:37

Change of poles and generations: Leading Moscow theaters expect big alterations

Change of poles and generations: Leading Moscow theaters expect big alterations

28 июня 2020, 20:48
Theaters in Russia and Moscow are still closed due to the coronavirus, although tickets for early fall are already on sale. What will happen to them in the new season is a question that has not yet been seriously discussed by our Ministry of Culture.

Specialists believe that the repertoire theater is in danger of a serious reformation.

Angelica Dean

The famous French theater theorist (beginning of the 20th century), the author of the work “Theater and Plague” Antonin Artaud, wrote in one of his works: “It is more difficult to save the theater than whatever in this world. Art, which has grown entirely on the power of illusion, which it can no longer support, is doomed to disappear". But right now, in the "troubled times", there is a struggle for power in several leading theaters of the capital. It seems that in a number of theaters the leadership will be changed.

The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation did not renew the contract with the main director of the Central Academic Theater of the Russian Army, Boris Morozov, who has led the theater since 1995. He has no health problems, no obvious sins and failures, but the fact remains. It seemed that nothing foreshadowed such a sharp turn in the fate of the director. They say that Morozov’s resignation associated with the development director of this theater Milena Avinskaya.

Three years ago, with the arrival of Milena in the theater, a course was taken to attract youth audience, in search of new forms, and supposedly conservative Morozov was "superfluous". Since the theater is overseen by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, a change of leadership is taking place correctly. True, periodically on the pages of the daughter of Boris Morozov, theatrical figure and teacher Yekaterina Morozova, posts of artists appear with alarm for the future of the theater, but, as they say, nothing serious and criminal.

The artistic director and creator of his own theater, Roman Viktyuk, is 83 years old. Roman Grigoryevich is not very healthy, moves around with his wand and, no matter how cynical it sounds, thoughts about the future leader are inevitable. The Viktyuk Theater has a beautiful building in Sokolniki (historical, renovated, equipped), international fame (one of the few theaters in the country that is in demand in the West) and there are people who want to head it, judging by recent events. The director of the theater, Valery Raikov, is immediately accused of sexual harassment by a group of former employees of this theater. We will not delve into the nuances of these accusations, but theatrical Moscow, of course, guesses why right now Raikov was at the epicenter of a sexual scandal. “Someone” clearly does not want Valery Raikov to head the theater if Viktyuk leaves.

At the beginning of this year, the artistic director of the Satire Theater, Alexander Shirvindt, in an interview announced his intention to "voluntarily leave the post." Alexander Anatolyevich is 85 years old, of which 20 years he runs the Satire Theater. Shirvindt had last year serious health problems, and even then, according to Alexander Anatolyevich himself, “he was thinking about resigning from the post of artistic director.” Shirvindt himself, with his characteristic self-criticism, “did not consider himself a great artistic director, and openly expressed doubts that“ an actor can be a brilliant director of a theater”.

From the beginning of the epidemic, a game-war for the place of the artistic director began in the theater of Satire. One of the main contenders for his place is Sergey Gazarov. Director, actor, student of Oleg Tabakov, he returned from the United States to Moscow several years ago and launched a very active work. Gazarov began to teach at the Academy of Theater and Cinema of Nikita Mikhalkov, staged the play Amsterdam with Mikhail Yefremov in Sovremennik, and the Inspector with Vladimir Mashkov in the Tabakov Theater. But in Sovremennik and the Tabakov Theater there are new, young, talented artistic artists - Viktor Ryzhakov and Vladimir Mashkov, who certainly will not give their seats to Gazarov. After the media wrote about the ethnic conflict the director of the theater, Satire Azerbaijani Mammadali Agayev and Armenian Sergei Gazarov, Alexander Shirvindt hastened to declare that "Sergey Gazarov will not be an artistic man." True, Shirvindt also leads the theater under the contract of the Moscow government, and he has no authority solve questions about the future leadership of the theater. If the Moscow government appoints Gazarov, so be it. Both the director Pavel Safonov and the Honored Artist of Russia Maxim Averin (he is a guest artist of the Satire Theater) are called as candidates for the post of artistic director. The version of potential artistic director Fedor Dobronravov, who recently left the Satire Theater, is baseless. Fedor Dobronravov is deprived of leadership ambitions, and, alas, he has serious health problems.

On June 26, the Minister of Culture of Russia Olga Lyubimova made an official statement, which is likely to strengthen the directorship in theaters. It is a question of developing a bill that excludes the artist and creator from dealing with finances and estimates. The bill is called "On Amendments to the Fundamentals of the Legislation of the Russian Federation on Culture". Already today, many leading theaters are run only by directors. This happens in the Mossovet theaters, Lenkom, the School of Dramatic Art theater, and a number of others. And in theaters, the artistic director is something like a "wedding general". Without decisive words director artistic director does not even manage the repertoire. Today, about the unlimited power of artistic leaders, as before, there can be no question. Unfortunately, the leaders of the theaters do not take measures - how to jointly save the repertoire theater in difficult reality conditions, and everyone is looking for his own way out of the crisis.

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