The Ministry of Culture will approve the candidacy of the new artistic director of the Gorky Moscow Art Theater after consultation with the professional community, the department told Izvestia. On November 1, the artistic director of the theater Eduard Boyakov announced his resignation… The recently appointed general director of the Moscow Art Theater, Vladimir Kekhman, has already announced that there will be no more performances with invited actors on Tverskoy Boulevard and has confessed his love for Tatyana Doronina. Representatives of theatrical Moscow have differently assessed the activities of the former artistic director. Izvestia found out how the Gorky Moscow Art Theater changed during the period of Boyakov’s leadership and which of the cultural figures could take his place.
Artists are inspired
Less than a week ago – on October 27 – Vladimir Kekhman was appointed general director of the Gorky Moscow Art Theater, and On November 1, the theater’s artistic director Eduard Boyakov announced on his Facebook page that he was leaving the theater. According to him, the director invited him to write a letter of resignation. “I did it despite the fact that I have a five-year contract. It is not in my rules to arrange opposition or opposition in a situation where the leadership does not want to work with me. The reason voiced by Kekhman is my attitude to Doronina, “he wrote.…
The artistic director refused to comment on other aspects of the conversation, adding that he was grateful to everyone who collaborated with him all these three years. He also wished the Moscow Art Theater named after Gorky “success and development”, promised to inform about his future professional plans and summed up that “the topic is closed.”
The presentation of the new general director to the troupe took place after the dismissal of the artistic director. Vladimir Kekhman, commenting on the results of the meeting for Izvestia, noted that all the artists are inspired and there is no more conflict.
– Today we met with the director of the theater, who is directly leading the main performances, – he shared. – I really hope that by the end of the year we will be able to calmly finalize the repertoire for the troupe, without invited artists. I also asked him about one unique performance of the theater, in which the whole troupe was involved – 120 people. If we manage to renew it, it will be a sensation.
Vladimir Kekhman noted that he is very much looking forward to meeting with Tatyana Doronina and hopes to hear from her wishes for the management of the theater.
– She has always been the face of the Moscow Art Theater, she is the only living great Moscow Art Theater, – said the general director. Therefore, I really hope that by the end of the year we will be able to see her and formulate our vision of how the theater will develop further.
The Ministry of Culture, the founder of the Moscow Art Theater, answered Izvestia’s question that they learned about the artistic director’s decision to resign from the media, and it came as an absolute surprise to them.
– Of course, according to the Charter, the theater director must coordinate with the founder the candidacy of a new artistic director. And we, in turn, will discuss this candidacy with the professional community, – noted in the department.
Cultural figures interviewed by Izvestia gave different opinions on the activities of Eduard Boyakov as artistic director. Honored Artist of Russia, artistic director of the Pushkin Theater Yevgeny Pisarev noted that the Gorky Moscow Art Theater and its theater are located opposite each other across the road and they are traditionally called the Pushkin Theater and the Dantes Theater.
– Previously, our counterpart looked like a crypt, but with the arrival of Eduard Boyakov, we got a little worried, ” admitted Evgeny Pisarev. – There appeared bright windows, burning boxes, the audience began to crowd at the entrance. By external things I can judge that life was in full swing there, that’s for sure. And decent artists came to work there.
People’s Artist of Russia, artistic director of the Theater “School of Contemporary Play” Iosif Raikhelgauz believes that before the arrival of Eduard Boyakov, the Gorky Moscow Art Theater resembled a “swamp” for many decades, and the artistic director created life there, the audience flocked there, they began to buy tickets, they began to argue about the Moscow Art Theater, Vodolazkin gave his novel to this theater.
For the writer Yevgeny Vodolazkin, the dismissal of Eduard Boyakov also came as a surprise. He noted that the Moscow Art Theater is successfully staging his novel Laurel, and in any of his comments, they can probably see a personal interest, but as a simple spectator, he is sure that Boyakov did the seemingly impossible: in three years he made the theater popular. According to the writer, not all decisions of the artistic director were close to him, but he is not mistaken, as you know, the one who does nothing.
Among Boyakov’s main mistakes, experts call a break in relations with the president of the Moscow Art Theater Tatyana Doronina and a confrontation with a part of the troupe devoted to her. The People’s Artist has not been to the theater since January 2018, and letters allegedly signed to her, addressed to the country’s leadership, with a request to fire the artistic director, appeared on the Web from time to time.
Collaboration with the popular TV presenter Olga Buzova, who was invited to the play “The Wonderful Georgian”, also had a negative impact on the artistic director’s reputation. Boyakov’s opponents felt that such characters had no place on the academic scene. In addition, the now former artistic director, along with the invitation of really major directors, trusted the productions and those whose professional level did not correspond to the status of the Moscow Art Theater.
– Eduard Boyakov has something to say thank you, even a big thank you, – said the rector of GITIS Grigory Zaslavsky in an interview with Izvestia. – First of all, for the building itself: he changed the chairs in the hall, renewed the foyer, made with the help of monitors so that this building began to attract attention. It also attracted a new audience. For Andrei Konchalovsky’s play Scenes from Married Life, tickets to the stalls were sold out in full, from the first to the last row. And at the same time, he did a lot to make this decision to dismiss him. First of all, this is the discrepancy between words and deeds. When he was invited to the Moscow Art Theater, there was an idea of joint management with Tatyana Doronina. But that didn’t work out. It would be logical for him to invite many major directors, but often he gave carte blanche to those figures who did not deserve it. At the same time, he began to actively stage himself, without having a professional director’s education, which for such a theater as the Moscow Art Theater – nonsense.
22 performances
During the period of Boyakov’s leadership, 22 performances were staged at the Gorky Moscow Art Theater, besides, that the theater was closed in connection with a lockdown.
– Eduard Boyakov worked systematically: he and his team had a program – that can be called a repertoire idea, – says the Izvestia theater columnist, doctor of art history Svetlana Naborshchikova… – The priority was modern and classical Russian drama and literature, presented in different genres and formats, and the cherry on the cake was the reconstruction of the Moscow Art Theater performances.
According to the expert, the Moscow Art Theater Boyakov also had a need for something that is quite rare in our theaters and what psychologists call contextual thinking. For example, the reconstruction of The Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard was accompanied by the production of The Mythical Husband and His Dog, which tells about the era of the creation of these performances and Chekhov’s relationship with the Moscow Art Theater. The “Pink Dress” also refers to “Three Sisters” – about the fate of one of the heroines of Chekhov’s play.
In addition, Svetlana Naborshchikova notes, the artistic director can be credited with the creative development of the Mkhatov spaces: not only special areas, but also other premises became a stage in a huge building.
According to the charter of the theater, a new artistic director must be hired by the director, having previously coordinated the candidacy with the Ministry of Culture. In a building on Tverskoy Boulevard there may be one director – a director, since according to the charter of the Moscow Art Theater named after Gorky – a director’s theater.
In the opinion of Joseph Reichelgauz, a director’s theater is always bad, since performances are created by directors, and theaters – by chief directors and artistic directors. Yevgeny Pisarev, when asked who could head the Gorky Moscow Art Theater, replied that there are wonderful directors who do not have their own theater: Dmitry Krymov, Yuri Butusov. But these are people of the author’s theater, and in such as the Moscow Art Theater, a person should come with his social position, cultural significance, even recognizability. Ideally, it would be an artist with broad views, who will not build a mono theater, will be open to different, new.
– I have one idol in terms of artistic direction – Oleg Pavlovich Tabakov, but where can I get this? – the director asked a rhetorical question.
At a closed meeting of the troupe, where the general director was introduced to the collective, he, according to eyewitnesses, outlined one of his priorities – musical and dramatic performances, since the large stage was originally designed, including as an opera, concert. And he promised to arrange a “new Salzburg” at the Gorky Moscow Art Theater. Besides, a video published by RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan was distributed on the Web. On it, Vladimir Kekhman removes a portrait of Eduard Boyakov from the wall and addresses Tatyana Doronina: “Tatyana Vasilievna! Look, look! Oops! And he is not. I love you very much. Thanks for all”.
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