The visiting regional committee staged a collective cry for Roman Viktyuk. The artist Golubev (who does not work in the theater, left the country a long time ago and writes “from there”), said that “the Viktyuk theater is everything.” Instantly, this tragic cry was picked up by “news” and eternal commentators on any topic — from the person involved in theatrical jokes of director Zhitinkin to completely exotic characters. Plus an established stable network of people cursing all those who live and work in Russia.
It was immediately discovered that each of these self-proclaimed students and followers, sudden connoisseurs and “friends” newly found by the late master personally and a lot communicated with Viktyuk and Roman Grigorievich secretly winked at everyone and said something special. Even though none of the sad people had ever been to the building on Stromynka.
Reading Dostoevsky, “Demons”. Stepan Trofimych team.
Now about business.
The season is closed, but rehearsals are still underway on Bronnaya, and I continue to work on the formation of the program for the premiere of the Melnikov Stage for the 2024 season/2025.
In September, rehearsal work will begin in the theater. I'm starting rehearsals for several performances at once. The entire troupe will have the opportunity to have intense, interesting, different work with different directors, different styles, in different genres. This is generally correct and necessary for a modern troupe — to be ready to respond to different directorial tasks, without remaining hostage to one aesthetic. There are obviously excellent actors in the theater, and one of the important tasks is to give them a new impetus for development, new opportunities to express themselves. By the way, we are re-signing contracts with almost all the actors. Personnel changes in the theater will certainly occur, they are already happening, but they are not large-scale. These are targeted changes and no emergency changes are planned either in personnel or in working with the troupe.
We are preparing interior renovations to improve working conditions, tidy up dressing rooms, and create additional rehearsal spaces. This will take time. But this work has already begun. The new leadership has the will, energy and desire to achieve all goals. Including bringing theater attendance to the proper level.
In this regard, I will comment on several repertoire decisions.
First, the sales numbers. March-April-May 2024 — 45-50 percent every month. Few. But the achievement of this indicator is literally connected with the “surge” of spectators into the theater, discounts and simply “resetting” tickets before performances. These facts are the result of an analysis of the state of affairs and the operation of the ticket desk.
Today, in the theater's repertoire, perhaps only the 35-year-old «Maids» consistently attracts audiences. However, what is a prime age for a person is a time of dementia for a performance. The modern quality of this spectacle, regardless of ideology, causes reputational damage primarily to the author of the performance. No need for illusions. “That” performance carried a charge of aesthetic energy, but this one is sometimes simply a parody of the original spectacle. The performance has lost its charge of originality and artistry. It is not for nothing that the main audience of the play (as well as the theater) are women who come here alone.
The play «Phaedra». An important play in Viktyuk's career, a serious work that has not lost its energy and integrity. I can have my negative opinion regarding the obsessiveness of the decisions related to the fact that Romeo and Juliet and many other couples in love in the theater's plays are boys. But let's note: the theater has completed the life of many similar plays before me — the same Shakespeare, and «Salome», and some other productions. And no one wrung their hands. Returning to «Phaedra»: my main complaints about this play are not even related to the decision, but to the fact that if the extras are half-naked and portray ancient Greeks, performing a rather sophisticated plastic drawing, then you need to watch your physical shape. At the moment, the extras in the play again look like a parody. And if we put aside the «fan» view that excuses any flaws, then the fans of the play must admit: you will not find such poor physical shape on the vases and bas-reliefs of ancient Greece, and the figures of the fighters on them do not tremble from the strain of supporting their partner. And not because this is a drawing on a vase, but because the bodies of «those» Greeks are strong and sculptural and easily withstand stress — unlike the «mass Greeks» from Stromynka.
Forgive me for the irony, but it is the complete lack of self-irony that leads to blindness regarding the state of affairs in one’s own household. Irony is something that Viktyuk possessed in full. I’m sure he would agree one hundred percent with my words, but would throw up his hands, saying, “I don’t have any other writers for you.” «No, but we will find it!» — I answer. The suspension of the operation of «Phaedra» is connected precisely with my intention to introduce ballet and plastic professionals into the performance, so that the performance in terms of crowd scenes would acquire a decent appearance.
Regarding certain other performances, some of them ended their existence due to the fact that, in my opinion, they are not significant artistic events, and the duration of their release exceeded all adequate periods. Others seem to me to be the exploitation of good actors in uninteresting literary material, and no amount of production refinement makes the spoken text any better or more original. I'm talking about the play «The Masquerade of the Marquis de Sade», may the author of this opus excuse me.
Finally, other performances are simply of poor quality, both literature and production — for example, the play «Footmen's Games». I don’t really understand how a spectacle of this level can even exist in the capital’s theater.
At the same time, there are many excellent works in the theater. There are wonderful performances “The Master and Margarita”, “The Poisoned Tunic”, “The Tsar Maiden” and many others. They will live and play. The theater's repertoire will continue to change gradually as new performances are released.
Regarding the renaming of the theater. I never said that the theater would not be renamed. News agencies often interpret words in their own way and rush to produce “clickable” headlines. I clearly formulated my position from the very beginning: no one will erase the memory of the director who worked in this theater. Otherwise, I took some time to think about the right way to develop this theater. I will repeat. We will keep a section about Viktyuk’s performances on the website, we are taking an initiative to the city about a memorial plaque on the building, we will hold anniversary evenings and events in memory of Viktyuk. But the theater is not a museum. Theater is an organism whose cells are constantly renewed. Otherwise he will become seriously ill. And our task is to make our Theater — the Melnikov Stage — a strong, healthy and successful theatrical organism.
Separately, I should mention that some positions attributed by imaginary fans to the theater’s heritage zone raise questions from the point of view of adequacy. I don’t really understand how the theater allowed other photographs into the foyer, considering, for example, that audiences under 18 years of age come to the theater for children’s performances. Maybe the now indignant supposed fans of the theater with attendance below 50 percent will explain to me why they have not yet become indignant about this?
In any case, I want to say to all the “sufferers” and “mourners”: dry your tears. The theater begins a new interesting life and will become a prominent point on the map. Don't wring your hands or envy us, just mind your own business. Oleg Pavlovich's favorite phrase from Chekhov is “We must do the work, gentlemen! We must do the work!” » data-crop-ratio=»0.5625″ data-crop-width=»650″ data-crop-height=»366″ data-source-sid=»not_rian_photo» class=»lazyload» width=»1920″ height=» 1080″ decoding=»async» />