the Questions that were asked to discuss was the situation with wages of theater workers, cuts in payroll and possible reduction of the staff, assistance provided to needy theaters, Federal and local authorities, predictions about the life of the theatres after the pandemic.
the Meeting started with the presentation of the participants of historical photographs: ballerinas of the Kirov theatre during the war years evacuated to the city of Molotov (now Perm), even in the field, but continue the necessary profession of rehearsal. “It was an attempt, even catastrophically difficult time of war, to keep our theatre, – commented on the photo by the Deputy Chairman Gennady Smirnov STD. – Now also have an invisible enemy who ruined our lives, and we need to recover, when the enemy are retreating!”.
Emergency messages in chat were all over the country. In particular, the salary Fund of the Vologda theatre reduced by 10 percent, other funds by 30 percent. In other regions operational measures helped to stabilize the situation – for example, as the Director of the Petersburg theatre “the Baltic house” Sergey Shub, local culture Committee immediately announced that funding will be maintained, although “it’s one thing to order – the other thing is practice”, and cultural areas of the city threatened cuts in funding of almost a billion rubles. “But it helped a consolidated position, and theater Director, and the Committee on culture, and STD, in particular, played a huge role in the well-known appeal of Alexander Kalyagin. And while funding is maintained.”
Artistic Director of “Helikon-Opera” Dmitry Bertman emphasized the difference of the provisions of the theatres of drama and music. “For ballet dancers daily training is a profession, without a permanent occupation, they can not live, the loss training is the loss of the profession. Same thing in Opera: the artists must engage with the accompanist. Compared with the war we have a situation even more terrible today and have nowhere to evacuate!”. As said Dmitry Bertman, the relationship with the audience in these difficult days, theaters are trying to support online broadcasts of recordings of their performances. But there is an important issue. Say, “Helikon-Opera” has provided opportunity to the TV channel “Culture” to write and show to broadcast some of its performances – and now the theater is able to show online these high-quality, professionally made, full video versions, which have always only helped attendance of live performances. But today, many theaters are spread on the Internet almost official working notes, sloppy, gone where all the staging and a very bad sound – this recording cause theater damage “is the debunking of love.” With financing difficult and the theatre: on the one hand, “meRiya really saves us, the Ministry of culture turned to face us,” on the other – the theater sold tickets for the year ahead, and now many viewers their rent, and money to get them back, no they are long gone on new performances for the salary of the artists and staff. And we panic.”
Gennady Smirnov said that now filming is already allowed groups to continue the work already developed health standards that will allow us to continue rehearsals and in the theatre.
But in Voronezh rehearsals have already begun, – said the artistic Director of the Platonov festival Mikhail Bychkov. – While in small groups of 3-4 artist. Chamber theatre after the June vacation for July 10 will begin preparation of the new season, which hopes to open in September. Director of the Ryazan puppet Theatre Konstantin Kirillov also confirmed that all the wages saved, no one fired, in some theatres, work staging workshops since June, the theater hopes to resume rehearsals, though there is anxiety about how after the opening of the school season will belong to the mass visits to children’s theatres.
But if the state theatres have a kind of guaranteed financial support, then very bad things with theatres private – they are in real trouble. As told by the Creator of the Yekaterinburg’s “Kolyada-theatre” playwright Nikolai Kolyada: “we do no money – you know?! Every night I perform on Facebook, “Historica”: people, if you love me, send some money! As they say, “to stream and”. Send – from 5 roubles to 50 thousand. In the theater 65 people, 38 of them actors, no one fired, but so I live only with the help of the audience. The authorities promise to help in the fall – but how to survive until the fall? I have only enough money until June. We are a private theater, but we still glorify and Ekaterinburg and the whole of Russia, have been successfully performed in many countries of the world – and the state tells us: “Ala ulyu, what I want, I do”… And you want to allow the rehearsal – so, locked up, the same artists with disabilities will be! And there are spin-off from Ekaterinburg theatre Centre of contemporary drama, he just dies without support, and I help him can’t. After all, even to earn some to support my family, today it is impossible: all closed.”
At the conclusion of the conference, Alexander Kalyagin promised, “the Problem clear, we think. The conditions are hard, require all of us courage and strength to shovel. But the theater never despair”. As reported by Oksana Kosareva, this coming weekend will be a performance on the channel “Russia 1” the Minister of culture Olga Lyubimova, which will report on the measures taken for the support of theatrical art in the country.
