Theatrical director. Artistic director of the theater and entertainment enterprise job description

APPROVE

(head position)

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(name of company)

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"____"______________ _____ G.

JOB DESCRIPTION

artistic director

(example form)

1. GENERAL PROVISIONS

Rules and norms of labor protection, safety and fire protection;

provisions of this job description.

2. JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

2.1. Artistic director:

2.1.1. Carries out the organization of the whole complex of creative and production activities of the theater.

2.1.2. It ensures the artistic quality of the repertoire, which contributes to the formation and satisfaction of the needs of the population in the performing and musical arts.

2.1.3. Determines the readiness of performances and makes decisions on their public performance.

2.1.5. Ensures the development and fulfillment of obligations under concluded contracts.

2.1.6. Organizes work to develop creative ties with teams of enterprises, institutions, organizations, entrepreneurs in order to promote theatrical and musical art and attract extrabudgetary funds for its development.

2.1.7. Takes measures to provide the theater with qualified personnel, their proper placement and rational use.

2.1.8. Creates the necessary conditions for the creative growth of the artistic staff.

2.1.9. Provides an organic combination of economic and administrative methods of management, moral and material incentives for the development of the activity of employees in creative and industrial activities.

2.1.10. Contributes to the formation and preservation of a favorable moral and psychological climate in the team.

2.1.11. He entrusts the solution of certain issues within his competence to other theater workers.

2.1.12. ______________________________________________.

3.1. The artistic performer has the right:

3.1.1. Get acquainted with the draft decisions of the head of the organization (theater) relating to his activities.

3.1.2. Participate in the discussion of issues related to their official duties.

3.1.3. Submit proposals for improvement of the work related to the responsibilities provided for in this instruction for consideration by the management.

3.1.4. Improve your skills.

3.1.5. Receive from the heads of structural divisions, specialists information and documents necessary for the performance of their duties.

3.1.6. _____________________________________________.

4. RESPONSIBILITY

4.1. The artist is responsible for:

4.1.1. For failure to perform or improper performance of their duties stipulated by this job description - in accordance with the current labor legislation.

4.1.2. For offenses committed during the period of its activities - in accordance with the current civil, administrative and criminal legislation.

4.1.3. For causing material damage - in accordance with applicable law.

4.1.4. For violation of the Internal Labor Regulations, fire safety and safety regulations established at the enterprise.

4.1.5. _________________________________________________.

5. MODE OF OPERATION

5.1. The mode of work of the artistic director is determined in accordance with the Internal Labor Regulations established in the organization (theater).

Familiarized with the instruction: ________________ / ___________________

(signature) (full name)

ABOUT founder, permanent artistic director and chief director of the Theater "On the Embankment" (now GBUK Moscow Children's Drama Theater "On the Embankment"), leading its creative history since 1980, as a community of adult professionals and children, adolescents, youth, working together on performances and in performances, on the basis of open, conscious and responsible cooperation, co-development and co-creation; author of plays and director of more than 50 dramatic performances of the unique repertoire of the Naberezhnaya Theater.

Fedor Sukhov is a graduate of the directing department of VTU. B.V. Schukin at the State Academic Theatre. E.B. Vakhtangov (1993, diploma with honors); graduated from the Moscow Power Engineering Institute with a degree in Automation and Telemechanics (1984); studied at VGIK them. S.A. Gerasimov at the acting and directing course of S. Gerasimov and T. Makarova, at the personal invitation of the masters (for the role of A. Peshkov in the educational film "My Universities" by the workshop of M. Khutsiev).

Fedor Sukhov - member of the Union of Cinematographers of the Russian Federation (since 1993); theater and film actor - more than 10 main roles in 20 films by such directors as: S. Gerasimov, E. Urazbaev, G. Egiazarov, Y. Sorokin, K. Shakhnazarov and others; played historical characters: Prince Vladimir the Baptist, Pioneer Ivan Fedorov, Maxim Gorky, Maximilian Voloshin, Marshal of the Soviet Union K. Meretskov.

Titles: laureate of the title "Teacher of the Year of Russia", honorary worker of general education in Russia.

The author of the complex multi-level methodology "4 Theaters: Playing, Educational, Staged and Author's Theaters of Children" for children (teenagers, youth) and adults, which forms the basis of the activities of the Naberezhnaya Theater and its programs included in the UNESCO program "Observatory of Art Education of States- members of the CIS.

Author of social and cultural projects of the Naberezhnaya Theater: Inclusive film and theater project “RIVER OF LIFE: I care anyway” with children with disabilities (from 2016 to the present); Charitable co-creative theater project "PEACE TO YOUR HOME" for orphans, children from orphanages and foster families (from 2016 to the present); The open co-creative theatrical project "Tigratoria", which includes a tradition, a set of methods, practices and research activities (TIGr - Theater Games) in the space of a play drama theater for children (from 2000 to the present).

International activities - a theater teacher with a worldwide reputation: he conducted author's theater laboratories and master classes in 17 countries of the world, including: Austria, Germany, France, England, Ireland, Finland, Croatia, Slovakia, Montenegro, Israel, Lithuania, Latvia , Estonia and others; directing and theatrical and pedagogical work at the invitation of the Institute of Theater of the National Taiwan University (Taiwan), staging the play "The Cherry Orchard Theater / Cherry Orchard Theater" (Taipei, Taiwan); 5 times led Russian youth theater teams and was the leader of international groups in the EDERED Theater Camps (European Drama Encounters): in Germany, Israel, Estonia, Croatia and Austria.

Awards: Diploma of the Union of Theater Workers of Russia "For fruitful theatrical and pedagogical work with young artists"; Gratitude of the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation A.A. Avdeeva; laureate of the Moscow Grant competition in the field of science and technology in the field of education; Gratitude of the Head of the Russian Imperial House "For exemplary service to the Fatherland, high professional achievements and significant personal contribution to the development of Russian science, culture and art."

Moscow Art Theater M. Gorky considers himself the legal successor of the Moscow Art Theater and, without renouncing the traditions that developed in the Soviet era, defines his path after the partition as a "return to Stanislavsky."

Currently, the Moscow Art Theater. M. Gorky is located at the address: Tverskoy Boulevard, 22, in a building built in 1973 according to the project of the architect V. S. Kubasov at the initiative of the Minister of Culture E. A. Furtseva to provide stage space for the large troupe of the theater. The current Moscow Art Theater owns the Order of Lenin acquired in the Soviet era, the Order of the October Revolution, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. The symbolism of the old Moscow Art Theater, a soaring seagull, is preserved by both theaters.

Since October 1987, when the theater declared its loyalty to the founders of the Moscow Art Theater with M. Gorky's play "At the Bottom" after the partition, more than seventy performances have been staged.

Still on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater. M. Gorky are playing plays staged many years ago: "The Blue Bird" by M. Maeterlinck, "Three Sisters" by A.P. Chekhov - a performance restored by T.V. Doronina according to the director's drawing by Vl. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko.

The repertoire of the theater includes performances of various genres, from comedies to dramatic productions, based on the works of classics of world and Russian literature - W. Shakespeare, J. B. Molière, B. Shaw, A. N. Ostrovsky, A. P. Chekhov, M. Gorky, M. A. Bulgakov and many others - as well as modern writers.

A special place in the repertoire is occupied by performances with the participation of the People's Artist of the USSR Tatyana Vasilievna Doronina: "Vassa Zheleznova" by M. Gorky and "The Old Actress in the Role of Dostoevsky's Wife" by E. S. Radzinsky.

Currently, the artistic director-director of the Moscow Art Theater. M. Gorky - Eduard Vladislavovich Boyakov, President - People's Artist of the USSR Tatyana Vasilievna Doronina.

President of the Moscow Art Theater M. Gorky, People's Artist of the USSR T. V. Doronina

The purpose of the drama theater has always been defined by the word "spirituality". Trying to maintain and develop what is called tradition, we turned to the plays of those authors who were always considered Mkhatov’s and from the first season after the separation determined their path as a “return to Stanislavsky”, as the affirmation of classical theatrical literature. Chekhov, Gorky, Bulgakov, Dostoevsky - in today's interpretation, played by today's sharpened nerves, comprehended by inflamed minds. Soviet playwrights Alexander Vampilov, Viktor Rozov, Alexei Arbuzov. In the traditions of the Moscow Art Theater - contemporary authors. The best of them: Valentin Rasputin, Yuri Polyakov, Vladimir Malyagin.

We are trying to convey to the young actors who have been accepted into our troupe the best that our great teachers have taught us. The traditions of the Russian theater are realism, truth and a word for the glory of man. Spiritual improvement, the desire to return what is called "conscience", because it is conscience that is the measure of human decency, kindness and selflessness. The presence of conscience in each of us determines whether you are a man or a trembling creature, a citizen of your country or an enemy and covetous person who takes, destroys and ruins the land that gave birth to you. This is the basis for us, which is in great demand today, when there is so much crime and moral criteria have been lost. We are returning them. We are on the way.

theater building

In 1972–1973 architects V. S. Kubasov, A. V. Morgulis and V. S. Ulyashov built a new building of the Moscow Art Theater (now the Moscow Art Theater named after M. Gorky): a majestic building with a dark facade lined with brown-red tuff. The main facade of the theater is divided into long horizontal strips, imitating a theater curtain in stone, falling down in folds. A solid white strip of balconies and sharply pushed forward metal brackets supporting lanterns and bas-reliefs depicting four muses emphasize the main entrance, and also bring rhythm and dynamics to the whole composition. The pylons are completed with compositions of lanterns. A wide staircase leads from the street to the entrances retracted deep into the building. They beckon viewers to enter a very special, wonderful world. The general style of the facade is close to the heavy prototypes of St. Petersburg or even Scandinavian Art Nouveau.

The auditorium is designed for 1345 people. The atmosphere of solemnity arises in interiors finished with wood, stone, bronze. Here everything is designed in tones characteristic of the old building of the Moscow Art Theater. The interior of the theatre, made with the use of natural materials (dark wood and stone), received an expressive but restrained solution. Not only the walls of the foyer are lined with wood, but the entire auditorium, columns and even elevator doors. The figurative thinking of the authors manifested itself in the plastic processing of the walls, support posts, railings and plafonds, in combination with a muted color scheme (shades of brown and olive green), which creates a certain gloom of the premises.

The dark green geometric furniture is in harmony with the islands of greenery highlighted by the backlight. The use of flowing spaces, in which different types of lighting (chandeliers in the form of stalagmites, stairs with luminous handrails) are ingeniously used to accentuate transitions from one room to another, hides the asymmetry of the internal organization.

The architects have created a bright artistic and imaginative solution for the theater building, in which an exact sense of the stylistic unity of form, plasticity and color is found.

Artistic director

For twenty years I have been the head of the Vakhtangov Theatre, but it is difficult to talk about myself as an artistic director. Therefore, I would like to dwell only on some general aspects of my activity.

When I was offered this position, I thought about it for a long time, it was not easy for me, because I imagined the responsibility that this position imposes, and I experienced a completely understandable feeling of fear: will I manage? But nevertheless he agreed, because he knew that the Vakhtangov people would not accept the “Varangian”. Also, and this was shown by the then experience of the Moscow Art Theater, it is impossible to manage the theater collegially. It can only be led by one person. Only one person can lift it. And, having weighed all the pros and cons, I hoped that I would still be able to maintain the prestige and level of our theater. Therefore, I took office with the main task before me - to preserve the Vakhtangov Theater, to prevent its team from disintegrating into small groups.

To do this, he formulated three points of his program. First, attracting well-known directors to the theater to stage individual performances. Secondly - reliance on talented dramaturgy. And thirdly, already having experience in theater and film directing, I promised not to stage performances myself, because I knew that as soon as the artistic director starts staging performances, they immediately become the dominant feature of the repertoire. I don't have a real director's gift. If I understand where, then only in acting.

During these twenty years, our theater was judged in different ways. In the difficult decade after perestroika, some said that the theater was ruined, others only complained that its former glory had faded. However, at first we survived when, along with the collapse

Much of the Soviet perished in the USSR, and then the theater came to life and is now actively developing, and in this I partly see my merit.

There was a time when we to some extent shared the fate of all theaters: with a sharp drop in the ideological pressure, we seemed to have been struck by a disease like a caisson. Indeed, for decades everything was strictly regulated, sometimes only slightly weakened the valve and suddenly declared complete freedom! Is it not a sharp change in pressure?.. And we had to live in a new way in the conditions of a market economy that are unusual for us.

The destruction of the aesthetics of associative art turned out to be a big disaster for the theater. Aesopian language suddenly turned out to be unnecessary in our country. And Shatrov's Brest Peace, which played to a full house even abroad, began to play with half-empty halls, and it had to be removed from the repertoire. The audience also took a cool look at the play “The Ides of March” by Wilder, which is acute in meaning.

What can I say, even if in Taganka, where violent, civic performances were staged, everything also became “normally cool” from the suddenly reduced attention of the audience. And the theatre-wrestler Yuri Lyubimov seemed to pause in bewilderment: with whom to fight? For some time he lost his voice. This strange time of change demanded new colors and words from theaters. And it was getting harder and harder to find them.

People were much less likely to go to the theatre, not least because ticket prices were out of reach for an impoverished society. Of course, people lost a lot, but the theater suffered no less, devoid of reflections, experiences, and feelings in common with the audience. He simply did not keep up with life when events fell like a rockfall on the confused citizens of Russia. How could they have been shaken by a theatrical performance, when life itself was constantly surprising and shocking? Therefore, more than one of our theaters lingered at the crossroads: what direction to choose now in their work, where to look for points of contact with the audience? But I didn’t want to go to any lengths in pursuit of him, to lose face, sinking to the level of the service sector, or even outright connivance with lack of culture. But there was a great desire to preserve the eternal values ​​​​of art in the theater in the new conditions!

And many commercial theaters were created around, which lived and live, in fact, for the sake of the ruble. By and large, not a single significant performance was staged there, not a single actor was brought up. Because it is profitable to take already recognized pros there, and they go because they pay well there! Humanly, they can be understood: who does not want to earn more money and quickly. And well-known actors in one place cannot linger for a long time, they are expected everywhere. Hence the hack work, the decrease in the level of the game, the surprise of the peripheral viewer: where did the talented actor imyarek go? And he labored in some French trinket. After all, it was, is and will be. And let it be, at least in order to maintain a gray background for a sharp drawing in the foreground of real theatrical discoveries!

With all the difficulties that we had to endure in the past, we still did not fully feel what a spiritual crisis is. You can be ironic about this as much as you like, but we still have a lot of educated people, although there was a moment when education was not in fashion. What was this phrase worth: “Why are you so poor, since you are so smart?” But our public - and this is noted by everyone - has remained the most sophisticated in terms of art, whether it be theater, music or painting. And I don't want that level to drop at all. And there are reasons for concern.

See what's happening on our stage. Who is the idol of youth, the hero, so to speak, of our time? Philip Kirkorov. He has a lot of admirers and admirers. He is praised in every way. He is imitated and envied. Yes, he is not devoid of talent and beauty. But they envy not so much this as his wealth. In fact: he flies almost on his own plane, his Lincoln is also loaded there, because only in Lincoln can an idol enter Krasnoyarsk or some other city. But even this is not so bad, because Kirkorov, at least, is recognizable, he has an individuality. However, new fads from mass culture have tricked us into some kind of “star factories” that churn out faceless performers, and those performers change in batches as part of precocious vocal groups without harm to their commercial program. However, there is nothing special to harm there, if we consider the issue from the standpoint of culture.

I understand, all this is advertising, outrageous. However, if our Vakhtangov Theater wanted to advertise any of its performances, it would not have found even a hundredth of the funds spent by show business on the promotion of its favorites. In addition, it seems to me that the theater will not learn how to advertise itself at all. He is old-fashioned, he seems to be dressed in ancient clothes that restrict movement. He is embarrassed to talk about himself and retains his dignity.

It seems that through the joint efforts of public and private structures, the country can be brought out of the general economic crisis. But each theater is looking for a way out of its problems almost alone. This is a difficult path, but the road will be mastered by the walking one.

When Yevgeny Rubenovich Simonov left us, he did not break ties with the Vakhtangov Theatre. The name of this director went down in the history of the theater, which I, like all Vakhtangovites, hold sacred - with all our victories, defeats, gains and losses. And we will not rewrite it, "adjusting" the past to the advantageous alignment of the present. Evgeny Simonov devoted his last years to the creation of the Theater named after his father, considering it his filial duty to perpetuate his memory. And the theater has been around for many years. It is located in the Arbat lanes very close to us, and today it is directed by one of the leading actors of the Vakhtangov Theater Vyacheslav Shalevich. And we solve many problems of today's life together: the Vakhtangov Theatre, the Shchukin Theater School, the Ruben Simonov Theater, actors and directors of all generations of Vakhtangov.

We are still looking. We are looking for in the precious pantries of Russian classics, in modern dramaturgy. Our goal is to defend the theater as a temple of culture. Capturing the emotional attraction of the viewer is the key to success. And all theaters today are in search of that, perhaps, a very simple stage action that will bring people to the auditoriums, eager to understand who we are today, what we need in order to feel our human height, our necessity in life. I think that literature, theater, and art in general are needed by themselves in order to increase, add to the amount of kindness in the world. So that people can draw from this source of truth and justice, faith and love as much as they can.

When you think about what is most important in the art of theater, you understand that it is skill, professionalism, an ear that hears today's time, a voice that can tell about time.

This skill should be possessed first of all by the director. By creating a performance, he becomes everything: an actor, an artist, a musical designer, a magician, a creator, a liar, a dreamer - everything! Finally, he releases a play, and it lives on its own, regardless of its creator.

The current problem with directing is that a kind of “hammock” has arisen, sagging between a cohort of great theater connoisseurs of the 20-30s of the last century - Stanislavsky, Nemirovich-Danchenko, Vakhtangov, Meyerhold, Tairov, their students Ruben Simonov, Zavadsky, Okhlopkov , Akimov, Lobanov, Tovstonogov - and modern directors.

The generation of "teachers" has not brought up its succession, which has a tangible effect on the director's field. I feel that this reproach of mine is unjustified: to raise a director from a person who does not have a natural gift for it is the same as intending to teach someone to become a great writer. Georgy Alexandrovich Tovstonogov stated bluntly: "The director cannot bring up a successor, because it is artistically impossible." And if he does not know all the director's directions.

Modern directors for the most part did not grow up naturally by “gradual maturation”, but pumped up their muscles. "Kachki" put on a lot, they are energetic, skilled, they cannot be accused of ignorance of their business, but the lack of a school affects their work. Philosophical understanding of the theme, spirituality and convincing life “equipment”, which was present in the performances of famous directors of the recent past, who proceeded in their work from the deep essence of theatrical art, is very lacking in current productions.

I can’t judge everyone, I speak based on my own observations of the artistic director of the theater. From what young directors bring us, I see that they are "brainy", coldly prudent professionals. This is not their fault: they live in an era when old concepts and familiar categories are broken in the theater, and in everyday life a person does not always feel solid ground under his feet. Here, as they say, there is no time for spiritual comprehension and gazing into the heavens, here many are thinking about how to get settled in this extravagant world, what to cling to in this "Brownian movement", in the ongoing commotion. And the directors bring this mess to the theater. And spiritual comprehension of the beautiful requires peace and creative leisure. But in the pursuit of the material, neither one nor the other exists for anyone today. Unfortunately, the needs of the audience have also changed: having run into business, the modern public, for the most part, wants one thing from any staged action - the opportunity to let off steam. Here comes the talk show "To the Barrier" on television. It is led by the most talented journalist Vladimir Solovyov, he skillfully manipulates the actions of the most influential politicians in the country and just famous people. They are his actors. But what does his transfer decide? Nothing! This is all empty talk, the cries of stage puppets insisting on their rightness, but none of them listens to anyone. To some extent, this is beneficial for the talk show participants - this is how they attract public attention. What does the viewer get? Fatigue, a tiring bedtime story, a portion of a kind of sleeping pill and - at the same time - doping with a delayed effect, taking which, after a few hours of rest, you can again rush headlong into the hustle and bustle of affairs. So now talk about the fact that the directors are the priests of the beautiful ...

The same picture in modern dramaturgy: there seem to be many plays, but they all talk about the same thing - how bad it is for us today and how good it will be if we do this and that. That's really what the viewer will not surprise!

In this regard, for some reason, I remembered the play "Oginsky's Polonaise" by Roman Vikgyuk. There was total collapse. And what did this performance reveal to me? That the world has gone crazy? I already know it. That people turn into cattle through temptations? I have often seen this in my life. That they don't know where to go? I sometimes feel it myself. So why such a performance, if they don’t tell me how to get out? If there is no light in it? But they pour salt on my wounds in it and pour it! For what?

Real theater is not a sedative drug, but it is also not a psychotropic drug to excite warped souls. I would say that he is an example of a more normal, smarter and more integral world than the one that often remains outside the auditorium. Ideal world? It is quite possible, since art is almost always the pursuit of an ideal.

Yes, the theater must be modern, but the audience, and the actor, needs more figures and collisions that contain timeless values. And they remain valuable because they always have something in common with what is happening today. But also a reminder that life is not only the dollar exchange rate and operational reports of the police. However, we, being in the seething cauldron of everyday life, are far from always able to grasp the essence of what is happening, and therefore we cannot ourselves answer the questions that reality poses to us. Then the classic comes to the rescue. It contains eternal spiritual riches - answers to the questions of human existence, which means that it is a support for all those living today.

It is impossible to imagine what we would do today without Ostrovsky, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Shakespeare! But you can't just put on a classic today. It must be read anew in every new era, at every new turn of time. After all, everything is constantly changing. Something dies and is born in society. A person is changing, his attitude, tastes. Updated aesthetics. And the performance should organically fit into our "crazy, crazy, crazy world." It’s impossible to feel complacency over a cup of tea with jam, against the backdrop of a painted wooden Zamoskvorechye from the 19th century, when skyscrapers made of glass and concrete are being built behind the wall.

But there is something that unites both scenery - the recognition of human passions and the immutability of moral values, which in all ages allows the theater to draw and draw from a truly bottomless well of dramaturgy of all times and peoples.

Love ... No matter how much we talk or write about it, no matter how deeply we experience it ourselves, it remains a mysterious, intimate, incomprehensible feeling. There is no definition of love that fits all occasions. She is always a revelation. It is difficult to predict what act it will inspire or push a person to. Yes, almost all the classics are love stories. And none of them is like the other. To paraphrase the poet, we can say: love is the only news that is always new ...

The classics are always new too. But it doesn’t always happen that you scooped it up - and here it is, the goldfish of success! And we are hoarsely arguing in the theater about what to take into the current repertoire. The director offers The Inspector General or Chekhov's The Seagull. It seems to me that it has become a kind of obsessive fashion - all the time to interpret Chekhov and Gogol in your own way. As if every theater is trying to find something in Chekhov that no one else has found. Yes, both Chekhov and Gogol are great connoisseurs of man, but I am afraid of fashion, which even in the theatrical repertoire becomes as indispensable as jeans.

Once, when I became artistic director, I set myself the task of opening the doors of the Vakhtangov Theater wide for new topical dramaturgy and sharp, modern-sounding classics. For this, it was necessary to invite both serious well-known directors and young, but already interesting, directors promising to reveal themselves in their own way. I worked on this, and there were successes along the way, although no one gave me insurance against failures. Only successes and failures are normal for creative pursuit. You can't list everyone I invited. However, I will mention that Robert Sturua, Pyotr Fomenko, Arkady Katz, Roman Viktyuk, Vladimir Mirzoev, Vyacheslav Shalevich, Sergei Yashin, Alexander Gorban revealed their directorial ideas. Under their leadership, such performances as “Brest Peace”, “Lessons of the Master”, “The Ides of March”, “Guilty Without Guilt”, “Alibaba and the Forty Thieves”, “Chasing Two Hares”, “Dedication to Eve”, "Cyrano de Bergerac", "Nbch iguanas" and many others. But, of course, not all of what was done was crowned with laurels of great audience success. Nevertheless, these performances are stages in the formation of our theater in difficult years, when in Russia all our compatriots were looking for their own, often new place under the sun.

But this, so to speak, is the creative part of the concerns of the artistic director, and it is based on the economic foundation and partly depends on interpersonal relations in the troupe - and this also has to be thought about. Such problems were extremely exacerbated in the 90s of the last century, and, probably, it would be easiest for me to brush them aside and take some comfortable and somewhat distant position. But, to be honest, to this day I still feel responsible for the cause that I have been serving all my life - for the theater.

At one time, the perestroika euphoria ended, and it turned out that, along with some administrative independence, theaters acquired a bunch of problems, but they did not master the mechanisms for solving them. And I had to do a lot myself.

Our props were worn out, stage equipment was outdated, and in a failed financial situation (it is well known what was happening in the economy in that era), the theater did not have the means to eliminate this hole. So, we must go to officials, chiefs, whose name has always been legion. We still have more bosses than workers. There were many, and there were even more. Wherever you go, there are a lot of committees, parliaments and departments. It would also be good for officials to introduce uniforms - then we would absolutely become similar to Nikolaev's "stick" Russia, as it was described in Soviet times. Only then we did not dream of what we have now! Walking around high offices is akin to Dante's circles of hell: it's not a fact that the required will be allocated, but you will definitely endure humiliation. And you need to go so that your business does not stop, so that the best traditions of theatrical art, domestic culture in general, which are already breathing heavily in many ways, are not ordered to live long.

Here I went. For example, near our theater on the Arbat for a long time there was a wrecked house that was not subject to restoration and did not belong to anyone. We, like air, needed a second stage for experimental activities in the theater, for expanding the repertoire, and finally, for providing work for the entire troupe. And it was not possible to get land in the neighborhood with the wording "in full management" in order to attract investors and builders. There was only one answer to our requests and reasons: “no funds, no opportunities.” And it could all end with the fact that some smart businessman or the ubiquitous mafia would put their paw on these ruins and another casino would appear in the middle of the Arbat. Indeed, in post-Soviet Russia, it happened that even under theatrical signboard dubious shops were opened for the sake of profit, and for this, the newly-minted businessmen easily forgot about the true significance of the performing arts for society. However, the Vakhtangov Theater still managed to prove its case, and the land was allocated to us.

There were difficulties with the tour. It even happened that due to economic troubles, for two or three summer off-seasons, Moscow was left without invited theater groups - there was simply nothing to invite them to. Then even the journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow was fraught with considerable problems. Moreover, the country was really threatened by the loss of a single cultural theater space. Moreover, the metropolitan troupes were also in serious difficulty in organizing their creative trips to the periphery. We got out of the situation as best we could. And got out! In early 2002, the Vakhtangovites went on tour in Kyiv in full force, gave performances at the Lesya Ukrainka Theater. This means that the employment of the troupe in productions was full.

How to engage all the actors in performances, provide them with opportunities for creative growth and a decent income - this is a special conversation. The problem is not unique to Vakhtangov, it is universal for all theaters. While there was no money, until we learned how to earn it, theatrical troupes that had been created over the years began to resemble huge clumsy dreadnoughts. On the one hand, young actors came - they have not yet gained enough experience to drag the repertoire, but they already need to be given a perspective. On the other hand, there were a lot of pensioners who played less and less for health reasons, but they should not be fired in any case - the pensions were meager, and taking away a role in the next production from a well-deserved person, your long-term comrade on the stage, means putting him to the brink of a half-starved existence. Therefore, as much as I could, I fought to maintain a precarious balance between the older generation of actors and the youth, so to speak, creatively supported the old people, still orienting the theater towards young, fresh blood. And here is the result: over the past twenty years, real masters have grown up on the Vakhtangov stage - A. Dubrovskaya, M. Aronova, E. Sotnikova, N. Grishaeva, S. Makovetsky, M. Sukhanov, V. Simonov, E. Knyazev, A .Zavialov, you can list more names. Many of them are known abroad as excellent professionals, they are invited to cooperate on various theater and filming sites, and they are constantly featured in our troupe. But my old friends-actors are still in honor - on the example of many, many wonderfully played roles, they raised a worthy replacement for themselves, this is their merit. And then very young guys, recent graduates of the theater school, gradually begin to make themselves known ... And all the actors of our theater have their own creative voice, they have the right to tell the viewer something important from the stage.

Some of the greats have a wonderful statement about the difference between the oratory of Cicero and Demosthenes. When Marcus Tullius Cicero delivered a speech, the Roman Senate was overwhelmed with delight: “God, how he speaks!” And when Demosthenes spoke to the Greeks, the Athenians shouted: “War to Philip of Macedon!”

The same can be said about the difference in art and directing and acting. Art in general has many faces - and this is what makes it interesting. Art is limitless - and that's what makes it beautiful. Art is omniscient - and that's what makes it wonderful.

Today, art is still looking for ways, like in a littered mine, to people, to the light, and often finds them with the help of the classics. And also a classic - a staff in the hand of a weary traveler, wandering through life.

If necessary, in difficult years, we relied on it, but we also included works by contemporary authors in our repertoire. Both those and other plays could go with full houses and without.

But it is important that with their help the Vakhtangov Theater survived. He also survived thanks to his amazing, sparkling acting school. For twenty years I have preserved our traditions to the best of my ability, and now, looking back, I can state with satisfaction that I succeeded on my part of the journey. Perhaps because I perceived the success of any director, any actor in our theater as my own. And I did not see any benefits for myself, except for the success of the theater.