"In unbearable conditions, I find the opportunity to make magic"
The N.I. Sats Children's Musical Theater presented the reconstructed Big Stage and announced the first premiere on it.: It will be Mikhail Glinka's opera Ruslan and Lyudmila. Meanwhile, the X festival of musical theaters of the country "To See Music" has started in Moscow, created on the initiative of the artistic director of the N.I. Sats Theater, director, head of the Association of Musical Theaters of Russia Georgy Isaakyan. The People's Artist of the Russian Federation spoke about both large-scale projects in an interview with Izvestia.
"The viewer's visual standard is changing"
— What is the renovated Big Stage of the N.I. Sats Theater? Why was this reconstruction so important to you?
— When Natalia Ilyinichna Sats created this unique theater in the 1970s, it was the most technologically equipped in almost all of Europe. More than 40 years have passed since then. The technology wasn't just outdated, it started to fail. And it is clear that several generations of equipment have changed, and the very concept of what a modern performance is has evolved. Other theaters were undergoing reconstruction, gaining new technical capabilities and new spaces. And we were slowly falling behind. Now, thanks to the four years of reconstruction, we are once again on a par with the rest of Moscow's opera houses.
— What does this mean for the viewer, besides the absence of any problems that you described? Can we say that now there are some qualitatively new opportunities?
— This means a new quality of light, sound, and stage technique. Now all machinery is controlled by computers. I came to the theater in those years when almost everything was done the old—fashioned way: the scenery was changed manually, the lights, the sound - everything was analog. And although I like that old warm "lamp" theater, it's clear that time is running ahead anyway. Today, a decoration that is crookedly hung or knocked on the stage, or a light that is switched on at the wrong time, is already perceived as outright dirt, and not an inaccuracy dear to the heart.
And in this sense, we are simply moving to another technological level.
— Can you name the main innovation, improvement?
— The main thing is, of course, the completely changed orchestra pit.: It has doubled in size, and there are three different venues with multiple barriers and additional seating for the audience. And now, depending on the performance, the hall will be arranged in relation to the stage and the pit in different ways. That is, if we have a chamber orchestra, it fits in a small pit, and the rest of the space is occupied by additional audience rows, and our number of thousands increases even more. If it's a score by Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, which requires the power of an orchestra, then this whole new big pit is occupied by musicians and, accordingly, gives our audience the right idea of how music should sound. Without compromise.
— And if we talk about the visual component? What has changed?
— We have a lot of wood in the hall. We painted over some parts adjacent to the stage so that they would not reflect the rays into the hall, so that there would be no reflexes. In general, there are many such small, small improvements that add up to a different quality of performance. I repeat: I love a "poor" theater, I'm ready to bet on an empty stage with two actors, but I understand that the theater should be different. And it seems to me that in this sense we are gaining new opportunities.
This may sound arrogant, but I'm an inventive director. In the most unbearable conditions, I always find the opportunity to do some small theatrical magic. Because theater is not a movie after all. There is no need for CGI with a computer calculation of each frame and so on. Theater is an archaic and naive art. But if you also have technological capabilities, you can use a 19th—century flight device, or you can use a modern one. You may have a "flashlight" from the 1980s, or you may have a controlled "head" with alternating filters of the 21st century. As a director, it doesn't matter to me. But for me, as an advanced person who understands that the viewer's visual standard is changing, it's still important.
"Our country is very inventive"
— You did this repair at a very difficult time. How did you solve the problems that arose when some Western equipment became unavailable or very expensive, some parts were difficult to bring, and so on? I remember that when the current geopolitical situation developed in 2022, many theaters complained that all their lighting and acoustic equipment was foreign. And even in those theaters where full-fledged repairs were not required, difficulties appeared.
— Our country is very resourceful. And it seems to me that she has found many ways to circumvent all these obstacles and solve problems. Now the equipment arrives despite all the difficulties. Specifically, a part was purchased from us before the start of reconstruction, it was just lying in a warehouse and waiting in the wings. Part of it has been replaced with something that is more accessible.
I know that many theaters are now faced with the inability to use existing equipment, because it is either blocked remotely or cannot be serviced without foreign specialists. That's why, perhaps, we benefit in some ways by replacing some things with more easily serviced ones during this time of transition. But at the same time, it seems to me that we don't have any big compromises on technology. Anyway, as far as all this complicated stage machinery, computer control, light and sound is concerned. It will look, work and sound exactly as we planned.
— You can say not only as the artistic director of the N.I. Sats Theater, but also as the head of the Association of Musical Theaters of Russia, that globally this problem is the lack of previous schemes for supplying equipment to theaters, the lack of specialists who used to come from abroad, and so on — in our country as a whole overcome?
— I would say that it is solved on a case-by-case basis. In other words, there are practically no deadlocks. After all, we are a people trained to survive in the most unbearable conditions. We are people who washed plastic bags, so you can't take us with your bare hands. And let's not forget that the theater also saves the archaic nature of our art form. After all, only the person is fundamentally important in the theater. And this is something that, even in Ancient Greece, even now, even 200 years from now, remains unchanged on Mars.
Some technology may be added to this - a kind of bonus — or some technology may be taken away from it. But it is in the theater that it is not decisive. And this is its cardinal difference from all other media and arts, where you are tied to the equipment. We don't. We travel a lot and perform at venues with very different quality. And we always adapt: even if it's a scene in an open field or in a rural club, even if it's the Kremlin Palace, where we will celebrate the anniversary. Theater is such a very fluid art that takes the form of the vessel in which it finds itself.
"You can't ask the AI to come up with something original."
— In your opinion, are there any technologies that can change the theatrical art? Maybe it's not radical to turn it upside down, but to give it a fundamentally new quality? I just remembered when you were talking about ingenuity, your play "Love for the Three Zuckerbrins", where both iPads and augmented reality are involved...
— Well, these are the bonuses. That is, I can well imagine how I would make "The Love of the Three Zuckerbrins" without iPads. It's just that a lot of things are built on the game of imaginary and real things, the incomprehensibility of the transition from one to the other. Just like in the play "SHE", the presence of smart sound and headphones for everyone in the audience changes the feeling, because each viewer seems to be starting their own romance with this artificial intelligence. At the end, there's a touching moment when the main character looks into the audience and says, "Wait, are you having an affair with someone else?" And some viewers just mechanically start covering the earphone with their hand. Because they were caught, they were participants in this triangle. Yes, this is a technological feature that works for the performance, for its idea. But nevertheless, I can make a production without it. That's not what makes a theater a theater.
— And what makes it?
— People make the theater. And the education and upbringing system is important here. That's why I don't stop teaching. It is man who generates ideas. I take all these fears that artificial intelligence will replace us now with a smile. There are professions that he can probably replace. But I understand for sure that professions in which you have to create something, and not put together what has already been done, are too tough for him. He can't come up with a performance. He can't deliver it.
Please note: our entire learning process is superarchical. As they taught in theater schools under Pushkin, they continue to teach. We come to the auditorium and do sketches based on the Stanislavsky system from a hundred years ago.
— Well, have you thought about using AI yourself in directing?
— The thing is, it's already coming apart from us. So far, it's rather negative. There have already been scandals in several theaters when the artistic council, when accepting an artistic solution for a play, suddenly discovered that the sketches were made not by an artist, but by an AI. And it's just not fair. I understand that most people in design professions are already immersed in neural networks. But what is the relationship between your authorship and this computer modeling that takes on other people's ideas? You can ask artificial intelligence to make a decoration for Malevich. But this is exactly what "under Malevich" is. Malevich already created it once! You can't ask an AI to come up with something original. It just freezes. Original in relation to what?
"Many theaters rushed to stage handmade musicals"
— You have launched the 10th anniversary festival "Seeing Music". And we know that this is always a cross-section of the current state of affairs in the industry. Can you identify any trends that are most significant, in your opinion?
— I see two big trends. One is, of course, that a lot of theaters have rushed to stage handmade musicals, sometimes of very dubious quality. I understand that the government is pushing everyone into the market. He says, "Go earn money." And a lot of people can't resist it.
What is the easiest way to earn? Well, pop music. The simplest music with the simplest lyrics. It is advisable that this be a title from the school literature curriculum — then whole classes will go. And no one cares that you discredit a great work with your craft. That's what frustrates me. Although there are, of course, very profound performances-events in the genre of the musical. But there are only a few such cases, you can count them on the fingers of one hand.
— Is everything so sad?
— No, because there is a second trend, which is exactly the opposite, which I have encountered over the last three festivals, and I still don't understand what to do about it. Immediately, a very large number of theaters suddenly turned to big serious classics. For example, one theater wants to bring Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Tale of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Virgin of Fevronia" to this festival, while another wants Tchaikovsky's "The Maid of Orleans." These are not the most affordable names even in Moscow and St. Petersburg! Or the latest art, with music by modern composers, experimental choreography and set design. And all this is happening in the regions. That is, it cannot be said that there is any one highway and everyone rushed into commerce. No. There are two completely different lines. And they are developing synchronously.
— In general, what is the situation with musical theater in the regions? How positive or depressive is she?
— It varies greatly from region to region. The common problem for everyone, of course, is personnel. In order to have as many musical theaters as in Russia, you need ten times more educational institutions for the arts of all kinds: musical, theatrical, choreographic, artistic. A huge number of schools, colleges and universities have to produce personnel for these dozens of theaters every year.
— It seemed to me that we have a lot of conservatories, academies, colleges, not to mention art schools.
— The question is not about buildings, but about the number of teachers and students. Unfortunately, many educational institutions are being redeveloped, some are opening endless variety departments, and some, especially in national republics, are focusing on folk music. This in itself is not bad, but it should not happen at the expense of washing out academic disciplines. Otherwise, there will simply be no one to play in orchestras, sing, stage plays, and so on.
"India is a territory of uncertainty for us"
— Your theater is celebrating its anniversary this year. Are there any major foreign tours planned in this regard?
— We are currently negotiating. We have very good relations with Uzbekistan. And for a couple of years now, they've been wanting to invite us to visit with some kind of big tour of several cities. By the way, a very spectacular new opera house has recently opened in Samarkand. The other direction is Belarus. Since our chief conductor holds the same position at the Bolshoi Theatre in Minsk, I think our friendship will continue: the experience of our tours on the Minsk stage has been very productive. Everything is still under negotiation, but I think it will be clear soon.
— Are you looking towards China, India, the Middle East?
— India is still a territory of uncertainty for us. We don't know how to work there. China is a more understandable direction. I went there last year for a presentation for Chinese producers. We talked about the Association of Musical Theaters, about our groups. Let's see how it goes. This is a difficult market. On the one hand, it's kind of huge, but on the other, it's very closed. And there are only a few people who determine what should happen there and how.
As for the Middle East, even before all the current events, we had a wonderful, very successful tour at the Dubai Royal Opera. An amazing theater, also equipped with the latest technology. We are currently negotiating with theaters from several Middle Eastern monarchies.
— Do you think this is a promising direction for the Russian musical theater in principle?
— Now the whole world is going through some strange phase of reformatting, rethinking itself. It seems to us that this is just us. In fact, this happens everywhere. Everything is changing rapidly. Directions that seemed desirable and obvious to us five years ago are now no longer attractive, and vice versa. Relatively speaking, 20 years ago, no one imagined that a dozen opera houses would appear in the Middle East at once. And now it's a huge market. But will they continue to function in another decade or not? And what will happen to the Chinese destination? Will there be a regular audience there? Because now there really isn't the kind of audience we're used to. The Chinese audience is radically different from the Russian, European or American audience. But this comes down to a more global question: what kind of world will we live in in five to ten years? I don't think anyone can answer it for you.
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