They sent me an encore: to Pokrovka.Theater" there are tips for actors
The audience of the metropolitan "Pokrovka.The theater" can now thank their favorite artist after the performance not with flowers, but with money. If desired, non-cash tips can be transferred through a special digital platform, Izvestia was convinced after visiting one of the productions. The idea provoked a mixed reaction from the professional community. Some criticized her, arguing that the theater is "not a restaurant or a strip bar." Others, on the contrary, positively perceived the opportunity to support artists whose salaries often leave much to be desired. How tips work for artists and whether they are needed is in our material.
Progressive Theater
Before the performance of "The Fool" by Lope de Vega in "Pokrovka.Theater" in the chamber hall, which is already full of spectators, an approving voice is heard from the speakers: "You can take pictures and shoot. We are a progressive theater."
Dmitry Bikbaev
The institution, under the artistic direction of Dmitry Bikbaev, the former soloist of the BiS duo, is really trying to be modern. Classics are staged on his stage, but they speak to the audience about eternal themes in the language of youth. They generally close the distance with him there: during the performance, Alisa Shikhanova, in the role of the fool Phineas, suddenly steps out of character for a moment and turns to the person sitting in the second row, making him a participant in the action. In the theater's social networks, there are memes and circles from behind the scenes, like those that we send in personal correspondence to friends. And if you look at the buffet, there's an ad at the checkout.: "Support your favorite artist." The QR code below guides you to the Netmonet digital tipping platform.
The scheme is simple: you choose the actor you like, the amount of 100, 200, 500, 1000 rubles, or any other amount that your wallet allows, and you transfer it. For the sake of the purity of the experiment, Izvestia sent tips to Alexei Terekhov, impressed by the poor poet Laurencio in his performance.
Alexey Terekhov and Alisa Shikhanova
— Innovation is always great. If the audience forgot to take flowers and want to thank their favorite actor or actress in some way, why not, if their heart is in it? — noted in an interview with Izvestia, the troupe's actor Miroslav Dushenko, who was on stage this evening as Turio's servant.
"The theater is not a restaurant"
Meanwhile, a part of the theater community reacted sharply to donations for actors.
"The theater is not a restaurant, not a strip bar or a brothel, not a place for tips. And certainly not a platform for such dubious "innovations," wrote the Telegram channel "The Wings are whispering."
Actor Sergey Marochkin, in turn, reflects on how this will affect relations within the troupe.
"One collected more donations, the other less. One fan gets 5,000 each, the other gets silence. Won't a new form of competition appear inside the theater — no longer for roles, but for the "monetization" of audience love?" he asked in the blog "Notes of an actor".
So far, this is the only known case where a similar method of encouraging artists has been introduced in the theater, and the professional community is rather wary of the idea.
— I would never introduce such an innovation. It doesn't seem to fit in with the theater. Maybe it's not bad for the youth theater on Pokrovka, but from my point of view, this form of interaction with the audience is suitable for restaurants. After all, theater is not a service industry," Kirill Krok, director of the Vakhtangov Theater, told Izvestia.
Kirill Krok, Director of the Evgeny Vakhtangov State Academic Theater
Even inside Pokrovka itself, the attitude to what is happening is ambiguous.
— They transferred me two hundred rubles with a beautiful letter thanking me. It was funny. But, in my opinion, this is a terrible trend of our time — we are turning into a service industry," Honored Artist of Russia Yulia Avsharova told Izvestia. — If you used to come to the theater to think about something, to discover something, now you have some fun. Because of this, they mostly put on comedies or something like that. The viewer has been taught to think and understand that theater and any work of art can be entertainment, but it is also the work of the soul.
The pre-Reformation past
However, as it turned out, the idea is not revolutionary. About six months ago, Grigory Zaslavsky, a theater critic and rector of GITIS, was offered to introduce a similar system for student performances so that the audience would have the opportunity to help students.
— After all, some of them study for a fee, and those who study on a budget receive a very small scholarship today. Many people really have a desire to help, and the idea itself seems quite kind at first glance. But something about it still confused me. After weighing all the pros and cons, I eventually declined. It seems to me that there is a danger of premature social stratification here, even during the period of student life. That's what stopped me," Zaslavsky told Izvestia.
Rector of GITIS Grigory Zaslavsky
For a theater like Pokrovka, which strives to be modern and relevant, he added, such a move also seems rather contradictory. On the one hand, it looks like something new and modern, but on the other, it rather refers to the pre—reform past, Zaslavsky believes.
— As for adult actors, I see in this some kind of return to pre-revolutionary traditions, when any merchant could throw a wad of money on the stage or ask his assistant to bring a bouquet of flowers to the actress he liked in the dressing room with the appropriate offering and the purchased seats. There is something very old-fashioned about it, even, I would say, merchant-like. At that time, valuable gifts were often also put into bouquets — an expensive snuffbox or, for example, a diamond necklace, as in Ostrovsky's "Penniless", explained the rector of GITIS.
"Better with money"
The Russian writer and playwright Alexander Tsypkin took the opportunity to tip the artists more favorably.
— Perhaps for the first time in a long time, I do not know what to say. I mean, I'm not sure how to do it right. On the one hand, of course, a theater is not a restaurant, and the very concept of tipping may sound offensive to many actors, although I don't see anything offensive in the wages of guys working in restaurants and cafes. But I can imagine that for an actor, the very existence of such an opportunity would be traumatic. On the other hand, the very low salaries in theaters are no less traumatic for them, we all know about this," he told Izvestia.
Given this fact, a monetary compliment can be a practical alternative to an expensive bouquet.
— I have repeatedly come across comments from my friends who received a huge number of bouquets for the premiere: "The most annoying thing is that their cost exceeds my monthly salary. Sometimes you just want to say it's better with money." So I don't know how to do it right. If such an option appears, I will certainly use it, in the sense of supporting the actors. Whether it should be introduced or not is up to each theater to decide,— concluded Alexander Tsypkin.
The actress of the Moscow Art Theater named after. Chekhov Sofya Evstigneeva explains: it's not even about the amount, but about attention, which can be expressed in any form.
— I am incredibly pleased when people give me flowers on my bows. This means that the viewer singled me out and decided to thank me. There is no difference for me: everything is attention. No one is forcing people, plus they will even have the opportunity to save money. Have you seen the prices in the flower shops? — She told Izvestia.
So far, tipping actors remains more of an experiment than the new norm. But the controversy surrounding them has shown that the theater today is looking for a balance between art and a new reality. And to pay or not to pay — in the end it will be left to the judgment of the viewer.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
