"I radically disagree with the chatter about the need for cheap tickets"
Artificial regulation of theater ticket prices can lead to increased corruption and further free the hands of resellers, says Eduard Boyakov. Therefore, he does not see any problems in tickets worth tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of rubles for individual productions. The director is quite categorical in his assessments: he calls calls to abolish Russian culture demagoguery and draws parallels with the Petrograd trial of the Orthodox clergy in 1922. And when asked if artists who have publicly condemned the country can return to Russia, he answers: anyone deserves to be forgiven. In an exclusive interview with Izvestia, Eduard Boyakov spoke about the conditions under which this is possible, as well as about his departure from the Moscow Art Theater in 2021, the appointment of Sergei Bezrukov, the renovation of the Malaya Ordynka Theater and the Tradition family festival, which will be held on June 20 and 21 at the Moskino Film Park.
"Tradition is not about yesterday, but about what will happen tomorrow and always"
— There are many conversations about Russian identity, history, and faith in the Tradition program. But a young audience often perceives such intonation as an edification. How can important patriotic topics be raised today?
— This is an eternal problem of the younger generation. You can go through all of Ostrovsky, Chekhov, Rozov, Arbuzov and modern playwrights and see that this is one of the most obvious and vivid dramatic conflicts. Young people want to emphasize their otherness, and fathers and grandfathers want their children not to make their mistakes. Adults often forget that they learn from mistakes too. But there is fuel for development in this dialectic.
The problem arises when a tradition begins to be treated as something from yesterday. There used to be disk phones, planes made of plywood. Today it is no longer possible to use it. But there are things that were yesterday, exist today, and will be tomorrow. And when a young man finds something close and interesting in old music, he gets rich. Our festival "Tradition" is just about this search. Tradition is not "yesterday", but what will happen tomorrow and always.
— But tradition is something that lasts for decades and centuries. Today, the pace of life is incredibly accelerated.
— And this is also an eternal problem. We're all terrified of how things are speeding up. But this is a problem of any era. The breakthrough that humanity made with the invention of the radio, the railroad, or the internal combustion engine was tremendous. Then, too, there was every reason to talk about how the speeds had changed.
— We are talking on the eve of June 22. The issue of historical memory is particularly acute today. How can we talk about these tragic events with young people?
— When you see a reconstruction of events in the form of a diorama or an artistic narrative, that's one thing. And when you see the torture chamber, the concentration camp, the letters of the Leningrad besiegers, then you really get goosebumps, and changes occur inside that make you feel the significance of these events.
There are ways to retain memory. First, through the facts. Secondly, through artistic peaks — for example, through military songs.
A generation of people who fought is passing away, but there is a collective memory. In 1922, the demonstrative Petrograd trial took place, when the Bolsheviks tried those who protested against the seizure of church valuables. Not only priests were tried, but also lawyers who defended the human right to be protected by the law. Several people were shot. Russian Russian culture is being called for, Russian athletes are being suspended, and artists are being humiliated. These events echo today's demagoguery. And if they are allowed to participate, then only without state symbols and the anthem.
"Any scumbag can be forgiven if he has gone through the fire of repentance"
— Recently, information appeared in the media that Dmitry Nazarov was allegedly going to return to Russia, although later these reports were called fake. But if one of the artists who left really wants to come back and ask for forgiveness, how do you think this should be treated?
— There is nothing higher than words of forgiveness and love. This is the formula of the great Russian poet of the XX century Joseph Brodsky, who wrote in his, one might say, the main poem dedicated to Anna Akhmatova, that God preserves everything. Especially the words of forgiveness and love. If the words of forgiveness are the words of God, then we must be ready to forgive anyone. Any scumbag can be forgiven if he has gone through the fire of repentance.
— The special military operation has been going on for more than four years. Have there been any works capable of artistically comprehending what is happening?
— Sometimes I myself and people in my circle complain that there is little development and new heroes in cultural politics. But cultural genesis is not always a space of explosions. Sometimes you need to accumulate energy so that a new generation of Pushkin, Shostakovich, Tvardovsky, Tchaikovsky, Dostoevsky can come and show how rich the Russian soul is.
If we talk about modern literature, there are wonderful poets today who carry this burden of the Russian writer. I'm talking about Igor Karaulov, Anna Revyakina, Anna Dolgareva, Maria Vatutina, Dmitry Melnikov. I would not hesitate to put them on a par with the Russian poetry of the Silver Age and the end of the 20th century. There are also serious great writers — Evgeny Vodolazkin, Alexey Varlamov, Andrey Rubanov.
"It's important to find a balance between new and old"
— Your first season at the Malaya Ordynka Theater is coming to an end. What has been done? And is the theater really going to be renovated?
— There are big thick albums on my desk dedicated to repairs. We cooperate with famous Moscow architects who have done a lot for Moscow over the past 20 years. Their first project was the Praktika Theater, which I created. They offered very interesting architectural and design solutions. Now, thanks to the support of the Moscow government, we are updating the theater's space. We want to literally recode it.
— Are we talking about a large-scale reconstruction of the lobby and stage?
— No, this is just a repair. We cannot afford a major renovation, because for that we would have to close the theater for at least a year, and maybe two. It's impossible. We have big creative plans. We have released 10 serious premieres and expect to fully form a new repertoire by the end of 2026. It is he who determines the value of the theater.
If we are talking about a repertory theater, the audience should see the whole picture, even if they come to one performance a year. He should understand that there are productions for children and performances on important topics for him. Within the framework of this repertoire, relying on the trust between the theater and the audience, we dream of our audience. We want to form a core and we really hope that we will succeed.
— How do you see the artistic direction of the theater?
— The main principle of our repertoire policy is to work with modern Russian authors. These are Evgeny Vodolazkin, Andrey Rubanov, Olga Pogodina, Alexey Zenzinov. We are interested in Russian history, hence the performances "Cathedral Square" about the Time of Troubles and "Lavr". We are interested in rethinking the classics — now we are preparing a production based on Ostrovsky with Valentin Klementiev. There is also work on Moliere. In this performance, Leonid Yakubovich not only plays the main role, but also acts as a co-author of the text, having written Harpagon's monologues. This is an attempt to show the hero much more complex and deeper than is commonly perceived.
Writer Evgeny Vodolazkin
Another important principle is attention to music. Half of our performances combine drama and musical theater. This also applies to the Lavra, where old Russian songs based on spiritual verses performed by Varvara Kotova are played. And a new Leskov production, where music will exist next to the DJ's turntable. The clash of eras and styles may become our trademark.
— Are you planning to upgrade the troupe?
— I respect what was done before me. Yes, my views on theater and repertoire policy differ from those of Sergei Prokhanov and Evgeny Gerasimov. But I am giving the artists the opportunity to join a new space, to become partners in building a new troupe.
At the same time, the troupe must be updated. But this does not mean that you need to fire everyone and recruit new people. We already have good relations with the artists who have played the main roles in this season's productions and are rehearsing the premieres. It is important to find a balance between the new and the old. Of course, some people will come, some will leave.
— What is happening with the New Theater project now?
— We have closed this project, although it is probably more correct to say that we have mothballed it. Perhaps one day it will return as a theatrical production association. But now, to be honest, I don't have the strength to deal with several sites at the same time. That's why we handed over the mansion on Myasnitskaya to our friends.
"Let's see if Sergey succeeds. God grant it"
— How do you feel about Sergey Bezrukov's appointment to the Gorky Moscow Art Theater?
— Time will tell. I can't make predictions right now. Bezrukov is a very good artist, that's a fact. What he did at the Provincial Theater is not very close to me personally as a spectator and a professional, but this does not mean that he will not succeed at the Moscow Art Theater.
Sergey Bezrukov
There must be actions, performances, and a repertoire — then it will be possible to draw conclusions. So far, apart from the appointment itself, nothing has happened.
We recently restored a performance that we did together with Sergey Puskepalis. We've been working very hard on this play, and I'm glad it's moving on. I am also pleased with the success of Yesenin's Women. Yes, there was a large production group, but everything — from the choice of artists to the name of the play — passed through me as the head of the theater. Of course, it is difficult to bring those years between my departure and Bezrukov's appointment to the theater's asset. But let's see if Sergey succeeds. God grant it.
— Another topic that is actively discussed in the theatrical environment is ticket prices. For example, for some performances they reach 45-50 thousand rubles. How do you feel about theater becoming an elite art?
— I may sound too categorical now, but I radically disagree with this chatter about the need for cheap tickets. This is demagogy. Why is no one outraged by the prices of Mercedes or Aurus? There is a Lada, and there is an Aurus, which costs 10 times more. It's the same with the theater. There is black caviar, and there is squash, and they cannot cost the same. When they start saying that it is necessary to "distribute black caviar among everyone," this is already populism.
Most often, the "inaccessibility of the theater" is spoken of by producers who simply cannot sell their performances dearly. Tickets to the Lavr are several times more expensive than for the performances that were held here before. What does this mean? People want to see this performance.
— What prices are we talking about?
— I don't remember exactly, but it seems that the most expensive ticket costs about 15 thousand rubles.
— But it's still not 50 thousand.
— There will be an opportunity to sell for 50 — I will sell for 50. We sell tickets for exactly as much as we are willing to buy them for. This is how the market should work. As soon as artificial regulation begins, corruption, resellers, and endless subsidies immediately arise. There will be "the most patriotic" directors who will receive government money, sell cheap tickets and at the same time cover their mediocre creativity with subsidies, instead of doing something really necessary for the audience.
I recently attended a performance with Konstantin Khabensky, staged by my friend Viktor Kramer. And I saw the audience standing in applause. Yes, the tickets were expensive. So what? People are willing to pay for an outstanding experience, just as they pay for a concert by a great opera singer, for an exhibition, for a good restaurant, education, or travel.
— But not everyone can pay that kind of money.
— In such conversations, only the upper price range is always mentioned. But there are also affordable tickets. For example, I admire the Lev Dodin Theater in St. Petersburg. Yes, there are tickets for 20 thousand rubles, but there are also a thousand. There are special screenings. We need to come up with different formats.
If you like theater, get a job as a volunteer or usher. Especially if you are a student or a pensioner. You will help the theater and at the same time watch performances with your favorite artists. Why not? We live in a market environment. There is no need to return to late Soviet socialism, where tickets seemed to be cheap, but for some reason they fell into the hands of the right people - party bosses, acquaintances, privileged spectators.
Artistic director of the Malaya Ordynka Theater Eduard Boyakov
It annoys me how the media picks up on this demagoguery and starts shaking the audience: "What a horror, the ticket costs 100 thousand!" But the artists have families, children, housing. Theater is a very expensive art. If you don't take a small category of media stars, artists don't get a lot of money. And the theater requires enormous expenses: decorations, live labor, lack of computer graphics and artificial intelligence, which can replace a person in the cinema. Everything in the theater is real, tangible, and alive, so it's expensive. And it's always been that way. In the days of Verdi, Mozart, Wagner or Tchaikovsky, good places were also expensive. I think it was not easy to get into the orchestra seats for the "Nutcracker" when the emperor came to the performance.
If we convert those prices to modern money, it is quite possible that they will not be lower than they are today at the performances of the Khabensky Theater. And I sincerely wish Khabensky success, including box office success. A good theater needs to be maintained.
"Those were good years, and I don't regret them."
— Have you watched Hamlet yet?
— No, I haven't done it yet. But in general, not all expensive performances are good, just as not all cheap ones are bad. Sometimes it's an expensive and unsuccessful performance, and sometimes it's expensive and really outstanding. There is no need to mix one with the other. You just need to make good performances and not be afraid of the fact that they are expensive.
Actor Yuri Borisov in a scene from the play "Hamlet" at the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater
— If you look at your biography, almost every major stage is associated with the creation of a new project — the Praktika Theater, the Golden Mask, work at the Moscow Art Theater, the New Theater. Isn't it hard every time to leave a space in which so many years and efforts have been invested, and start all over again?
— To take the next step, a person must say goodbye to something. Otherwise, there will be no development. If you perceive the past as a ballast that cannot be abandoned, you will not be able to create anything new. I left the Golden Mask quite deliberately. In two years, I warned my partners, talked to Alexander Kalyagin, and invited Maria Revyakina from Novosibirsk's Globus Theater. She worked next to me for a year, and only after that I handed over the entire household to her. That is why the Golden Mask functioned normally for a long time afterwards. Without scandals, without recriminations, without destroying the system. I think the transfer issue is very important. Today, the National Theatre Award is still looking for itself. God grant that everything works out for Vladimir Mashkov. But then we managed to create a real institute.
There is also a certain inertia of development with the Praktika theater. I left the Moscow Art Theater amid an unprecedented campaign against me. There was no question of any transfer of cases there. And we saw what it led to.
But what we did at the Moscow Art Theater was very serious and valuable. Both the premieres and the creation of a large educational center during the pandemic, which we did together with Daria Dugina as part of the Moscow Art Theater's Open Stages project. Now we are transferring a lot of this experience to the Malaya Ordynka Theater. We hope to preserve and continue everything that is possible. Those were good years, and I don't regret them.
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