| A museum festival of historical theaters of Europe opened at Ostankino The festival opened at the end of last week and will close on June 30. Its program includes a scientific conference “Theater on both sides of the scenes: between conservation and reconstruction”, three performances that graced the repertoire of the Ostankino Theater of Count Nikolai Sheremetev, an exhibition reconstructing the image of the ancient theater, compiled from rarities from the era of Catherine the Great and Paul... All these events, of course, are not comparable in status to any Moscow International Film Festival. Conferences, performances and exhibitions already determine the daily work schedule of any museum-estate. In my opinion, the festival of ancient theaters is important as a precedent for a qualitatively new discussion of the problems of the existence of a museum-estate in the cultural life of Russian society.
There were twice as many foreign guests from Germany, Sweden, the Czech Republic, and Italy at the conference as Russian ones. Board members of the Association of Historical Theaters of Europe arrived. German students arrived to take measurements for the purpose of conservation and restoration of ancient theaters. Their trip was paid for by institutes whose professors believe that familiarity with the history and structure of the unique theater in Ostankino is necessary for professional growth. But offensively few Russians came. Several theater historians from the Institute of Art History of the Ministry of Culture, several architectural critics, and our journalist brother were miscalculated. Here's your first problem: there is a brilliant trick invented by Sheremetev - the Ostankino estate. This is a wooden house (hut) pretending to be a Palladian (Renaissance) villa made of brick and marble. There is not a single stone detail in the palace. All gilded candelabra, all cabinet tables and columns with marble veins are carved from wood, skillfully imitating the texture of “genuine” materials. In addition to the palace, there is, finally, a masterpiece theater of the 18th century, which has preserved the architectural layout, part of the engine room mechanisms, stage, auditorium, dressing rooms, excellent acoustics and original furnishings. Enthusiastic foreigners specially visit Russia to watch it and talk about the history and objective world of the European theater of Baroque and Classicism. And among the “locals,” a dozen enthusiasts respond to the invitation to watch and talk. Chekhov’s hero called this mood with the unfortunate word “indifferentism.”
The second observation is related to this concept. The festival is called “On both sides of the scenes.” From the audience, everything looked great. For example, the wonderful and unique Russian melodrama (instead of opera - music and melodic recitation) by Evstigney Fomin and Yakov Knyazhnin “Orpheus”, carefully performed by young artists and the ensemble “Orfarion” by Oleg Khudyakov, ideally corresponded to the exquisite and elegant architecture of the theater. Moreover... Not only the theatrical performance turned out to be spectacular and “authentic,” but also one report at a scientific conference. It was read by the elderly clown Pierrot (Per Simon Edström), a Swede by nationality, who has been playing on the stage of an old family theater in the vicinity of Stockholm since 1937. He came out in a white robe. Dancing and making faces, he began to talk about how for centuries the profession of a comedian depended on the theatrical lighting system. I started with the light of oil lamps and ended with an electric spotlight. As the story progressed, the clown Edström, to the great horror of the guardians and fire services of the wooden palace, lit these same oil lamps on the floor, and also set off fireworks with sparklers. At the same time, incidents of theater fires became the leitmotif of his story. So the suspense was Hitchcockian.
As it turned out later, the festival participants experienced real fright not at the sparkling performance of the Swedish Pierrot, but when they got to the other side of the auditorium, on a tour of the palace premises. It is not enough to say that the palace is in disrepair. It requires immediate and serious restoration work. Otherwise it will collapse. In one room we saw how wooden columns were being replaced. The design is based on your word of honor. All the bases of the old wooden supports turned to dust. They are washed away by groundwater: when the canals that existed in noble times on the side of the regular park disappeared, the drainage system was disrupted and the huge Ostankino pond near the TV tower contributed to the dam effect. The foundations of the palace are being washed away by water. The tree is rotting. According to employees, the palace is “held” only by the objects in it. If it weren’t for this burden pressing on the soil, the estate would have developed like a house of cards.
In the context of what has been seen, the main significance of the fest may be to discuss at a new, international level the problem of not only preserving, but the actual salvation of Russian palaces and estates in the face of the shameful “indifferentism” of the domestic community. Sergei KHACHATUROV |
|
