Money named after Chekhov

Dmitry Medvedev promised to support theaters from the treasury

Celebrations in honor of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov are held on a grand scale. Although his works are considered world classics and are included in the compulsory school curriculum, Chekhov himself was never a figure on the scale of Pushkin or Leo Tolstoy in the official hierarchy of Russian writers. But these days, a series of exhibitions related to his work took place throughout Russia, an international theater festival named after him opened in Moscow, Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov admonished Moscow students to study “without Cs” using the example of the writer Chekhov, who graduated from the university with two Cs. And Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych, while in Yalta, promised to always remember the “great Ukrainian poet” Chekhov.

But the biggest celebrations took place, naturally, in the homeland of the great Russian writer in Taganrog. The head of state also came here, who had a rare opportunity to talk about beauty. “We are all part of Chekhov’s huge world, the world of a small man,” Dmitry Medvedev is convinced.

In Taganrog he held a meeting with Russian and foreign theater figures. After all, it was dramaturgy that constituted Chekhov’s main glory. “If Anton Pavlovich had not written his plays, I have such a subjective suspicion, he would have remained a wonderful writer, the author of “The Lady with the Dog,” he would have become like Bunin, like Kuprin. And he made such an amazing leap in his plays, the artists helped him, of course, by making it more intelligible. But this is a different quality of literature, this is the beginning of a new literature,” this is how the chief director of the capital’s Lenkom Theater Mark Zakharov assessed the writer’s creative heritage.

Muriel Mayette, director of the Comedie Française theater, said that Chekhov became the first Russian writer to appear in the repertoire of this theater in 1944. Since then, only one more Russian classic has been added to it - Nikolai Gogol. Dmitry Medvedev, in turn, told how he loved Chekhov as a child, having re-read all 20 volumes of his complete works. True, then he perceived the writer differently. “Today I was thinking about what Chekhov managed to do, and I caught myself with a not very pleasant thought: Chekhov passed away when he was 44 years old (I’m also already 44 years old), and when I read Chekhov’s books as a child, I it seemed that this was some kind of grandfather, almost Leo Tolstoy, only Tolstoy had a larger beard, but this one was also wearing pince-nez, with a beard. And now I caught myself thinking that he had already completed his life’s journey, having created immortal works that we still enjoy,” admitted Dmitry Medvedev.

However, anniversaries are not only an opportunity to once again remember a beloved classic, but also an occasion to talk about contemporaries and problems that are relevant to them. Oddly enough, it was not the Russian, but the famous German director Peter Stein who was the first to speak about the need for state support for theatrical art.

“The conclusion that the theater can be left alone, abandoned to the mercy of the market and that the financing of the theater can be transferred into the hands of private sponsors, I believe that this is an extremely dangerous path. The theater constantly needs support, and sponsors come and go. Sponsors, of course, are very good, but from experience we know that sponsors cannot ensure continuity and consistency in the development of the theater, only government support can do this,” Mr. Stein said at the meeting. The Russian President agreed with him. “As for supporting the theater, of course, this is a task that is among the development priorities of any state, and in any state there is not enough money for this. If we talk about Russia, we also don’t have enough money for this, although we are trying to do it. Now the situation is clearly better than it was, say, ten years ago or even five years ago. There will always be a question about how much sponsorship money is needed and how that correlates with government funding,” he replied.

Moreover, despite statistics from the Ministry of Culture, according to which the number of theatergoers is declining, the theater is still a favorite vacation spot for millions of people. According to the data cited by the president, there are about 600 repertory theaters in Russia; every year they host approximately 130 thousand performances, which are watched by 30 million people.

After these figures, the head of state’s intention to support the servants of Melpomene strengthened. “I thought, frankly speaking, that the number of people who visit theaters is smaller in our country. Maybe 10 million. Therefore, it is necessary to competently build a policy, including a financial policy, to support the theatrical arts so that this figure still remains,” he said. Moreover, art, no matter what, is eternal. “Avatar” will never replace the theater, even though it is very beautiful, very difficult and very expensive,” concluded Dmitry Medvedev.

Vera SITNINA