"Either laundry, or moral values"

Yesterday in the afternoon it became known that at the request of the Ministry of Culture from the program of the Moscow International Open Book Festival (MMOMF), the show of two performances organized by CoLTA.RU was excluded - the play based on the play “The Soul of the Pillows” of Olzhasa Zhanidarov in the production of the chief director of the Puppet Theater named after S.V. Obraztsova, Laureate of the Golden Mask Boris Konstantinov (Moscow) and the performance based on the play by Maxim Kurochkin “Gravoyadnaya” in the production of the chief director of the Puppet Theater of the Republic of Karelia, the nominee “Golden Mask” Natalia Pakhomova (Petersburg).

“According to available information, in the play“ The Soul of the Pillows ”, signs of propaganda of homosexuality among minors may be seen. The play “Highway” contains obscene abuse, ”the letter said in a letter signed by the First Deputy Minister Vladimir Aristarkhov, which was received by the organizers of Mokmokf yesterday, June 9.

“The content of both plays contradicts the traditional moral values ​​accepted in Russian culture,” writes Deputy Minister of Culture. “In case of leaving these measures in the Festival program”, Aristarchus promised to withdraw the Minculti consent to become an official cartridge of the festival.

Nikolai Kolyada

playwright, director, founder of Kolyada Theater , Honored Artist of the Russian Federation

My God, there are no words. Why were they so scared in the Ministry of Culture?! Who hit and reported?! Why do they substitute themselves like that? Well, this event would have passed and no one would have noticed, now there will be buch and a lot of conversations. And they will not say anything good about the ministry in this case - a thousand percent. Who is so smart there to issue such orders? What happens to people engaged in culture? "Fast and not let go!" - Do you think this is a way out? I have a thousand questions. Sad. How sad. How short -sighted it is, how funny it is. Although actually telling the truth is disgusting. Just disgusting.

P.​ S.​ I suddenly thought - this is not a fake? Someone invented this, I do not believe, it cannot be. Just an advertising action?

Marat Gelman

Galerist, publicist, art manager

The wording “contradicts the traditional moral values ​​accepted in Russian culture” monstrous and ignorant. Art does not deal with generally accepted values ​​at all. The generally accepted are the commandments of Christ or there is a code of the builder of communism. Chekhov’s “Darling” is that, is it generally accepted? "Romeo and Juliet"? Is murder a generally accepted value? Or is the killer not as terrible Medinsky as gay? But in almost any work of art, there is always a complete set of unreasonable.

I believe that the organizers of the festival are responsible for the breakdown of performances no less than the ministry - it was impossible to indulge. Well, they would sue later. They would not put them. Such conformism will lead to the fact that from one healthy artistic environment we get two patients: one - official, conjunctural, ready to serve. Another - unofficial, deprived of the audience, resources - underground.

It is necessary to overcome the desire of the authorities to prohibit. Draw a hunt from them. Let me remind you that when the State Duma voted for the ban on the “children of Rosental” (Leonid Testnikov’s operas on the libretto of Vladimir Sorokin. - Ed. ) In Bolshoi, the theater replied that the compilation of the repertoire is not the competence of deputies.

Mikhail Ugarov

playwright, director, artistic director of theater.doc

A letter from the Deputy Minister of Culture Aristarkhov can be qualified as a criminal offense under the article “Excess of official powers”. On the basis of what concluded about the inadmissibility of the show of these two plays? Experts "from art"? Who? Their surnames? Do they know that if they assign legislative functions, their actions are qualified under the criminal article “Self -Protection”? Do these people know that they are violating the constitution in which censorship is not recorded? Everyone knows, I am sure of this. They simply brazenly expect someone from the book festival team. I really hope that this will not happen.

Alexander Gavrilov

Director of the Institute of the Book, one of the founders of Mokmokf

I see in this plot a rude interference in the program policy of the festival. The festival, to which, throughout its long and complex history, the Ministry of Culture had no concern - both in terms of the production of meanings and in terms of financing.

It is absurd that the state body gives us the festival team - orders, relying not on the laws of the Russian Federation, but on the “traditional moral values” imagined by the Minister and his deputies. Obviously, we belong to different traditions. I do not see which of this fact could be concluded, except for its statement. Such methods of regulation are unacceptable, and agreeing with them means chopping supports of genuine culture. I would not want to participate in this.

Elena Kovalskaya

Theater critic, art director of the Meyerhold Center

As a citizen, I sympathize with our society. As a compassionate woman - I sympathize with the Ministry of Culture. After all, some time ago the department supported both plays. Now it renounces them and repeats the definitions that “culture” gave to these plays. Thus, he recognizes the private newspaper with his Rupor, and himself as the performer of private will.

Olga Romanova

journalist, television and radio host, civil activist

A large lonely mother leaves her seven young children without informing custody. Moreover: he leaves for an indefinite time, going to the forest for an unknown reason-apparently, indulging in classes, the definition of which contradicts the censorship and spiritual and moral education of the nation. At this time, a maniac sneaking up to small social housing, where seven minors were left alone. The maniac, taking advantage of the lack of social workers, deceives penetrates the living space and subjects minors to the act of pedophilia through absorption. The younger minor remains in the brass oven, who tells the returning grief of Mother about what happened. Mother, as if nothing had happened, goes for a walk in the forest. There she finds a maniac and suddenly offers him to take part in sports competitions for the prizes of the Tagansky district council - in jumping through a hole. The mother, with the support of the Just Russia party, won the competition in competitions, while the maniac, remaining alone after the annexation of Crimea, falls into the abyss of lies and distrust from the population. His stomach is revealed like a tulip bud, and six minors come out of it. They curse their mother and go to live in the Psydaspenser of the “Ruchek” of the Molodogvardeisky district.

Yes, this is my comment, I am given in a solid mind and in good memory.

Actually, no matter what the playwrights, scriptwriters, scientists and poets who are not included in the “Medinsky clip” would not be written - everything will be interpreted that way. As the propaganda of non -traditional sexual relations between the Creator and the state.

Elena Gremina

playwright, director, director of theater.doc

To decide what to do in a situation of such an ultimatum is the case of the organizers of the festival. They had motives to come up with such a program, and these motives, we will hope, will tell you the right decision. If you ask my opinion, then the inconsistent in this ultimatum is enough.

1) The law on the prohibition of obscene vocabulary on the stage has not yet begun to act - it comes into force on July 1.

2) About the promotion of homosexuality in a children's fairy tale about the friendship of a boy and pillows-this is just nonsense and even, sorry, some kind of concern. With the same success, you can impose the propaganda of the “skate-hump”, where the hunchbacks gently asks: “What, Ivanushka, is sad? What hung his head? " -And Ivanushka often hugs a hunchback by the neck, presses against him, ah-ah. Or in a fairy tale about Zainka, who is driven out by Lisonka’s hut, and saves a brave rooster in red boots. Propaganda? According to the logic of the authors of this letter, propaganda.

3) Yes, and about traditions is wrong too: what, Afanasyev’s fairy tales, ditties, basts and farms of parsley are this not our tradition? The Ministry of Culture is still supposed to know its culture. And love. And do not frustrate the society with new prohibitions sucked from the finger.

Roman Dolzhansky

Observer of Kommersant Publishing House, Deputy Artistic Head of the Theater of Nations

I think that this is just another step to the situation when the “Ministry of Culture” and “Modern Culture” will not intersect. This is a rather interesting situation, although nasty and from the point of view of the development of culture is a dead end.

Boris Akunin

Writer, playwright, translator

If the festival was frightened of the shout from the ministry, then, in my opinion, you do not need to go to such a festival. And to participate in it - even more so. Let there are two cultures: open and "ministerial". It was already under the sun.

Alexander Ilichevsky

writer

I consider what happened to censorship, and as censorship, this should be treated. In the current situation, the rules for the relationship between censorship and artists have not yet been developed - Pushkin was not without reason with a hunt for Benckendorf who was written, it was a hidden dialogue between the king and the poet, but we still do not have a conversation, there are only rattling locks and constipation.

Semyon Faybisovich

artist

Everything that the State Spopaganda now calls “the traditional moral values ​​accepted in Russian culture” is actually invented and accepted today. Moreover, in the atmosphere and discourse of the arbitrariness of impostors and ignoramuses, so, firstly, it is not traditional values ​​and values ​​in general. Secondly, this is not morally, but, on the contrary, consistently immorally, like everything that the state imposes on the country today, calling white black and black white. Yes, the "people" perceives this quasifunderative of nonsense with enthusiasm, but it is deeply disgusting to the Russian citizens in the minority. Personally, I have always avoided cooperation with the state. Another thing is that in artistic work it is much easier to do this than in theatrical, so in this case it remains to express deep sympathy for the victims.

Alexander Baunov

Journalist, publicist, philologist

Only an infantile ignoramus, which suffers from sexual impotence, can take a ban on artistic works for sex or words about it. In the most stringent terminological sense of the word. Firstly, this is a person who believes that Pushkin, Shakespeare, Euripides, Gogol, Tolstoy, generally writers and poets wrote and write for children, directors put performances for children, museums exist for children. They confuse classical literature and nursery, because the last time they read the classics, they generally read, at school. An adult, a serious person in their view will not study such a nonsense-Pushkin read, some plays to read. An adult has other entertainment. So it must be reminded that Pushkin wrote for adults and Tolstoy wrote for adults. And Shakespeare. And modern playwrights write for adults, and the directors put them for them. This will be a discovery for them, but culture is generally for adults, and not so that the teacher has been reduced to the theater.

But with other entertainment, they, apparently, are also not very good. Which, in their opinion, are for adults. Judging by the fact that it seems to them that sex is such an external bad influence: he peeped and infected, and if a person does not see anything about sex, he will not hear bad words, he will never remember him. I sympathize with them very much, because, judging by this concept, for sexual excitement they need external stimulants - verbal and visual. I remind you on this occasion that a healthy person for sex does not need anything external, because he has a person inside. Some kind of play there was banned for the fact that in it the pillow retells children's dreams, including erotic, and this is horror, because the children are pure angels and if they don’t show anything like that, then they will live all their lives until old age, never excited. On this occasion, I advise Minister Medinsky, Deputy Minister Aristarkhov, deputy Zheleznyak, chief editor of Yampolskaya and to others to remember how they did not look at any such plays, but still in the kindergarten they showed the pisikas.

Marina Davydova

Theater critic, editor-in-chief of the magazine Theater., art director of the festival "Net: New European Theater"

The first reaction is to leave the contents of the Ministry of Culture without comment. Well, how can you comment on insanity? Only to state that this is insanity - and that’s all. But I will add one clarification to the statement.

Our officials are very fond of referring to the opinion of the majority. And they do not cunning. Most would really readily support their desire to “drag and not let go”, prohibit this and this, to oblige to sow a reasonable, kind, eternal ... The whole focus is that art was never created by the majority. It is everywhere - not only with us - is created by a very narrow circle of people who form their behavioral codes and their ideas about the beautiful. And culture in the modern world, as practice shows, blooms precisely where officials can listen to the voice of this minority and reasonably interact with it. Where the majority opinion is based on the cultural policy, at the place of culture, the next dull “socialist realism” is.

Leonid Bershid

journalist

For a long time, everything is clear to me with our state and air -state structures. Life here has turned into constant dodging from the stake, on which they are trying to plant you all the time. Sooner or later, the stake will catch up.

Leo Rubinstein

poet, publicist, literary critic

Performances, you see, "contradict traditional moral values ​​accepted in Russian culture." I will not even ask a legitimate question what specific employee of the “laundry” and by decree under what number he accepted the mentioned, but, alas, not formulated “values”. I will not even ask me to be no less legitimate by what time it is “values”, invented by one of the laundry officers or personally its head of the letter “M”, are “accepted in Russian culture”. And even more so, I will not ask a question (completely rhetorical), which, except for the nominative, has the mentioned laundry to Russian culture.

I am little interested in this. In the internal affairs of the laundry, the services of which I try not to use as far as possible, I do not interfere.

However, being invited by the organizers of MMOMF to participate in a couple of events, I feel difficult feelings.

On the one hand, I feel the strongest desire to refuse to participate in the events of the festival, because I know that my “traditional moral values” certainly do not coincide with the corresponding values ​​of the laundry room.

On the other hand, I was invited by good, decent and innocent people whom I personally know and to offend, or at least which I do not want to fail at all.

But, hoping for your understanding and forgiveness, dear friends, I still refuse my participation. Or laundry, or moral values. Sorry.