Life will become more fun

Changes in the Moscow Art Theater, the Ministry of Culture and the Duma

The news about the non-renewal of the contract with director Konstantin Bogomolov suggests that the Moscow Art Theater is changing milestones.

The reason is good - aesthetic differences. Indeed, it is hard to imagine two people rhyming worse in the theatrical space than the artistic director of the Moscow Art Theater Sergei Zhenovach and director Konstantin Bogomolov. The event has already given rise to a profound conspiracy theory: genuine art is being persecuted, modern theater is being trampled on. There is a way to calm the troubled: it is high time for the city of Moscow to give Konstantin Bogomolov its own theater.

Bogomolov, presumably, foresaw his break with the Moscow Art Theater and laid straw to the right and left, trying to earn the favor of the authorities: he praised Mayor Sobyanin on Instagram, and called Serebrennikov’s defenders hysterics, and avoided public statements about the “Theatrical Affair” in every possible way. Even complaining about Alexander Minkin, who smashed another of his products to dust, he told one of the TV channels: this journalist, they say, not only me, he insults the president himself ... Such political abstinence, along with unbridled stage courage, clearly deserves an award.

In addition, hype for any reason (reducing the performance, postponing its deadlines, or even demanding adjustments that the late Tabakov, the former head of the Moscow Art Theater, could afford) has ceased to be the favorite genre of the successful director of his biography. This strangely coincided with the process around the Gogol Center. By the way, whoever has not been in the corridors of the Basmanny and the Moscow City Court for almost a year that the process has been going on, whom only we, the journalists covering it, have not encountered there. With writers, actors, directors, public figures. Some go to protest, others to support. But Bogomolov never. Decent personality.

It will probably be easier for the Moscow Art Theater to build an artistic strategy without him. Because a lot could be said about the Moscow Art Theater under Tabakov - successful, prosperous, scandalous, many-sided, fashionable - but you can’t suspect that Moscow Art Theater has a built art policy.

Sergei Zhenovach seems to be determined to establish his own rules of the game in the theater. The troupe is waiting for one thing: if only there were more games! The theater office hid, waiting for the arrival of a new director. And this is indeed the first decision. Zhenovach is an artist who needs a strong business executive, decent and experienced, such that he can untie his hands for doing theater proper. But there is still no director at the Moscow Art Theater. It seems that there is no specific candidate for this position.

The changes that have taken place in the Ministry of Culture are working against a quick resolution of the situation. In the bloody behind-the-scenes battles between MP Yelena Yampolskaya and the prime minister's press secretary Natalya Timakova, Vladimir Medinsky won. And then he began to modify his field. Vladimir Aristarkhov, who successfully played the role of obscurantist, left, and the public, which did not share the minister's love for his first deputy, breathed a sigh of relief. Alexander Zhuravsky, who oversaw the entire theatrical sphere, also left. But the theater workers regretted him: the Varangian, who came from outside, was accepted at first incredulously, and even hostilely, he managed to do a lot for the industry in more than two years - both providing it with serious financial support, and simply making accurate decisions. Alla Manilova has now moved to the forefront: previously engaged in tourism, she became secretary of state, curator of Russian museums and legislative activities of the ministry. Finally, Sergey Obryvalin, an official who prefers to remain in the shadows, but in a narrow circle known for the art of “solving problems”, in the new personnel layout is becoming one of the key players in controlling reality.

But the most "bomb news" is connected with the possible arrival of Stanislav Govorukhin in the Duma Committee on Culture of Elena Yampolskaya.

A member of the Presidential and Patriarchal Councils on Culture, a frantic lover of Stalin and a professional patriot who has long and firmly known "how to", being appointed, will provide all of us with many bright events in the cultural field in the very near future. Whether she is appointed after forty days from the date of Stanislav Sergeevich's departure or they wait until autumn, Elena Yampolskaya, clearly the leader among all possible candidates, will show everyone where a wide variety of arthropods hibernate. Our life will become even more fun.