Translated material
The European Theatre Prize was presented in St. Petersburg. The laureates supported Serebrennikov from the stage
In St. Petersburg, at the ceremony for the European Theatre Prize (Europe for Theatre) and the New Theatre Reality Prize, several directors spoke out in support of Kirill Serebrennikov, who was awarded in 2017 but was unable to attend the ceremony in Rome due to criminal prosecution .
As Fontanka writes, the winners of the New Theatre Reality award, Jan Klata from Poland and Tiago Rodrigues from Portugal, spoke about Serebrennikov; the Swiss director Milo Rau, who is not granted a visa to Russia, handed over a letter in which he called the accusation against Serebrennikov “completely absurd.”
The artistic director of the Maly Drama Theatre, Lev Dodin (winner of the 2000 Europe for Theatre award) stated that “the Russian theatre community demonstrated unanimity and solidarity in defending Kirill” and expressed hope for “a fair resolution of the trial.”
The 2018 European Prize winner, artistic director of the Alexandrinsky Theatre Valery Fokin supported the speeches of his colleagues, stating: “My colleagues have said everything accurately about how we live and what to do.”
The ceremony <…> turned into a thinly veiled polemic between the Ministry of Culture and the laureates of the award. Minister Vladimir Medinsky called on Russian theaters to follow the example of the Alexandrinsky and its artistic director Valery Fokin. Fokin himself joined the words of other directors who publicly supported Kirill Serebrennikov.