Three leading actresses of the Voronezh Chamber Theater resigned in protest after artistic director Mikhail Bychkov was dismissed from his position

Three leading actresses of the Voronezh Chamber Theater resigned in protest after artistic director Mikhail Bychkov was dismissed from his position. Earlier it became known that he refused to issue discounted tickets to the military. This was reported on the theater’s VKontakte page.

Natalia Shevchenko, Yana Kuzina and Tatyana Babenkova decided to leave the theater. Due to the dismissal of the latter, the performances “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky, “Uncle Vanya” by Chekhov, “The Stone” by Mayenburg and “Camera Obscura” by Nabokov are forever leaving the theater’s repertoire.

One of the four first founding artists of the Chamber Theater, Natalya Shevchenko plays central roles in the plays “The Cherry Orchard” by Chekhov, “Ghosts” by Ibsen, “Balzamins” by Ostrovsky, “The Bourgeois” by Gorky, “The Cabal of the Saints” by Bulgakov and others. Yana Kuzina plays in the plays “The Child” by Fosse, “Antigone” by Anouilh, “The Bear” and “The Cherry Orchard” by Chekhov, “The Players” by Gogol, “The Bourgeois” by Gorky. Both of them were on the theater staff.

“Since all tickets for the performances of the Chamber Theater for November and December have been sold out, Natalya Shevchenko and Yana Kuzina agreed to take part in them as guest performers,” the press service clarifies.

The Ministry of Culture of the Voronezh Region announced the dismissal of Mikhail Bychkov on November 21. According to a source from the Vesti Voronezh TV channel, the reason was his refusal to “change his attitude towards state policy after the start of the SVO.” As reported, Bychkov also refused to give military personnel discount tickets to performances.

The day before it became known that the theater employees wrote an appeal to the authorities with a request to reinstate the dismissed Bychkov. The letter was addressed to Vladimir Putin, Governor of the Voronezh Region Alexander Gusev, as well as the Minister of Culture of Russia Olga Lyubimova and the Minister of Culture of the Voronezh Region Maria Mazur.

“We are stunned that its creator, its author, was fired from the theater, that this decision was made in the theater’s thirtieth anniversary season […] It is difficult for us to convey in words the moral state of the troupe and the entire theater staff at this moment. We don't know how to continue working. This decision of the founder looks like a mistake that will bring nothing but destruction to the theater,” the appeal said.

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