Recently, several Moscow theaters have renewed their management team. Vladimir Mashkov became the new director of Sovremennik.
Photo: Vladimir VELENGURIN. Go to Photobank KP
Bolshoi Theater, Moscow Art Theater. Chekhov, Moscow Art Theater named after him. Gorky, “Sovremennik”, Theater that bears the name. Vakhtangov, Lenkom… They are brands known all over the world. Each of them is a business card of Moscow and, in fact, of all of Russia.
In Moscow there are 67 theaters, subordinate to the city’s Department of Culture. In total, there are several hundred theaters and studios in the capital, the repertoire of which includes operas and ballets, musicals and dramatic performances, puppet and experimental productions. Every year they produce more than 300 premieres and receive around 5,000,000 spectators.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and his team pay great attention to the development of the capital’s cultural life. Over 10 years, more than 40 theaters were repaired, restored and rebuilt.
We recently completed the restoration of the Variety Theatre, renovated the Praktika and Shalom theaters and the Theater that bears his name. Pushkin, Malaya Bronnaya Theater, Sovremennik.
“Currently work is underway at the Povarskaya Theater and Film Center and the Soloist Choir. The Povarskaya building will be equipped with a large stage with an auditorium for almost 600 seats, a small stage, a restaurant and a cinema hall. Craftsmen are restoring the historical details of this unique building, including the exit to the street along the western facade,” commented Sergei Sobyanin.
They not only clean the facades, lobbies and auditoriums, but also modernize the equipment: modern projectors, decoration mechanisms, multimedia screens, fog and smoke generators, air fresheners for stages and auditoriums, and state-of-the-art sound equipment.
Nowadays, the public’s interest in cinemas is enormous. This is confirmed by the constant crowds and queues at the box office.
Recently, several Moscow theaters have renewed their management team. Vladimir Mashkov became the new director of Sovremennik.
Evgeny Gerasimov was appointed artistic director of the Moscow Academic Theater of Satire and Konstantin Bogomolov was appointed artistic director of the Roman Viktyuk Theater. At the same time, all three retained their positions as artistic directors: Vladimir Mashkov at the Oleg Tabakov Theater in Moscow, Evgeny Gerasimov at the Malaya Ordynka Theatre, and Konstantin Bogomolov at the Malaya Bronnaya Theatre.
This decision has its own logic. Sovremennik is inextricably linked to the Oleg Tabakov Theater thanks, first of all, to Oleg Tabakov, whose student and successor is Vladimir Mashkov. He directed the Tabakov Theater after the death of his teacher. By the way, Galina Borisovna Volchek, who headed Sovremennik for almost half a century, highly appreciated Mashkov as an artist. I admired his work in the “Liquidation” series. She said he is the successor of the “Russian psychological school.” And all three: Volchek, Tabakov and Mashkov are graduates of the same Moscow Art Theater School.
Vladimir Mashkov is a unique leader, one might say, a one-man orchestra. He is artistic director and actor of Tabakerka, director of the acting school, president of the Theater Workers Union and in recent years has become a prominent public and political figure.
– Being director of Sovremennik is a great responsibility towards the public and the company. I have no doubt that Vladimir Mashkov will be able to preserve the history and originality of the theater. At the same time, give impetus to development. We see how the Oleg Tabakov Theater develops with the arrival of Vladimir Mashkov,” says Roman Karmanov, general director of the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives.
The arrival of Evgeny Gerasimov at the Satire Theater also cannot be considered accidental. It was to this theater that Yevgeny Gerasimov was invited after graduating from the Shchukin School. Then “Satira” was directed by Valentin Pluchek. Evgeniy Gerasimova was friends for many years with Alexander Shirvind, who once taught her course.
During the two years of Evgeny Gerasimov’s work at the Malaya Ordynka Theater, together with his staff, he managed to bring the theater to a new level, release eight premieres and invite famous directors and actors from other theaters to cooperate: Anna Bolshova, Ivan Stebunov, Olga Lomonosova, Marat Gatsalov, Pavel Safonov, Gleb Cherepanov, Nikita Grinshpun and others. Occupancy in the theater increased more than 50%. The number of performances has almost doubled and the number of spectators has multiplied by 3.5.
The actress of the Malaya Ordynka Theater Elena Zakharova expressed confidence in the correctness of the appointment of Evgeny Gerasimov as artistic director of the Satire Theater: “Evgeny Vladimirovich will cope. He quickly took the theater of Malaya Ordynka to a new level. I have no doubts about his leadership qualities.”
In addition to the high-profile appointments, there have been other changes in the capital’s theatrical life. The scene of the old Center that bears his name. Meyerhold on Novoslobodskaya was attached to the Moscow Jewish Theater “Shalom”. Now “Shalom” will be more accessible to Muscovites. Its only stage is located far from the center of Moscow, on the Varshavskoe highway. And now the New Stage is next to the Novoslobodskaya metro station, near the Garden Ring.
The Moscow Puppet Theater merged with the Moscow Open Puppet Theater, which received spectators in the center of Moscow, in the Tagansky district. But for many years it was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture of the Moscow (Krasnogorsk) region. Its transfer at the beginning of this year to the subordination of the capital’s Department of Culture made it possible to simplify the management process. Therefore, the combination of two rooms with a similar target audience is logical.
