{"id":146,"date":"2016-04-03T11:23:50","date_gmt":"2016-04-03T11:23:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/9\/?p=146"},"modified":"2023-03-01T17:09:43","modified_gmt":"2023-03-01T17:09:43","slug":"theatre-was-at-the-avant-garde-of-perestroika-interview-with-valery-shadrin-general-director-of-the-chekhov-international-theatre-festival-in-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/9\/theatre-was-at-the-avant-garde-of-perestroika-interview-with-valery-shadrin-general-director-of-the-chekhov-international-theatre-festival-in-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cTheatre Was at the Avant-Garde of Perestroika\u201d \u2014 Interview with Val\u00e9ry Shadrin, General Director of the Chekhov International Theatre Festival in Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tiago Bartolomeu Costa<\/strong>[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Val\u00e9ry
Val\u00e9ry Shadrin, General Director of the Chekhov International Theatre Festival in Russia
\u00a9 Anna Rybalko Photography<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over the past 25 years the Chekhov International Theatre Festival in Moscow has been responsible for showing to Russian audiences the best productions from theatre masters from around the world. Val\u00e9ry Shadrin is a proud man and a fearless defender of an event that has helped to sharpen the relation between Russian theatre and the international community.<\/p>\n

So many famous names that have been for decades the theatrical reference beyond the frontiers of their own countries\u2014the likes of Peter Brook, Peter Stein, Arianne Mnouchkine, Spanish modern ballet dancer and choreographer Nacho Duato, Swedish choreographer Mats Ek, Robert Lepage and French director Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota\u2014have managed to find in the heart of Moscow a new stage that goes beyond the political and the ephemeral.<\/p>\n

As General Director of the Chekhov International Theatre Festival and President of the International Confederation of Theatre Associations, Valery Shadrin was most recently honored with a Chevalier of France\u2019s National Order of the Legion of Honor. He received this recognition in October 2013 for his \u201cgreat contribution to the strengthening of cultural ties between Russia and France,\u201d ITAR-TASS reports.<\/p>\n

This high honor was presented on behalf of the president of France by Jean de Gliniasty, the country\u2019s ambassador to Russia.<\/p>\n

In 1992 Valery Shadrin was one of the initiators of the Chekhov International Theatre Festival, which was held this past summer in Moscow for the 11th time. This year the festival spanned nearly two months, and included 59 performances in Moscow as well as another 40 in St. Petersburg, Khanty-Mansyisk, Voronezh, Yekaterinburg, Samara and other Russian cities.<\/p>\n

Calling the Chekhov Festival an \u201cinternational cultural scene,\u201d Ambassador Jean de Gliniasty emphasized that this event has for 20 years given substantial attention to French theatres. It is already known that the next Chekhov festival, in 2015, will include six performances by theatrical troupes from France.<\/p>\n

\"Val\u00e9ry
Val\u00e9ry Shadrin, General Director of the Chekhov International Theatre Festival in Russia
\u00a9 Anna Rybalko Photography<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TIAGO BARTOLOMEU COSTA: How was it at the beginning?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

VAL\u00c9RY SHADRIN:<\/b> Our festival has been around for more than 20 years. It was born with the new Russia\u2014during the period of perestroika, in a time when theatre was not the new Russian society\u2019s main priority. Maybe theatre was being staged on the streets, and even on TV, and people did not find it relevant to go to theatre. What mattered to the people was The Supreme Soviet.<\/p>\n

We could say that people were less keen on theatre than they are today. A friend, a very well-known stage director, once asked me if I was crazy to endure with the festival. But we always had the feeling that if we insisted, we would prevail. We believed that we should foster our public role\u2014the essential role\u2014theatre plays in our society, particularly during the difficult period of perestroika.<\/p>\n

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, having found ourselves in an open space community, we insisted that we should present what we did not know, like the work of great masters such as Peter Brook or Peter Stein.<\/p>\n

How was it possible to work with such artists so that the work would not be seen as political?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

During the communist period, theatre was very political\u2014it was propaganda. Back then there was a very thin criticism of what was happening in the USSR. Our goal was to find ways of working, since the truth was that theatre was at the avant-garde of perestroika. We never wished to focus on the political, nor have we discussed the political convictions of Peter Brook, Peter Stein or Arianne Mnouchkine, to name just a few of those we have invited. We have, of course, discussed artistic convictions, but that came from our intention of focusing on the immense and universal quality of their work.<\/p>\n

\"Aurelia
Aurelia Thierree in Murmurs des Murs by Victoria Chaplain \u00a9 Sophie Bellin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Aurelia
Aurelia Thierree in Murmurs des Murs by Victoria Chaplain \u00a9 Sophie Bellin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Was the audience aware of that change of perspective?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We needed to create a tradition in Moscow and that meant to create an audience. Back then only the intelligentsia was used to going to the theatre, but today things are quite different. There\u2019s a new middle class and even a new intelligentsia that have become more present and that look for shows that can not only be theatre but also dance and street performance. And not only in Moscow. One of our last shows, Murmurs des Murs<\/i>, by Victoria Thierr\u00e9e-Chaplin, was a new-circus performance that toured six different Russian cities under our patronage.<\/p>\n