Russian Theater

During a rehearsal break, while his actors had a quick breakfast, I had the opportunity to ask director Yury Lyubimov for his insights regarding the state of Russian theater: NINA VELEKHOVA

Yury Petrovitch, what are your thoughts about the modern Russian theater, about the changes it is going through today?

YURY LYUBIMOV

I've always supported activity and search. Fm troubled by many things about the state of theater in general. I see a deterioration in the work of many formerly well regarded, famous theaters. Even some master directors have had the ground shaken under their feet and have become disoriented. Not all, of course. But even at my theater, not all is perfect, even though we are working our fingers to the bone.

N.V.

In 1964, the Taganka Theater became a real Mecca for audiences who wanted to experience free theater. On the stage there, you dared to tell the truth about our lives. That was not so easy.

Y.L.

For us, that was a happy time of complete communication with our audiences and a surprising feeling of undying creative insight. We had freedom in our work and yet did not want to compromise our high principles regarding life and human relations, as we see happening around us today in every sphere of the arts. Do I miss the past? I would say yes, if it had not been for those obstacles that prevented us from moving forward. Nowadays, everyone understands that one need not censor artists, deprive them of citizenship for disobedience, or publicly reprimand them (as I was for my production of The Queen of Spades). I suffered much by staying away from this country, but did not lose faith in my vocation. Traveling around the world, I saw many good things from which our theater could learn a great deal: not everything in Russian actors' education is OK; traditions are being lost; the work of geniuses like Meyerhold, Stanislavski, and Vakhtangov, which has been recognized all over the world and which has shaped theater everywhere, is being wasted. We have to think about these problems. All our national disasters are tied to common, world disasters.

N.V.

What do you call a disaster? What prevents art from prospering today?

Y.L.

Human separation. But we mustn't despair. One of my idols, Vakhtangov, produced the cheerful Princess Turandot during the most tragic of times, and the way was opened by only one performance.

N.V.

And what about contemporaneity?

Y.L.

Turandot is contemporary. She isn't getting any older.