ABSTRACT
In Russia, theatre has turned out to be one of the main testing grounds for a cultural war between culture and the state. The development of Russian theatre over the past twenty to twenty-five years has been very complicated. The economic absurdity, during which state financing was drastically cut, led theatres into the abyss of capitalist economics. Many types of repressive methods have been used against theatres. A series of tactics has been deployed. Directors' interpretative theatre is now officially regarded as an unhealthy phenomenon and state financing for experimental theatre has been questioned. In the name of defending so-called traditional values there have been calls for an end to reinterpretations of classical works of Russian literature and to any interpretations made in the context of contemporary Russia. The deployment of culture around a normative tradition leads to another paradox, especially since the most diverse experience can be found in the Russian theatre tradition.
