Artistic director of the modern theater. Tickets to the modern theater

What are your signs of September?

Undoubtedly one of them is the opening of the theatrical season.

I will say right away that this is a new point in the sky of Moscow theaters for me, but the wonderful name Modern and the name of the artistic director, Yuri Grymov, promised something interesting and unusual.

So, are you ready to get acquainted with the theater and its creative plans for the season?

The theater charms even from the entrance: its magnificent design (oh, this beloved modernist style), friendly and attentive staff, cozy areas for relaxation and conversation ... repertoire and in a very interesting and professional design of posters., in the burning interested eyes of the met actors, in the coherence of the work of the whole team.

At the gathering of the troupe, artistic director Yuri Grymov and director Alexei Cherepnev talked about the plans and successes of the theater.

I think the best thing to say about success is a simple number: ticket sales have grown 5 times over the year! And this with the highest competition between theaters in Moscow. To attract and interest a sophisticated viewer who has the opportunity to choose is not an easy task, but the theater successfully copes with it.

The theater's creative plans include tours, premieres and creative projects. So, in November, the premiere of the play "NOTHING, I'm CHEKHOV?", Directed by Yuri Grymov, will take place. The characters of this action will be Stanislavsky, Marilyn Monroe, Adolf Hitler, Beria ... interesting? I am very!

Work continues in the theater on the play based on Tolstoy's novel War and Peace. By the way, now you can buy Tickets for it for 50% of the cost, as the theater has launched crowdfunding to raise funds for the production of this performance.

In the same theatrical season, the theater will host the Russian premiere of Yuri Grymov's feature film "Anna Karenina. Intimate Diary." In the future, screenings of films, followed by meetings of spectators with actors, critics and directors, are planned to be made permanent.

It is felt that living blood is raging in the theater, that this is the place where ideas are born and embodied, where both actors and spectators are interested.

Very soon I will tell you about the performances of this theater - I can't wait to see them.

For now, tell me, do you like the idea of ​​introducing a dress code in the theater? Theater "Modern" decided on this measure. The rules are not strict: a ban on shorts, T-shirts and sportswear. And, in my opinion, it's great. ❗️And at the performances they will also choose the most stylish COUPLE, and give them a ticket to visit the theater. How do you like the idea?

Interested in you? Are we meeting at the theater?

Grymov, who has repeatedly established himself as a theater director (performances at the Russian Academy of Theater Arts and so on), speaking of an "unexpected appointment for himself", no, no, yes, and jumped to the sore subject of Russian cinema, in which he is now "completely disappointed":

Our cinema as an industry has disappeared, but the theater, thanks to enthusiasts, has retained its face. Theater is the most provocative, living art, which cannot be said about domestic cinema, which has lost its audience, and nothing good will happen to it in the next five years. And it is not for nothing that we first of all organize a children's studio at the "Modern" - we will not educate artists or directors, but future spectators, so that it does not work out as with the audience of cinemas, which comes into the hall only to eat (popcorn, - I'M WITH.), but what looks at the same time - but it doesn't matter ...

Grymov was appointed only a month ago, but managed to get acquainted with the administration and the production part ("these are good professionals"), as well as dismiss four artists out of 35 due to their "disbandment".

I am sorry that the actors of "Modern" are people unknown to the media, - the new artistic director condoles, - in my opinion, the actor should work everywhere - in the theater, in the cinema, in TV shows, he becomes trained. Therefore, there can be no slavery or serfdom on my part: work in different places, become famous.

In Grymov's project, to make "Modern" out of "Modern" a kind of open area, free for other actors and directors: in particular, the main roles in the upcoming April premiere-utopia based on Aldous Huxley "Brave New World" will be performed by guest stars - Anna Kamenkova and Igor Yatsko ( the latter will play in the subsequent work "Modern").

I absolutely will not tolerate that the actors did nothing, and would receive at the same time a scanty salary, - said Grymov, - we counted here - if we do not stage anything at all, then we will be in the red by 12 million rubles! Moreover, after the scandal with Vragova, 10% of the funding was withdrawn from us. So we have to work very hard and get paid for it normally. For example, the entire troupe is involved in Brave New World - under 30 people.

It is clear that few enemy performances will remain in the repertoire of Modern, now without a solid sign at the end (the successful and well-attended Loop will be transferred from a 70-seat hall to a 300-seat hall):

I live in the territory of common sense: the viewer does not walk - you have to shoot!

“It seems that oxygen was pumped out there,” for the last 15 years nothing has happened: Grymov was extremely surprised that the main hall was white - no blackouts, nothing ... Now both the hall and the foyer are being repainted. New lighting and sound equipment is being purchased. The stage is being reconstructed. A special place is given to the buffet: Grymova is annoyed when, during the intermission, everyone gets in line, then grabs a sandwich and again runs into the hall. Now it will be possible to order a mini-lunch (lunch) on the website in advance, and forget about the queues.

In general, I must say that the theater now begins with a website. There the first acquaintance takes place. Therefore, we pay such attention to our electronic platform: for example, we will post interviews with various theatrical figures on current topics (the first of which Grymov hopes to get from the brilliant director of the theater Vakhtangov Kirill Krok, - I'M WITH.), open a channel on YouTube.

By the way, after negotiations with the firemen, Grymov plans to expand the main hall to 400 seats. All in all, he promises to release 3 adults and one children's play in the foreseeable future, and he will stage two by himself “to create a vector and style”, and will actively invite directors (for them open contests are organized): “otherwise today no one is looking for talented strange people, and they do exist! "

What is theater? - Summarizes the artistic director. - This is not a building (it is not necessary to tie it to architecture) and not budgets. Theater is people. Theater is always a statement. Well, one theater should not be similar to another. Our new "Modern" is a theater of hope and light, a person in the hall can experience all kinds of emotions, but you never need to "finish off" him!

Theater "Modern" under the direction of People's Artist of Russia Svetlana Vragova (formerly the Theater on Spartakovskaya Square) has existed on the cultural map of the capital for 15 years. The theater was founded in 1988 on the basis of the final course of the Shchepkinsky Theater School (this was the last course led by the People's Artist of the USSR MI Tsarev), under the name of the Studio Theater on Spartakovskaya Square. The very first performance "Dear Elena Sergeevna" by Lyudmila Razumovskaya glorified the young troupe, which later made a triumphant tour with this performance throughout Yugoslavia (the "Perestroika in the USSR" festival, 1989), and then toured the United States for several months (Los Angeles - Chicago, 1990). It was one of the first professional studio theaters to not only prove its viability, but also to assert its own creative credo. The play "Dear Elena Sergeevna" became a hit for several seasons. Vivid avant-garde performances "Rasplyuevskie merry days" by Sukhovo-Kobylin, "Video. Boxing. Bullet" by E. Kozlovsky have received prizes at prestigious competitions more than once. The performances "Let's Laugh!" Grew out of acting skits and improvisations. and "... Looking for a meeting!" gained such success with the public that they remained in the repertoire for many years.
Since 1993, the Theater on Spartakovskaya became the "Modern" theater and began to develop problems at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, associated with such an exceptional cultural phenomenon as the "modern" style. The play "Katerina Ivanovna" by Svetlana Vragova, staged in 1995, became a turning point for the theater. He represented Russia at the jubilee Belgrade Theater Festival, where he was called by critics a performance that sets new paths in art.
Theater "Modern" lovingly equips its aesthetic space. It envelops the one who has come from the doorway "soothes with the simplicity and completeness of the staircase, the modesty of the chandeliers and quickly turns us to the stained glass window leading to the Looking Glass. Stained Glass is a preface to the action.
It represents the aristocratic beginning of the style, while the flights of the stairs, its platforms are its business hypostasis. The theater, having changed the name of the studio theater on Spartakovskaya Square to "Modern", one might say, brought it into conformity with the building in which it is located - a mansion erected in the style of Russian Art Nouveau at the beginning of the 20th century. There are many such houses in Moscow, but this one has something exceptional in itself: in the midst of a district that is just beginning to revive, stands this fragment of another, seemingly irrational world, a witness to the pre-revolutionary past of Russia.
The full name - Theater "Modern" - clearly echoes not only bygone times, but also with the present day. In the theater arts, one of the first to understand this was the director Svetlana Vragova. The theater carefully probed the line between the end of the century and the next century, which in Russian art received the poetic name of the "Silver Age". Modern in the understanding of S.A. Enemy is the avant-garde with serious cultural traditions, the connection of modernity with the classics.
Theater "Modern" exists according to these laws: relying on a serious psychological analysis, assimilating Russian traditions and modernity in order to search for new forms.

Theater Modern is one of the most famous places in the capital, where theater fans can enjoy the most advanced and modern stage performances. For three decades in a row, this center of art and drama never ceases to amaze and delight its guests with bright, original performances. The theater repertoire is diverse - it includes performances based on the most modern plays by Russian and foreign authors, as well as staging of classical works presented to guests in unusual, original interpretations. The convenient location in the city center makes the center a popular cultural destination.

Its history began in 1987. It was then that the state allocated a large building on Spartakovskaya Square to the youth experimental studio theater. The beautiful mansion, built in the early twentieth century by the famous architect Doolin Capitol, has undergone many historical events. At different times, various departments were located here, but by the end of the twentieth century, it was decided to transfer the building to a promising young theater studio. Already the first performances - "Dear Elena Sergeevna", "... Looking for a meeting" and others - aroused great audience interest.

A feature of the artistic approach to theatrical performances is turning mainly to modern, new plays. The performances in which the famous masters played - Spartak Mishulin ("Happy Event"), Vladimir Zeldin ("Uncle's Dream") and other masters of theatrical art, have always enjoyed great popularity with the audience. At present, the artistic director of the center is the renowned director Yuri Grymov.

Today, guests of the center can see bright, subtle stage projects - there is a place for dramatic performances, comedies, as well as performances for the youngest spectators. The theater space includes several stages, restaurant areas, as well as multi-functional premises. Modern technical equipment allows you to carry out projects of any level of complexity. The building can accommodate more than five hundred guests. Due to the peculiarities of the architecture, the performances are perfectly visible from any point of the halls. To touch the world of beauty, you can buy tickets to the Modern Theater right now.

Efros (Anatoly Efros, Soviet theater director. - Ed.) wrote that the theater, like an army, dies without new people and new technologies. Theater "Modern" started very brightly 30 years ago, but recently it has not been on the theatrical map of Moscow. Ask any of your acquaintances: "Have you been to the Modern Theater?" - and you will understand that there are practically no such people. The last three or four years in Moscow theatrical boom, people go, prices are rising. But "Modern" was not affected. The theater is in disrepair. Let's say the hall had 206 seats. I found a few more rows in the warehouse. That is, the previous leadership rented rows in order to create the appearance of a full hall. We now have 312 places. Potentially, there may be 400 of them. Over the past ten years, the light and sound equipment has not been updated. Moreover, this is a state theater, and I know that the Moscow Department of Culture is actively cooperating with theaters, investing money in their equipment. Previous artistic director (directed by Svetlana Vragova, founder of "Modern". - Ed.) fired for violations. The last check found violations of labor protection over the past year, and now we will pay a fine. We buy new light, change lifting mechanisms, because the old ones were unsafe for the actors. By May 23, when we have the premiere of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, we will repaint the hall and foyer, change the curtain. We made a new website, parted ways with ten employees, recruited new people, reorganized a terrifying buffet. From May, you can order dinner during the intermission online or come to the theater and pay for it before the show, and a table with your name will be laid during the intermission.

"Modern" has traditions that we will preserve - for example, inviting famous actors: Vladimir Zeldin played here, Vera Vasilyeva still plays here. But the theater cannot build its identity based on the architectural styles of the past - modern, art deco, art nouveau, as it was here. Therefore, we read the name differently: modern is modern.

- You said that you want to update the interior. Who designs it?

I’m not complaining, but we don’t have money for a designer, we do everything on our own. If any designer wants to work with us and replenish his portfolio - we are open, we are looking for such people. But they all want to get crazy money. We will do everything ourselves, we are small but proud.

- Of course, it is impossible to postpone economic issues. But your main task is to draw up an aesthetic program ...

I want 70% of the repertoire to be contemporary drama, preferably Russian. True, not everything is so simple with her, for a long time there were some avant-garde affairs in fashion, what I call blackness - with obscenities, feces on stage, and so on. But this period has passed, now there are worthy authors. I'm going to stage a play by Katya Narsha "Matryoshka on the Roundness of the Earth" - this is a very unexpected text, very sensual, very relevant. Another 30% are proven classics. I am sure that people of all ages should go to the theater. And different. The theater can work for a narrow audience, but I'm not interested in that. I am different myself: I am engaged in cinema, video clips, design, theater. I have seven paintings, and all are very different in aesthetics and mood. But I am always interested in a person. For me, theater today is a statement. You have nothing to put on stage if you don't want to speak. The audience may disagree with you, but if someone disagrees with you, then you had a statement. You saw how many people took to the streets on March 26th. The theater cannot fail to notice this. I do not understand what this category is - "modern theater" . All theaters must be modern. We are living now. There are no 19th century people in the hall. Therefore, the task of any theater is to raise problems that concern people now.

You saw how many people took to the streets on March 26th. The theater cannot fail to notice this. I do not understand what this category is - "modern theater". Everything theaters must be modern

- Do you admit that the statement sounding from the stage of "Modern" was sharp, conflicting?

In Russia, quite a long time ago, if you have heard, serfdom was abolished. But not all theaters know about it. I do not consider Modern as my fiefdom, I am not a tsar here, not a landowner with serf artists. We made a project "Come Today" so that any director, playwright, artist could come to us with his project, which can be as controversial and conflictual as you like. The only condition is for it to be within the law. I’ll tell you more: the Department of Culture, with which I often communicate lately, is only for. They say: go ahead, do it in a modern way, speak up. I want to put on a play about terrorists here. It does exist. Once a month a terrorist act takes place on the globe. This is a disaster of the 21st century. Now we are doing Brave New World after Huxley, this is the first production in Russia. This is also a statement, a harsh statement about the world of consumption, about the loss of morality, the loss of feelings. This is a great book from 1932, a world bestseller. Huxley predicted what the whole world is approaching today, not just Russia.

- Whose experience - international or Russian - do you rely on? What theater do you want to be like?

It is impossible to be like another theater. Will not work. I did not see the bright period of the Taganka Theater and Sovremennik, I saw it only in the recording. I am proud that I had a warm relationship with Petr Naumovich Fomenko. I like the reasoning of Efros and his performances that I saw on the video. This is a live theater, these are people on the stage - not actors, but people. I am not interested in the posersky theater, a theater where I do not understand anything. What language do they speak? In Russian? I understand letters, words, but it doesn't add up to sentences. They themselves do not understand what they are saying. As in the opera: they sing in Russian, but nothing is clear. I am for live theater. I have been successfully running Flowers for Algernon at RAMT for four years. It’s impossible to get into the show for all four years. We play it two or three times a month, tickets are sold out in two months. There was no performance, so that the audience did not get up at the end and did not clap while standing. A large, almost thousandth hall. Young people and middle-aged people come, and they cry, howl. It's fine. I believe that you need to cry in the theater, not in life. You acquire knowledge. Why do you come to the theater? To acquire knowledge about yourself. You want, perhaps, to live another life and shift it onto yourself.

The troupe is always a scandal: do you remember how it was at the Taganka Theater? It's embarrassing and scary. I tell all the actors: do not you sit in our theater, go star in TV shows, in movies, go to other theaters, earn money, exercise

“Today, the word“ theater ”means a variety of practices, and this does not necessarily mean staging a play on stage. Performative theater, immersive, documentary - do any of this have a place in the new "Modern"?

Of course, any sound can appear. If a person comes with his own author's vision and proposes an interesting project in one of these areas - why not?

- What kind of directors would you like to see in your place?

We recently spoke with Vladimir Pankov (the creator of the interdisciplinary theatrical genre Soundrama and the studio of the same name. - Ed.), I am sure that we have agreed. He has a lot of work, he got theater too (In the summer of 2016, Pankov became the artistic director of the Center for Drama and Directing. - Ed.). Now he will rake the Augean stables, the same as mine, and will stage in the "Modern".

- Suppose you are not limited in the budget, you can call any international star - even Robert Lepage, even Robert Wilson. What then?

I am very interested in what is happening in Europe, but I am primarily interested in Russian directors and Russian actors. I don't have this complex: oh, I need to invite Lepage. So, if I had unlimited financial resources, I would still work with Russian directors. I am friends with the Vakhtangov Theater and would gladly suggest to Rimas (to director Rimas Tuminas, head of the Vakhtangov Theater. - Ed.) work with our troupe. I would invite Yuri Butusov. But I am also interested in new, unknown guys. Russian cinema disappeared because the hunt for talent stopped and clannishness appeared, in other words, corruption. The arrival of new people is important for me - actors, playwrights, and directors.

- Will you leave the troupe or will you recruit a new team for each project?

We are gradually moving to a contract system. Now we have a combined history: full-time artists receive a minimum wage and additional money - for rehearsals and performances. Plus, there are people who are already working on a contract basis. In general, all theaters need to switch to a contract system. The troupe is always a scandal: do you remember how it was at the Taganka Theater? It's embarrassing and scary. I tell all the actors: do not sit in our theater, go star in TV shows, go to movies, go to other theaters, earn money, train. Some theaters prohibit actors from filming - what kind of nonsense? Obviously, if you are busy with the play, you cannot let the theater down. But actors sometimes do not go on stage for months and still do not act in films. They say to me: "Oh, there are stupid serials." I agree, stupid TV shows, but this is an experience. You must work. They all read such Brecht, Stanislavsky, Chekhov, list Western actors, listened to some master classes. And they go on stage - and zero. Go to work, be wrong! Get experience!

- You say: people stopped buying tickets, I shot a play. But people often simply do not understand why they should watch such and such a production, go to such and such an exhibition, until the curators or the artists themselves tell them that it is really interesting. Are you planning educational work?

Yes, I think you need to invest in the viewer. I explain what it is. Now we have opened a children's studio. We do not train directors or actors, we train spectators. Let us explain the difference between Japanese theater and European theater, between the Greek theater and the theater of the conditional island of Bali. I am planning the same courses for adult audiences.

- And yet why are you entering the dress code?

I understand that someone on the Web is already joking about this topic, but, you know, I will do it anyway. We are introducing the dress code from May 23rd, when Huxley premieres, and only for evening performances. It can be a jacket, shirt, or without a tie. A woman can come in a pantsuit. No sneakers, no uggs, no sportswear. You will simply not be allowed into the theater. We have written about this on the website, on the ticket, at the box office. We will refund your money. We can afford it. We are not a thousandth hall, we have a very comfortable hall, we will now repaint and re-equip it. We have very comfortable seats, we have a buffet, we can have champagne. All service personnel will be wearing tuxedos. We have such an evening. I want people to be beautiful. When I went to the theater with my mother, we always wore changeable shoes in a bag. They came, changed their clothes in the toilet, and handed them over to the wardrobe. It has always been in Moscow. If you do not want to observe the dress code, please go to other theaters. Cinematography died because cinema was housed in large shopping malls between panties and socks. What can go there? For me, theater is a temple of culture. So please change your clothes. You won't recognize yourself when you change.

- It's just strange, you are so advocating for free expression for the artist and at the same time you demand from the viewer that his appearance corresponds to your aesthetic standards.

Have you ever thought that with your freedom you can cross the border of my freedom? A man comes in shorts, with holes in his ass, and next to him there are people of a different age, of a different religion - this can offend them.