Mikhail Shvydkoi told which theaters of which countries will come to the Chekhov Festival

2023-05-16 18:23:25

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“Some are afraid to cooperate with Russia, but creative teams from there are ready to come to us”

Russia will never cease to be a part of world cultural processes – there is no need to prove this axiom. But in order to maintain ties with friendly and not so friendly abroad, we need not only the cultural product itself, which we are ready to export and import, but also diplomatic flexibility. You don’t really need to go all out here. The MK correspondent was convinced of this by talking with the president of the Chekhov International Theater Festival, special representative of the president for international cultural cooperation Mikhail Shvydkiy.

— Mikhail Efimovich, among the participants of the Chekhov Festival we see representatives from a dozen and a half countries. How has this list changed due to the political situation? Which of those who came to Russia, say, in 2020 in the 23rd, “slammed the door”?

– When Valery Ivanovich Shadrin created the concept of the festival in 2023, it was already clear that there would be problems with theaters from Europe, the USA and Canada. So from the very beginning we were focused on countries that have not broken off relations with Russia in the field of culture, or those where creative people are ready to come to us. This is a very important amendment. Because there are situations when at the state level the leadership is afraid to cooperate with the Russian Federation, but the teams are ready to go to the Chekhov Festival. The palette of performances of the festival is extremely diverse.

What countries have not been lost?

— Traditional participants of the festival — China, Brazil, Argentina. It is no coincidence that we open with the production of “Wild Tango” (dance company of German Cornejo) – Argentines often visited Moscow and felt like regulars in the capital. It is important to say that we do not have productions that we are forced to include in the program. “There are no better performances, and you have to take the second and third grade” – there is definitely no such thing. Just the geography of today’s event makes it possible to bring the best that is in these regions of the world. Our guests are first-class Rajat Kapoor from India, a wonderful group from South Africa (Wuyani Dance Company). They will be the opening of the festival.

Yes, geography exists in a somewhat truncated form, but there is something to show the viewer. For example, the play “Carmina Burana”, the work on which brought together the Ballet Theater of Cuba, the Minin Choir and the Moscow Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra.

Who decides what is better and what is worse? There is no up and down in space, and not only the Grand Opera, but any African theater can be turned into a brand.

“It’s all a matter of hype. When we say “tango”, it immediately attracts the audience, when we say “tea ceremony from China” (“Tea spell” by Zhang Liao) or “puppet show on the water from Vietnam” (Trang Long theater) – direct associations do not arise. And yet these are wonderful cultural phenomena.

– In global terms, is Russia more interested in the post-Soviet cultural space or the conditional far abroad?

– Our Confederation of theatrical unions was created on the basis of the USSR STD. Naturally, it included the entire post-Soviet territory. So far, participants from Georgia, Moldova have not left us, until recently Ukraine was with us – everything, with the exception of the Baltic states. With the CIS countries – Armenia, Belarus – in the program of the Chekhov Festival there are many joint projects, we hold a laboratory for young directors of the Commonwealth countries every two years. I can say that now there is an underestimation of what is happening in the theatrical space of the CIS – we have simply become less aware of it than before.

And if you look further, in China, an association of world theaters has been created on the basis of the National Center for the Performing Arts (it is also called the Beijing Grand Opera). I hope that during my trip to China we will find ways of partnership with this association.

— Is it possible to think in terms of continents, which one would you call the most promising in terms of cultural cooperation?

“Remarkable processes are taking place today in China, Vietnam and India. And in musical and dramatic terms, Asia is very productive. An unusually rich theatrical region is Latin America. And, of course, the African continent is very attractive. There will be a second Russia-Africa summit in the summer, and the need for cultural contacts there is very great. In Canada, there is a bright circus, dramatic and choreographic art, I hope, in 2025, and from there it will be possible to invite teams.

By the way, as part of the festival, we are holding a “Street Program”, unlike the world program, it lasts without a break – in May, June, July, August. And European colleagues, say, the Spaniards, take part in it. And there will be, I hope, representatives of Japan. So what cannot be solved at the level of state artistic groups, can be solved at the level of non-state ones.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 29030 dated May 17, 2023

Newspaper headline:
Cultural bridges named after Chekhov