INVITED EDITOR ART Grigoriy Zaslavskiy
And only two people don't write anything specific, although they agreed to take part in the conversation.
The theatre of the future will be the same as today but completely different.
Among many others nominations of the «Golden Mask Award» there is a nomination «Experiment». Until 2007 it was called «Novation». And as today among those who tries out for the experimenters, it is very difficult to find those who are doing something really new and unexpected (among other things for themselves), but also and previously, reviewing the list of proposed experts of «Golden mask» innovators, every time I wanted to exclaim quoting Famusov of Griboyedov: «Ba! I see familiar faces!» For innovation each time were responsible the same people or approximately the same. And that’s when, making the regular issue of the theatrical magazine «Stanislavsky», we wondered: What could be new in the theatre? This question was followed by another, even more hopelessly unanswerable: How will be the theatre of tomorrow? And we dedicated the issue to the theatre in 10 years, it means, to the theatre of 2017.
I remembered about this a year ago approximately, when in GITIS we came close to launching the project of the Laboratory of theatre of the future, partly – investigative, partly – experimental, it means, the one that was supposed to «grow» the theatre of the future in such conditional laboratory retorts and flasks.
I started looking for an old magazine issue. I found it, opened and laughed. The theme of the issue sounded so: «Theatre of 2017. With another President, actors and viewers.» Appeared really new actors, to theatrecame a new audience, but in our first adoption we made a mistake. But then – to talk, to fantasies of the theatre in 10 years, at that time we managed to attract all the «pioneers» of the then, partly and today’s theatre and not only from the theatre: Directors, Dmitri Tcherniakov, Dmitri Bertman, Kirill Serebrennikov, Nina Chusova, Andrey Moguchy, Yuri Butusov, Valery Fokin... Playwrights and Directors Nikolai Kolyada Mikhail Ugarov, actor and artistic Director Alexander Kalyagin, playwright Ivan Vyrypaev, artists Pavel Kaplevich and Oleg Kulik, a sociologist Daniil Dondurei, architects Yuri Grigoryan, Mikhail Khazanov, Alexander Skokan, producer David Smelyansky…
In their words - a lot of prophetic: Grigoryan, for example, actually describes the current fashion for immersive spectacle, another architect – Mikhail Khazanov sketches immediately and independently such a future «open» city theatre, «drowned in a niche of an ordinary street. In such theatre performances can begin without any special announcement, so that a passer-by becomes an involuntary spectator, or rather, is faced with a choice – to go further or «stay in the theatre.» That’s right, that’s what happens today! Moguchy - very accurately assumes: «Through 10 years the content again will have less meanings, will happen an aesthetic explosion, which will generate wealth and diversity of forms.» Ivan Vyrypaev writes that, perhaps, will stop practice himself in drama and «he’ll just stay… somewhere out of reach». As is known, he left Russia and now lives in Poland. However, he continues writing dramas, and they continue to be shown in Russia. And only two people do not write anything specific, although they agreed to take part in the conversation. This is Kirill Serebrennikov, who was arrested in 2017, and sociologist Daniel Dondurey, who died in 2017.
From this it feels weird and, thinking about the theatre of 2028, you begin to build on the current theatrical «sand» easily erected theatrical «pipe dreams».
Our older comrades – theatre critics joked that even if the theatre dies, theatre magazines will be published for another 10 years, trying to explain the reason for what happened.
However the theatre will not die, there is no reason to worry. How will it be? It will be different. Bad theatre, theatre losing professional signs, most likely, there will be even more this kind of theaters. But the value of good theatre, that is, professional, well – made theatre, different – conservative and innovative, high-tech and «poor», for which, as you know, you need quite a bit — an actor and a rug, will not change, will not depreciate. Together with new technologies will appear new theatre professions. But old ones will not disappear. Guess it wouldn’t be wrong.