Alexander Slavutsky: “There is some kind of little bacchanalia going on in the theater world right now”

“People have gone mad, running two or three theatres...”

At the beginning of the meeting, Alexander Slavutsky asked executive director and assistant to the artistic director for literary matters, Dilyara Khusainova, how many years he had already been working at the Kachalov. “Since '94," Dilyara Masgutovna quickly replies, traditionally serving as a reference point. The artistic director can always double-check something with her — or she will correct him.

— When I was coming here, I didn't expect to be working here. Before, they used to say: work four or five years and you have to leave, change, — the director begins. — But I realized that four years wouldn't be enough when you're building your own theatre and you have a vision for it inside. Because what's happening now in the theatre world, well, it's some kind of little bacchanalia. People have gone mad, running two or three theatres...

With this, the artistic director of the Kachalov hinted at the activities of Ilgiz Zainiev, who divides his working time between the State Council, the Ekiyat Theatre, and the Kamal Theatre. Slavutsky noted that he himself could have worked like that — he was offered to head the Youth Theatre in the 1990s under Marsele Taishev.

This season, the Kachalov performed 373 shows for 155,071 spectators — a 97.12% occupancy rate, the director stated. Slavutsky monitors attendance and audience reaction: every evening he receives videos of the applause at the end of the performance.

The theatre staged two premieres. In November, the artistic director's son, Ilya Slavutsky, staged Henrik Ibsen's “Ghosts” (16+), and his father in April staged “Love for Three Oranges” (6+) — a play based on Carlo Gozzi's work written by Mikhail Svetlov.

— I made a performance for children and adults, for joint viewing. They watch together. So I'm pleased with this result, — noted Slavutsky, recalling that he began at the Kachalov with this same play. — I staged it myself, made the sets, the model. Ilya broke it as a child.

In addition, the theatre hosted the fourth Kachalovsky Festival with guests from the “Pyotr Fomenko Workshop," the Yanka Kupala Theatre from Minsk, the Alexandrinsky Theatre, and the Moscow Pushkin Drama Theatre. Graduates of the Moscow Art Theatre School-Studio performed here, lighting technicians did internships, and theatre scholars — from the workshop of Boris Lyubimov, father of the Russian Minister of Culture — also trained. As part of an exchange, the “Baltic House” visited for four days.

— They have a theatre director — Shub, a former literary manager, a literary man, competent, sensible, they have that kind of situation, — said Slavutsky and immediately added, — I believe that a theatre should be headed by a director, a creative person. Well, in short, the tour went wonderfully. We need to show our audiences good theatres, not worse than us, to bring someone in so that we look like a beautiful bird by comparison.

“The Cherry Orchard” will be moved, artists are being sought

This season, the theatre is preparing three productions. “The Cherry Orchard," staged in 2004, is being moved from the small stage to the large one. The realization that it could be performed on a larger stage came back in 2015, when it was shown at the Russian Art Festival in Marseille. Now there will be new scenography, costumes, and actors.

— Will Firs be old? — colleagues ask.
— No. Firs will be young, Marat Golubev, — Slavutsky announced about the 48-year-old People's Artist of Tatarstan. Also in the roles are Pavel Lazarev, Regina Gabbazova, Anna Makarova, Lyudmila Sidorova, Ivan Krushin, Alexey Kruchnin. Elena Ryashina will play Ranevskaya.

“The Cherry Orchard” is written about departure, Slavutsky noted, describing the scenography, particularly the portal from which the actors will emerge: “from the depths, from the starry sky, from where there is night, cold.”

— Sasha Patrakov died, you understand, this is a serious loss, — Slavutsky recalled his longtime partner, who passed away in November 2024. Adding that without an artist, of course, “it's still hard to live.” And so now Ilya Slavutsky has gone to the graduation exams of the Moscow Art Theatre School-Studio to look for candidates for the vaudeville by Count Vladimir Sollogub from 1850, “Trouble from a Tender Heart, — about a Tambov rich man looking for a bride in St. Petersburg — a production he is preparing for the season.

Finally, “The Threepenny Opera” will also be updated, because the permission to use it is being renewed — a fresh cast is also planned for this performance. In general, surveying the posters in his office, Slavutsky found a couple more productions that could well be returned to the repertoire. The theatre currently has 38 productions in its portfolio.

Thus, the Slavutskys are doing their utmost to welcome young talent into the theatre. There could be more directors, but their arrival must be planned in advance. Besides, the Kachalov likes to prepare productions over a long period... In particular, Igor Konyaev, who staged Ostrovsky's “The Forest” and Shakespeare's “The Taming of the Shrew” back in the last decade — his “Living Pictures of the Siege” was brought by the “Baltic House” — recently got acquainted with the troupe.

It is also difficult to update the repertoire of the small stage. It needs to operate simultaneously with the large one, as the small stage brings in less money. But a larger troupe is needed for that.

And there are still no new playwrights

With playwrights, it's even more difficult — the director still does not see potential in his contemporaries. But in “The Inspector General," people apparently wipe away tears.

— And what do they feel sorry for? They feel sorry for us, sorry for the country, — says Slavutsky. “I said that I will not die until we win. There is no better country than ours. I think so, I may be wrong... It's just that when they said we had to hang the letter Z, we immediately hung it all over the screen. Our other theatres — I don't want to spit on them, but they took it down after a week. You know, they're embarrassed. And I'm not embarrassed, this is my homeland, this is my land.

Slavutsky recalled his mother's story. She served five years in a camp because, in response to an offer to sign papers after her first husband was declared an enemy of the people, she threw an inkwell at the investigator:

— She said that's how it had to be. And my parents never spat in the direction of their country. So, perhaps, I wasn't taught foreign languages, we didn't have access abroad, there wasn't that kind of freedom, so I was given the opportunity to love only what I have next to me, — noted Slavutsky, and scolded the Committee of the Republic of Tatarstan for the Protection of Cultural Heritage Sites, which, according to him, demanded that the screen with the letter Z be removed from the theatre building, which is a protected cultural heritage site, but the theatre was supported by the Rais of Tatarstan.

The troupe is being renewed. Before the meeting with journalists, Slavutsky watched three graduates of the Institute of Culture from the workshop of Lydia Ogareva and Alevtina Kazyrova.
On the other hand, Kristina Andreeva, who joined in 2022, is leaving the theatre: in Minsk, which has become almost home for the Kachalov, she found new love and is leaving because she is getting married. But Slavutsky solemnly promised to take her back if anything.