Interview by Timur Utsayev, exclusively to VK
The Russian school forms the foundation of all contemporary genres of Chechen art. On May9 the Lermontov State Russian Theatre of Drama is due to be re-opened in Grozny. It was first created in 1938, but in the last 30 years the troupe of the Theatre didn’t have its own stage. The creative director of the theatre, Bakhan Muzakayev, told ‘VK’s’ correspondent about the new era that is about to open for his troupe.
- The building of the Theatre was totally destroyed during the first Chechen War, and the Theatre didn’t function at all in the last 15 years. So why did you decide to recreate it?
- The Theatre didn’t have its’ own building even back than. All three theatres of Grozny had to live under one roof. But our Theatre of Drama has a rich history. First performances here were directed by the famous Vakhtangov. This theater existed under different names since 1904. I believe that the revival of the Russian theatre is very important for Chachnya. This Theatre always contributed to better understanding between our peoples, its mission has always been to accustom our people with the values and traditions of the Russian state, to show the finest examples of the Russian international art. And this is the mission that we are ready to take up again.
- How doest the Grozny Russian Theatre differ form other similar establishments in other republics?
- We all have the same goals. These theaters promote Russian culture and world classics in the republics. The theater shows positive and negative sides of our life, and it promotes our own culture as well. I believe it all should not be limited by the borders of our republic or even by the state borders. We are a sort of bridge between Chechnya and other regions of Russia, or even other countries.
The new building has all we need; everything – the stage, the sound, the light – is on the highest modern level. Our actors are the alumni of our own State Drama University.
As for the differences, our theatre used to be the best on the North Caucasus. People who worked here later worked in Moscow and Leningrad, they were in great demand in other theatres.
- What is the ethnic composition of your troupe?
- Chechen for the most part, we don’t have Russians. But we will recruit new actors this year. We couldn’t do that earlier as we didn’t have the necessary material base for that. But now thanks to Ramzan Kadirov we do, and the best one in Southern Russia, I mind you. I think we will have some new Russian actors. I’ve addressed some actors who used to work here and they promised to help us revive the traditions and improve the level of performance. We will hold the première of Gogol’s "The Inspector General" on May, 15.
- Will you stage the Caucasian works of Tolstoy and Lermontov?
- Of course. But for now our actors don’t have their own school, they only have the education. We plan to stage classical plays as well as the plays by our national playwrights. We’ll make 2-3 premieres a year. We will learn on the classics; and the plays by our compatriots will be staged with regard to our mentality.
- Do you think that only Russian-speaking residents of Grozny will be interested in the theatre?
- Why, of course not! We have already started performing in another building while our own is still under construction, and a lot of different people come to see our plays. Yes, the plays are in Russian, but I believe all residents of Grozny will be interested in them. Today even people from other regions express their wish to come and see our plays. And there are a lot of actors and directors who want to play here.
- Do you plan to stage plays by modern authors?
- Yes, as well as the plays by our national writers. We also plan to stage classics – Russian and world’s. I think that we need to stage plays about today’s heroes. I mean the civilians and the servicemen who showed heroism and bravery during the latest two campaigns. These were our compatriots and we have to honor their memory, and not after decades and decades pass, but now, when the epoch and the people who lived through it are still here. I think it is very important as people from different regions will come to see our plays, including high-ranking officials, and not all of them really understand what happened here.
Some people are afraid to come here, but that is only because they don’t know about the positive developments that took place here.
- Are you planning on playing on tours?
- Yes, we will visit all regions and show our republic’s traditions and culture. We will show that the Chechen people managed to preserve their humanity in inhumane conditions. There are a lot of possible topics here.
Usually all the shows by Chechen art collectives are fully sold out as we possess an interesting an rich culture, people are interested in us. And we are ready to meet the highest expectations.
Our collectives used to tour all over the country, but that stopped due to the war. But today a lot of people would be interested to see the revival of our theatre, as a lot of our former actors were famous all over the USSR.
- What is the attitude of Islam spiritual leaders towards theatre?
- We didn’t treat this question in particular. The theatre has its own spiritual culture and ideology. We also bring up the youth; we show the good and the bad sides of our society. But we don’t address religious or political issues.
- But what is the attitude of the spiritual leaders towards actresses, in particular?
- I don’t know, we didn’t think about it. But our current troupe started acting since 2004 and we didn’t have any problems with Islam spiritual leaders in all this time, we have a rather democratic atmosphere here in this regard.
