Anniversary is a disaster with a touch of celebration

March 27, the International Day of the Theater, by a happy coincidence, the capital’s theater “At the Nikitsky Gates” turns 40 years old. The theater directed by Mark Rozovsky is multi-genre, multi-lingual, multi-style – a circumstance that requires synthetic skill from the entire cast. The main theme of this collective for all forty years was a man who got into the meat grinder of history.

Our observer found out from the People’s Artist of the Russian Federation Mark Rozovsky how his team lives today – one of the most interesting on the theater map of the modern capital.

– Mark Grigoryevich, why did you decide to celebrate the anniversary on International Theater Day? Special guess?

– This is our fate. Quite by accident, the World Theater Day coincided with the birthday of the theater “At the Nikitsky Gates”, which, in fact, is very symbolic. We ourselves were extremely surprised by this. After all, our theater was born when this holiday was not yet celebrated in the world.

– Do you have a wish for the Russian theater on this day?

-I wish prosperity to every theater of our great country.

– Your theater has an interesting fate. Looking back, what do you remember most?

– Our theater was born back in Soviet times, during the period of stagnation, but immediately received the status of one of the first studio theaters in the country. Initially, we existed on full self-financing, we did not receive a single ruble of state subsidies, which was unusual. But all the money that was earned was ours. They themselves distributed them – for salaries, for new performances. By the way, this form of existence corresponded to the call of Konstantin Sergeevich Stanislavsky: “From the studio to the theater.” We have come a long way with dignity. We are a theater that has grown “out of nothing”.

I remember how in the early years we played 600-800 performances a season. Moreover, they traveled all over the country. Because we didn’t have a place of our own. Only in 1986 did they receive the right to occupy a communal apartment at the Nikitsky Gate. Hence the name – Theater “At the Nikitsky Gates”. We are the only ones in Moscow who have the preposition “y” in their name due to geographical location. All others carry the preposition “on”. We are extremely proud of this circumstance.

How do you feel about anniversaries?

– Actually, the anniversary is a disaster, but with a touch of celebration. It’s a lot of work and trouble. But we will try not to lose face on March 27. There will be a big concert for our friends and colleagues, although our hall is small. By the way, for the first 28 years we generally worked in a communal apartment, but then we got the premises of the former Cinema of Repeat Film from the Moscow Government.

– How do you see the result of your forty-year journey? Got something to brag about?

– Still would! Over forty years, more than 15,000 performances have been played. They were visited by more than one and a half million spectators, and this is comparable to the population of a million-plus city. We have released 195 premieres – we are also really proud of this impressive figure.

– Mark Grigoryevich, give your definition of theater. What is theater in your understanding?

– This is a trinity – the repertoire, the troupe and the public. There is this trinity – it means that there is a theater. Our own repertoire has a multidirectional essence. Firstly, this is a Russian classic, and secondly, this is a modern play – foreign and Russian. And, thirdly, these are avant-garde opuses and “champagne” spectacles. The latter include musicals, of which we have plenty.

As for the Russian classics… You know, Russian culture is the focus of our spiritual searches at all times, and for all forty years we have affirmed this very concept as the first one. I am also sure that it is at the junction of the “theater of experience” and the “theater of performance” that the worlds of a truly human theater, the theater of drama, comedy and tragedy, arise. Our theater is diverse, requiring synthetism. I myself am a student of Tovstonogov, and I insist that we make our performances in this vein.

– Is your main theme a person who has fallen into the meat grinder of history?

– This is true. We have always tried to discern, to recognize the fate of a person in his contradictions, in his spiritual searches, in delusions, in twists, if you like. This is what constitutes the basis of dramatic art. Freedom and slavery, meanness and height, falsehood and truth, sin and responsibility for sin, the radiation of harmony and the splitting of the human “I” – all this is extremely interesting to us. And the comprehension of such meanings is the daily work – acting and directing.

– You have an unimaginable number of different authors on your poster… What do they have in common for you?

– We always try to remain true to the philosophy of each particular author, his style, worldview. This is, in fact, that great Russian theatrical school that you don’t want to lose. Today, to be honest, it is sometimes erased, sometimes it becomes not the main one. But we are defending precisely these – yes, conservative – things, believing that this is the most living academism. It allows us to play pieces by various authors. Only in March we played works written by Vysotsky, Stevenson, Gibson. Shakespeare, Pushkin, Chekhov, Tolstoy, Conan Doyle, Griboyedov, Okudzhava, Dumas, Olbi, Sanaev, Bunin, Moritz, Yevtushenko, Akhmadulina, Voznesensky, Rozhdestvensky, Tsvetaeva, Gubkin, Mrozhek, Katz, Ulitskaya, Baratynsky, Dostoyevsky… It’s only surnames, and behind each surname, behind each title stands a colossal circle of actors, their titanic work.

– Do you love your actors?

– I love them. Although I swear and argue with them. But this means absolutely nothing, because we are doing a common thing. And we are absolutely sure that our common cause will continue to flourish and develop.

What is the scariest part of the theater for you?

– Dead. As I have already said, we ourselves stand on the position of “living academicism”, that is, not dry, not boring, not dead, but precisely alive. Our viewer appreciates, understands and accepts it.

– What awaits us on March 27?

– There will be a big fun concert with a traditional skit, a festive show in which almost our entire troupe will take part. By the way, for those who wish, we repeat it on April 18.

Elena Bulova.

Photo of the author and PR of the theater