In Latvia, the cancellation of the performance by Khamatova was explained by the “difficult character” and the busyness of the director Hermanis

New Riga really began its working week with an announcement that is unrealistic for any theatrical person in Russia. It sounded like this: “The New Riga Theater is canceling the play Gogolis. NATURE MORTE” because it didn’t happen this time. Creative failure. It sometimes happens in the theater (as in life).” And then about the canceled general and performances in March and April. They promise to return the money for the purchased tickets.

Not a single theater, in the event of a creative failure, will sprinkle ashes on its head, substitute its artists – anything can happen and the reasons for failures can be very different. Neither the theater nor the public needs such innocence, playing the truth. But what is bad for Russians is good for Latvians. Even in European theaters, I never had to deal with something like this. But, wishing it or not, the management of the New Riga Theater, by their decision, aroused Russophobes and patriots.

The last word “failure” was happily attributed to Chulpan Khamatova. Those who called her a traitor rubbed their hands: they say, she took a sip, in the Motherland she rolled like cheese in butter, and in Latvia – shish and without butter. And few people in this story are interested in the performance itself, which no one will see, and the details of the production, which are bit by bit fished out of posts on social networks.

So, on his page, Khamatova’s partner, the well-known Latvian actor Gundar Abolins, tried to explain what had happened. In particular, he wrote: “We are not going to look for the culprit! Not in public, not in private. To cancel the performance is the decision of our artistic director Alvis Hermanis, which we agreed on in the evening after the penultimate rehearsal.” And one more thing – that, indeed, it is not the fault of a foreign language. It was Abolins who taught his Russian partner Latvian. And the director of the closed performance, Uldis Tirons, assures that the Ukrainian language of Khamatova, which was supposed to sound in the production, has nothing to do with it. In general, it is clear that the matter is dark. And where politics rules in art, this usually happens.

For several months, learning the role in three languages ​​​​- Latvian, Ukrainian, Russian, and as a result, never going on stage – Khamatova was not used to this. But these are the rules by which the actress now lives (or survives) – her choice. Accustomed to blows since leaving Russia, she has no choice in this situation but to put on a good face in a bad game. In any case, she tells the local cultural portal about falling in love with the Latvian language.

I talked to my Latvian and Russian acquaintances about how the audience, who had bought tickets long ago, perceived the news about the closure of the upcoming production in Riga and how such announcements are the norm for them.

“Never in our lives have we had this in the theater,” one of them, who was born in Riga back in Soviet times, tells me. For obvious reasons, I will not give his last name. “But when I saw this ad, I was shocked, my hair stood on end. After all, the tickets were sold out a long time ago, we were waiting for the performance. Firstly, the audience goes to the Alvis Hermanis Theater very well, it is popular, and, secondly, after the first performance that Khamatova had already played with us (it was Postscript), we realized that there is no other artist of this level here .

By the way, how was the Postscript? What was the reaction to it?

– Very good. The play consisted, as it were, of two parts, one of them based on the prose of Anna Politkovskaya about Nord-Ost. Chulpan played two roles, she changed her costume on stage. It was simple, but touching. Silence stood in the hall, and in the final no one clapped. And not because it was not accepted, but because there was an announcement asking the audience not to clap at the end.

— But let us return to the premiere of Gogol, which has been closed forever. Why do you think Hermanis made this decision? After all, he himself invited a non-professional director – Uldis Tirons, a philosopher, editor of a political magazine.

– As we assume, perhaps this would not have happened if at that very time, when rehearsals were going on, Hermanis himself had not staged Yunufu at the Opera and Ballet Theatre. By the way, your Alla Sigalova acted as a choreographer for him. On February 23 and 24 there was a premiere, the reviews are chic.

Obviously, he watched the rehearsal in front of the general, and, well, … As my acquaintances from his theater told me, there was a meeting, and not everyone agreed: someone was for, someone was against. But as a result, Hermanis made a decision, that is, he took responsibility for himself. He has a complex character, in general, he often makes different statements – and not always clear, so it’s no stranger.

– As far as I know, the New Riga is now under repair. Where was the premiere supposed to take place?

– Yes, it is closed and the performances are on another site, no longer in the center, but there are about the same number of seats, about five hundred.

I asked another of my interlocutors: what is the general situation in Latvia now in relation to Russian-speakers and the Russian language?

Everything has become more complicated. For all Russian speakers, regardless of age, an exam of a rather high complexity has been introduced. In stores, sellers are now prohibited from responding to a buyer in Russian, even if the buyer himself is Russian. Very difficult.

Well, the latest news regarding Chulpan Khamatova: her brother Shamil is now working in Riga, whom she once brought to the Moscow Sovremennik, and now to the Riga Russian Drama Theater. M. Chekhov, headed by Sergei Golomazov. As a source from this theater told me, Shamil is not yet a member of the troupe, but has already played instead of a sick actor in the play “Central Park West” by Woody Allen directed by Golomazov, and now he is rehearsing in “Hamlet”.