Valery Shadrin, whose surname has become a household name, has died

Bad news from early Saturday morning spread around the theatrical world with lightning speed – Valery Shadrin died. She responded with loud, undisguised pain: “Valery Ivanovich!” “Impossible!” “What will happen to his Chekhovsky now?” No one was restrained in expressing feelings and emotions – everyone infinitely respected, appreciated and loved this person.

Who is Valery Ivanovich Shadrin, probably, it is not necessary to explain – neither in Russia, nor where our country is now an outcast, and everything Russian is taboo. Not an artist, not a director, not a theater director. Not even an important official, to whom weak subordinates obsequiously bow. Shadrin is … So I thought – and who is he really? Yes, he has an official position – together with Oleg Efremov and Kirill Lavrov, he founded the International Confederation of Theater Unions, President of the International Theater Festival. Chekhov, the very famous Chekhov Fest. But to say so about Shadrin means to say nothing, because Shadrin is: and the Chekhov Festival, the very first, large international theater forum organized by him in the new Russia. This is the first theatrical Olympics, which opened noisily and spectacularly with a procession with Brazilian women in feathers on Tverskaya, right from the Kremlin.

Shadrin is several modern theater venues at once, which without it would definitely not have appeared on the map of Moscow – CIM (Meyerhold Center) and ShDI (School of Dramatic Art). Shadrin initiated their construction and opening, punched for Valery Fokin and Anatoly Vasiliev, now Masters and pride of the national theater. It was Shchadrin who was the first to bring European theater to the capital – the best, innovative, interesting and discovered names that were previously little heard or not heard in Russia at all – Peter Stein, Robert Wilson, Ariana Mnushkin, Pina Bush, Tadashi Suzuki, Robert Lepage, Luke Bondi, René Gonzales, Barnabas with his unique equestrian theater, the heirs of the great Chaplin – James, Aurelia and their parents, Daniele Finzi Pasca, and many, many other artists and artists from different continents. And having introduced the country to their work, he was the first to start doing joint projects with them. So, with his light hand, the word “co-production” took root in the Russian theater field. The first sign was Oresteia, a seven-hour marathon at the Army Theater. Finally, Shadrin is not a single generation of spectators who, along with interest and good taste, were instilled with love for the theater. Shadrin is such a profession, sharpened for creation, construction, the unification of everything very, very.

Shadrin is a man of risk. He always took risks and … won. When the pandemic hit the world, he was the only one who did not take his favorite offspring – Chekhov Fest – online and did everything possible, and, most importantly, impossible, to bring performances to Moscow. He pushed the boundaries in unbearable conditions, he connected and befriended artists. He is not a manager at all, a Soviet official in the past (he headed the Moscow Committee for Culture). gave theater to people from the heart.

– I remember him in the Committee for Culture of Moscow, – says the director of the theater. Evgenia Vakhtangov Kirill Krok. – Valery Ivanovich was the head of all Moscow theaters and not only theaters, but looking at him, I clearly understood that he was completely immersed in the industry, he knew its problems and ways to solve them. And from the moment of Perestroika, he realized that Moscow desperately needed its own international festival. Naturally, it was big, and then he organized the first international Chekhov Festival, began to develop it, promote it to the world, bring iconic productions from different countries to Moscow, take them around Russia and take ours out into the world. The Vakhtangov Theater made one joint project with him – “The Old Man and the Sea” directed by Anatoly Vasilyev, and it was a very serious work. I was amazed at his iron restraint, how he takes into account all the factors and risks associated with both costs and the personality of the director. The departure of Valery Ivanovich is a huge loss.

Many say so – in Russia, in the CIS countries, with which the Chekhov Festival worked closely and actively, in the world. The Chekhov Festival receives calls and messages. Not at all formal, devoid of general words of condolence, befitting a mournful moment, no. For them, Valery Shadrin remained in their memory as a friend, businesslike and humorous. Who will always lend a shoulder, will not leave in difficult times, will solve all problems and for whom, it seems, nothing is impossible.

The last year of his life. He is already 84 and he is sick, being treated, breaking through disappointing diagnoses and does not allow the thought that his Chekhov festival can be cancelled. Never!!! Under no circumstances! Even when the disease will hold the throat with a stranglehold and will not let you breathe. And he gathers a press conference and barely alive, which, however, is noticeable only to those who know him well, announces the program of the new Chekhov Fest. As always, large-scale and taking into account the current political realities – India, China, the CIS countries … the program is ready, the team is working, the faithful audience is buying tickets.

He ends up in the hospital, but orders the body to get up despite the illness and look only ahead, where in some six months his Chekhovsky starts, the one and only – we now understand this more than ever. And he gets better, he is discharged home and … again an ambulance, resuscitation and on December 3, in the early frosty morning, Valery Shadrin’s heart stops. An unbearable blow, tears and numbness – what will happen to his life’s work, which is more than just a theater forum.

The editors of MK express their deepest condolences to the family of Valery Shadrin and his team. The time and date of the funeral is not yet known, they are waiting for the arrival of Sasha’s son from London.