Russian Theater

Russia’s best theater productions come to St. Petersburg

http://www.russiatoday.com/Art_and_Fun/2009-09-16/russias-best-theater-productions.html

In St. Petersburg, the best performances from all across Russia will be on show at the Golden Mask festival. All of the performances showing have either been nominated or won the Golden Mask theater award. The performances will run through October 8, all crafted by either theater masters or new, young directors. The general director, Maria Revyakina, said St. Petersburg is “a very demanding city; people here always need to see new, bright productions.” Actor Evgeny Mironov believes the festival is an essential part of Russian society. All types of performance arts are going to be at the festival, such as drama, opera, ballet, musicals, and puppet theater.

Actor Evgeny Mironov said something that rather intrigued me. At first glance, it can seem that this article wouldn't be very relevant to class and our discussions. But Mironov's quote, "It is known, for example, that in America, during the Great Depression, art, and first of all theater, managed to take society away from the deadlock, having given people a new strong, courageous and successful hero. Now, good theatrical performances for us are a unique chance to escape the banality surrounding us,” made me think about the importance of theater in relation to Russia's current political climate. As seen in one of my previous articles, violence is heavy in Russia at this time. Just as Americans did during WWII, the Russians are now hold on to their culture during these hard times. But this festival can also be connected back to our conversation about semi-authoritarian governments. As Americans, we think that being a democracy is perfect, and everyone wants to be a democracy, just like us. However, if we take a careful look at the whole world, many states and their public are perfectly happy with the situation their in. Russia's transitional democracy is very corrupt. Putin fixed the elections of 2008 and put himself as Prime Minister. As Americans, we think "how can anyone be happy with such a government?" The Golden Mask festival is a perfect example of how well the Russian people actually are doing under their government. Grand events such as festivals would be difficult to organize in a state where its people were unsettled with the government. The Russian people don't know any different then the government they have. They like Putin, he makes the feel secure. And in their security, culture and society can thrive. Once stability is lost, culture may be lost with it.