Interviews from Russia
Part 3: Timofey Kulyabin
If we are trying to save a person’s life
at the expense of the abortion,
that can’t be right. It’s a strange logic.
Timofey Kulyabin
at the expense of the abortion,
that can’t be right. It’s a strange logic.
Timofey Kulyabin
The young journalist Nina Mochalova from Moscow interviewed several personalities of cultural journalism and cultural policy on the current situation of theatre in Russia.
Interviews from Russia #3
The third part of the series shows an interview with the young stage director Timofey Kulyabin. Kulyabin is one of the most prominent theatre directors nowadays in Russia. The interview explores the need of a dialogue with the audience and the conflict between social and artistic questions concerning a tendency of narrow-mindness in a part of Russia’s theatre audience.
On the example of Kulyabin’s staging of Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser in Novosibirsk in December 2014 and the scandal that followed, the interview outlines how theatre functions as a catalyst for tensions of society and sometimes is at risk being used for political or social means.
To watch this video with English subtitles, please click on the [cc] button and choose: “English subtitles”
Biographical notes on Timofey Kulyabin:
Kulyabin is one of the most prominent young theatre directors nowadays in Russia. After graduating from the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts in 2007 he is successfully working in drama and opera theatres throughout the country and abroad. All of his productions of the classic dramas and operas creates a big resonance in professional and non-professional theater community. Kulyabin’s Onegin in the Red Torch theatre has been awarded a special prize of the Russian Performing Arts Festival and National Theater Award Golden Mask. His production of Wagners Tannhäuser in December 2014 took place with a great ctitic’s acclaim in Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre. Some aspect of the production, notably the depiction of Tannhäuser in the Venusberg scene, led to criminal proceedings following a complaint by the Orthodox archbishop of Novosibirsk and Berdsk, Tikhon (Leonid Grigorevich Emelyanov). A court later dismissed those allegations. Subsequently, the Minister of Culture, Vladimir Medinsky, dismissed the theatre’s director, Boris Mezdrich, and appointed Vladimir Kekhman as the new director, who then canceled all further performances.
Kulyabin is one of the most prominent young theatre directors nowadays in Russia. After graduating from the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts in 2007 he is successfully working in drama and opera theatres throughout the country and abroad. All of his productions of the classic dramas and operas creates a big resonance in professional and non-professional theater community. Kulyabin’s Onegin in the Red Torch theatre has been awarded a special prize of the Russian Performing Arts Festival and National Theater Award Golden Mask. His production of Wagners Tannhäuser in December 2014 took place with a great ctitic’s acclaim in Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre. Some aspect of the production, notably the depiction of Tannhäuser in the Venusberg scene, led to criminal proceedings following a complaint by the Orthodox archbishop of Novosibirsk and Berdsk, Tikhon (Leonid Grigorevich Emelyanov). A court later dismissed those allegations. Subsequently, the Minister of Culture, Vladimir Medinsky, dismissed the theatre’s director, Boris Mezdrich, and appointed Vladimir Kekhman as the new director, who then canceled all further performances.
Published 19 June 2015
