July 09, 2022

A Theatrical Ousting


A Theatrical Ousting
The idea will continue to live on. Wikimedia Commons user Shuvaev

On June 30, Alexei Agranovich directed his final premier at the Gogol Center in Moscow. He and Alexei Kabeshev were set to have their contracts renewed in the first week of July, but the Moscow Department of Culture had other plans. While the reasoning behind the changeover has not been officially released, it's likely their ousting is due to their promotion of anti-war messages.

Prior to the start of the Ukraine War, the play "I Am Not Participating in the War" premiered. As the war was fully set into motion, actors have refused to bow after performances, and a dove of peace has also been displayed. Both are clear indications of the opinions of the cast and directors.

Kirill Serebrennikov, who headed the Gogol Center from 2012 until February 2021, addressed the audience of the Gogol theater via a virtual call, encouraging his viewers:

"The Gogol Center is an idea, an idea of ​​freedom. The idea of ​​freedom can only end with us. We are such people, very unpleasant for the authorities, very unpleasant for someone, but loved by each other and needed by each other."

The Gogol Center has been on Moscow's radar since it was established in 2012, not usually for its content, but for its avant-garde flavor and its heavy use of technology.

You Might Also Like

New Culture Wars?
  • July 01, 2017

New Culture Wars?

Early morning police raids and the conundrum that Kirill Serebrennikov and his Gogol Theater are facing.
A Failure to Perform
  • July 07, 2022

A Failure to Perform

The International Platonov Arts Festival in Voronezh, has been canceled due to current political conditions.
Golden Mask of Support
  • April 28, 2022

Golden Mask of Support

Ksenia Sorokina gives her Golden Mask award to jailed anti-war activist Sasha Skochilenko.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955