MOSCOW – Kirill Serebrennikov, the Studio Seven’s founder and the Gogol Center’s art director, considers law enforcement agencies’ complaints regarding theatrical projects groundless.
“Theater, art have faced a giant machine of quite a repressive nature,” the stage director said in an interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper published on Saturday.
“Very fragile, defenseless, and honest persons are providing some explanations now, frequenting lawyers, facing accusations, they are subjected to searches, not only them, but also their parents, and some of them are even behind bars, like Alexei Malobrodsky,” Serebrennikov said.
Speaking of actions of law enforcement agencies which have suspicions regarding funding of theatrical projects, the director called the emerging situation “absurd and horrifying” and said that a large number of honest and professional people, who “work in not such a lucrative field, as some seem to think now,” are in danger because of it.
As for the Platform Project, 30 original events were produced as part of it annually, the director said. “It was not just an efficient project, it was a super project for which, by the way, the (Russian) Culture Ministry sent us a letter of gratitude in 2013,” he said.
“Enthusiasts and those who love art, first and foremost, work in such projects as the Platform. There had been times when the state supported modern art projects. Now it has withdrawn all this support, as we know it,” Serebrennikov said.
“I don’t want to predict anything… I just know that we’re honest people, we did our job well, and this job is very important. I’m proud of the Platform Project,” he said.
As reported, investigators believe that Alexei Malobrodsky, the Studio Seven’s former general producer, had entered a crime conspiracy with former director general Yury Itin and former chief accountant Nina Maslyayeva in 2012 for the purpose of embezzling some funds allocated to organizing cultural projects, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which allegedly was not staged. According to investigators, the amount of damage on this count is over 2.3 million rubles.
Serebrennikov, for his part, said on Facebook, that A Midsummer Night’s Dream had been performed over 15 times as part of the Platform Project, then it was shown at Paris’ Chaillot National Theater and during the Baltic House festival, and it was nominated for “all kinds of awards.”
On May 23, investigators had conducted searches at the places of residence and work of Serebrennikov, who was questioned as a witness and released after signing a written undertaking to appear when summoned by investigators.
