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TAMARA MIKHAYLOVA: «I WOULD STRONGLY RECOMMEND MY COLLEAGUES TO SPEND MONEY WISELY»
Renovation for the theatre is always a challenge and a serious test. The Maly Theatre passed it, and twice as fast as planned. Manager of the Maly Theatre Tamara Mikhaylova talks about how to speak with the officials and builders, about the plans for the new season and recent production «Time of Troubles. 1609-1611».
- Tamara Anatolyevna, the reconstruction of your theatre will probably make it in the history of Moscow construction as the only case when all the works were completed ahead of time and the unused money was returned to the budget. This is an unprecedented case and the Minister of Culture recounted it in numerous interviews. How did you succeed to do that?
- We worked according to those documents that were approved by the Glavgosexpertiza, controlled the construction site, did not sign anything if we had doubts and counterchecked everything. Our contractors worked under pressure. Nothing new, in fact, we just took the matter rather seriously.
- And how can a woman overmaster the builders? Do you need any specific superpower to speak the same language with them?
- I do not have any special superpower, I just really wanted to do everything well. I was responsible to Yuri Mefodievich Solomin personally and to our actors. And you have no idea how happy they were when they returned here.
- Do you personally control everything?
- Well, I don’t count every single brick, but I control everything, yes.
- You didn’t open the roof of the Maly Theatre, did you?
- Well, you see, in the theatre there is a belief that this cannot be done, because the souls of those who worked here will fly away. And Yuri Mefodievich set this condition for me: do not open the roof. We had to redo the design documentation to fulfill it.
In fact, this is the first reconstruction in a hundred years. I know that there were others, but they were not done according to conscience, they tinted and smeared something, and we had to clean it all up to bring everything to the image that was in the nineteenth century.
- Are you happy with the result?
- Yes! I love this theatre.
- The Maly Theatre traditionally sells tickets at low prices, is it a principled stand?
- This is the position of Yuri Mefodievich Solomin, with which I, as a financier, disagree. I would raise prices. We have performances that are sold by scalpers at higher rates. If you go online, you will find duplicate websites that resell tickets for «Woe from Wit», say, for 15 thousand rubles. And before the performance there are always scalpers at the entrance. I myself was offered tickets once.
- You have not figured out how to deal with this yet, right? In the Pyotr Fomenko Workshop Theatre, for example, they made an entry. You can pre-register for a performance and buy a ticket at the box office when it is your turn.
- You see, we have already abandoned everything, fwe do not have distributors, we sell tickets exclusively at our ticket offices and online. I do not in any way want to offend the audience, but some of them encourage ticket touting. There are spectators who do not really care about the price. This is is called the law of supply and demand.
- Do you know your viewer? Who is he, what does he look like?
- You know, people come to us who would like to «experience the theatre». And the theatre is in the form in which the people represent it. I do not want to offend any modern theatres, but I am an adherent of the classics. Both me and my husband, and the company where my husband is working.
- I understand that you are talking about the LUKOIL company, which supports the construction of a branch of the Maly Theatre in Kogalym. When do you plan to open it?
- Now I can only tell you the opening is scheduled for March 15th. But you understand that this date can be changed.
For this project, in fact, thanks to LUKOIL company and personally Vagit Yusufovich Alekperov. As a vice-principal of the Mikahil Shchepkin Higher Theatre School, I traveled with students around the cities of Western Siberia, and back then the idea to build a theatre in one of them arose. Vagit Yusufovich went to speak with the President and he encouraged this initiative. The theatre was already built there , and the equipment is very similar to the one we have in the Maly Theatre now. That was our condition - so that we could come and bring our performances.
- How will this theatre work?
- I don't know yet. At the moment we decided that we will go there. We have selected four performances. For now that’s it. We are still trying to figure out how to make that work.
- In one of the interviews you said that theatres do not need to survive, they live normally, and there is enough money allocated for them by the state. This is a rare statement for the theatre director. Everyone says: «We don’t enough money, give us more!»
- Well, we also go to the Ministry and ask money for some extra needs. For example, after the reconstruction, we wanted not only the stage, but also the modern equipment. Therefore, yes, we had to ask, and if our requests are justified, this money is allocated.
- Do you think it would be worth changing the relations between theatres and the state?
- The state needs to promote a clear financial policy, and to be honest with the theatres. And I would advise my colleagues to spend money wisely. It is necessary to understand that money doesn’t grow on trees. I recently read an article, in which one of the theatre directors wrote that «some rent out a stage for 10 thousand rubles, and I went much further and I started renting it out for 50 thousand». And I was genuinely amused. I will not voice the figures of the Maly Theatre’s rent, but this is a very serious help for us, and the money we get goes to awards, to additional performances.
- The Maly Theatre has its own workshops, how does that work?
- The workshops are pretty loaded now. And then they just settled in Nagatino, yet again thanks to the Ministry of Culture. We were given money for new equipment, and we are mastering it. We need to make settings for Kogalym, because we cannot travel with our settings back and forth, and besides, we have big performances ahead.
This season we have a series of anniversaries: «Before the Sunset» by Gerhart Hauptmann starring Boris Klyuev and Lyudmila Polyakova in the lead roles, «Make Way For Tomorrow», «Matchmaker», starring Irina Muravyova and Valeriy Afanasyev, they are also heroes of the day. We are also waiting for the proposal from Adolph Shapiro.
- Now, when the renovation is over, what tasks do you set for yourself?
- Well, the first task is to deal with Kogalym. And then to continue, to attract new audiences and to keep our path.
Tatyana Filippova, KULTUROMANIA, October 11, 2018
Renovation for the theatre is always a challenge and a serious test. The Maly Theatre passed it, and twice as fast as planned. Manager of the Maly Theatre Tamara Mikhaylova talks about how to speak with the officials and builders, about the plans for the new season and recent production «Time of Troubles. 1609-1611».
- Tamara Anatolyevna, the reconstruction of your theatre will probably make it in the history of Moscow construction as the only case when all the works were completed ahead of time and the unused money was returned to the budget. This is an unprecedented case and the Minister of Culture recounted it in numerous interviews. How did you succeed to do that?
- We worked according to those documents that were approved by the Glavgosexpertiza, controlled the construction site, did not sign anything if we had doubts and counterchecked everything. Our contractors worked under pressure. Nothing new, in fact, we just took the matter rather seriously.
- And how can a woman overmaster the builders? Do you need any specific superpower to speak the same language with them?
- I do not have any special superpower, I just really wanted to do everything well. I was responsible to Yuri Mefodievich Solomin personally and to our actors. And you have no idea how happy they were when they returned here.
- Do you personally control everything?
- Well, I don’t count every single brick, but I control everything, yes.
- You didn’t open the roof of the Maly Theatre, did you?
- Well, you see, in the theatre there is a belief that this cannot be done, because the souls of those who worked here will fly away. And Yuri Mefodievich set this condition for me: do not open the roof. We had to redo the design documentation to fulfill it.
In fact, this is the first reconstruction in a hundred years. I know that there were others, but they were not done according to conscience, they tinted and smeared something, and we had to clean it all up to bring everything to the image that was in the nineteenth century.
- Are you happy with the result?
- Yes! I love this theatre.
- The Maly Theatre traditionally sells tickets at low prices, is it a principled stand?
- This is the position of Yuri Mefodievich Solomin, with which I, as a financier, disagree. I would raise prices. We have performances that are sold by scalpers at higher rates. If you go online, you will find duplicate websites that resell tickets for «Woe from Wit», say, for 15 thousand rubles. And before the performance there are always scalpers at the entrance. I myself was offered tickets once.
- You have not figured out how to deal with this yet, right? In the Pyotr Fomenko Workshop Theatre, for example, they made an entry. You can pre-register for a performance and buy a ticket at the box office when it is your turn.
- You see, we have already abandoned everything, fwe do not have distributors, we sell tickets exclusively at our ticket offices and online. I do not in any way want to offend the audience, but some of them encourage ticket touting. There are spectators who do not really care about the price. This is is called the law of supply and demand.
- Do you know your viewer? Who is he, what does he look like?
- You know, people come to us who would like to «experience the theatre». And the theatre is in the form in which the people represent it. I do not want to offend any modern theatres, but I am an adherent of the classics. Both me and my husband, and the company where my husband is working.
- I understand that you are talking about the LUKOIL company, which supports the construction of a branch of the Maly Theatre in Kogalym. When do you plan to open it?
- Now I can only tell you the opening is scheduled for March 15th. But you understand that this date can be changed.
For this project, in fact, thanks to LUKOIL company and personally Vagit Yusufovich Alekperov. As a vice-principal of the Mikahil Shchepkin Higher Theatre School, I traveled with students around the cities of Western Siberia, and back then the idea to build a theatre in one of them arose. Vagit Yusufovich went to speak with the President and he encouraged this initiative. The theatre was already built there , and the equipment is very similar to the one we have in the Maly Theatre now. That was our condition - so that we could come and bring our performances.
- How will this theatre work?
- I don't know yet. At the moment we decided that we will go there. We have selected four performances. For now that’s it. We are still trying to figure out how to make that work.
- In one of the interviews you said that theatres do not need to survive, they live normally, and there is enough money allocated for them by the state. This is a rare statement for the theatre director. Everyone says: «We don’t enough money, give us more!»
- Well, we also go to the Ministry and ask money for some extra needs. For example, after the reconstruction, we wanted not only the stage, but also the modern equipment. Therefore, yes, we had to ask, and if our requests are justified, this money is allocated.
- Do you think it would be worth changing the relations between theatres and the state?
- The state needs to promote a clear financial policy, and to be honest with the theatres. And I would advise my colleagues to spend money wisely. It is necessary to understand that money doesn’t grow on trees. I recently read an article, in which one of the theatre directors wrote that «some rent out a stage for 10 thousand rubles, and I went much further and I started renting it out for 50 thousand». And I was genuinely amused. I will not voice the figures of the Maly Theatre’s rent, but this is a very serious help for us, and the money we get goes to awards, to additional performances.
- The Maly Theatre has its own workshops, how does that work?
- The workshops are pretty loaded now. And then they just settled in Nagatino, yet again thanks to the Ministry of Culture. We were given money for new equipment, and we are mastering it. We need to make settings for Kogalym, because we cannot travel with our settings back and forth, and besides, we have big performances ahead.
This season we have a series of anniversaries: «Before the Sunset» by Gerhart Hauptmann starring Boris Klyuev and Lyudmila Polyakova in the lead roles, «Make Way For Tomorrow», «Matchmaker», starring Irina Muravyova and Valeriy Afanasyev, they are also heroes of the day. We are also waiting for the proposal from Adolph Shapiro.
- Now, when the renovation is over, what tasks do you set for yourself?
- Well, the first task is to deal with Kogalym. And then to continue, to attract new audiences and to keep our path.
Tatyana Filippova, KULTUROMANIA, October 11, 2018
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