“Someone’s hands are clearly itching to return everything to Stalin’s times. Video: Konstantin Raikin spoke out against censorship and activists of public organizations Raikin's speech at the congress of the std watch online

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On October 24, the head of the Satyricon Theater, Konstantin Raikin, delivered a speech on censorship in the field of culture, which immediately became the subject of discussion on the network. He spoke out against the "offended group" who control the theater and cinema, citing ideas about patriotism and morality. Alexander Zaldostanov (Surgeon) commented on his speech today, accusing him of wanting to turn Russia into a "gutter". Social media users stood up for Raikin.

On Monday, at the congress of the Union of Theater Workers (STD), Konstantin Raikin delivered a speech in which he expressed his disappointment and dissatisfaction with the situation in the country. In particular, he spoke about the pressure on theaters by the state, unjustified censorship, the negative changes that have taken place with the ROC, and the growing politicization in culture.

I am very disturbed - I think, like all of you - the phenomena that occur in our lives. These, so to speak, raids on art, on the theater in particular. These are completely lawless, extremist, impudent, aggressive, hiding behind words about morality, about morality and in general all sorts of, so to speak, good and lofty words: “patriotism”, “Motherland” and “high morality”. These groups of allegedly offended people who close performances, close exhibitions, behave very brazenly, to whom, in a very strange way, the authorities are neutral - they distance themselves.

Our direct superiors speak to us in such a Stalinist lexicon, such Stalinist attitudes, that you simply cannot believe your ears!

Our unfortunate church, which has forgotten how it was persecuted, priests were destroyed, crosses were torn down and vegetable stores were made in our churches. She's starting to act the same way now. This means that Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy was right when he said that the authorities should not be united with the church, otherwise it would begin not to serve God, but to serve the authorities.

Alexander (Surgeon) Zaldostanov, who actively supports the policies of Vladimir Putin, the president of the Night Wolves motorcycle club and the initiator of the creation of the Anti-Maidan movement, commented on Raikin's words to the NSN publication.

The devil always seduces with freedom! And under the guise of freedom, these Raikins want to turn the country into a sewer through which sewage would flow. We will not stand idle, and I will do everything to protect us from American democracy. Despite all the repression they spread around the world!

He also stated that Russia today is the only country where "there really is freedom."

Criticism of the Surgeon caused a strong reaction on the network. In particular, Dmitry Gudkov, a former State Duma deputy, wrote on his Facebook page that he was deeply disappointed with how quickly culture is losing its significance, and “hooligans” are becoming national heroes.

Gudkov's followers supported him in the comments. Most agreed that the Surgeon had no right to criticize a man of such magnitude as Raikin. And some even write that Zaldostanov is not worth the attention that is paid to him.

Former senator Konstantin Dobrynin also spoke in defense of Raikin.

The surgeon against Raikin. Before that, it was worth living.

Konstantin Dobrynin (@k_dobrinin)

All theatrical Russia formulates what is needed, - says the secretary of the STD Dmitry Trubochkin (he is a moderator at the congress). This is such a cry for help.

What is theatrical Russia shouting about today? From the speeches you understand a real and in many ways sad fact: we have two Russias - Moscow and the rest - living completely different lives.

The artistic directors of Moscow groups are concerned about the commercialization of the theatre. The economist Rubinstein gives a convincing justification why it is harmful to the theatre. Its statistics are impeccable and allow us to draw conclusions: the theater itself cannot cover its expenses through the sale of tickets, and the declining state support is pushing for the search for income, and hence for commercialization.

Moscow is worried about ideological terror and the threat of impending censorship of the 1937 model. The emotional speech of Konstantin Raikin is typical for this: “Assaults on art are rude, arrogant, hiding behind lofty words about patriotism. Groups of offended people close performances, exhibitions, behave impudently, and the authorities distance themselves from this. The curse and shame of our culture - censorship - was ended with the advent of modern times. And now what? They want to return us not just to the times of stagnation - to Stalin's times. Our bosses speak in such Stalinist tests, Mr. Aristarkhov ... And what are we - sitting and listening? We are divided, and this is not so bad: there is a vile manner of riveting and slandering each other. My dad taught me differently."

But the provincial theaters are clearly not up to such moral heights: they would have to survive. I hear that a sewer drain runs through the youth theater of Vladivostok, and from this the audience says: “Your performances are excellent, but why do you stink so much? ..” An amazing chronicle of the puppet theater from Bryansk is official and over the years: the theater was first restored, then for some reason they were recognized as unsuitable for work, then they merged with the Youth Theater without asking both troupes. A couple of years later, an examination from St. Petersburg concluded: the theater is suitable for work ...

And here is the Republic of Altai. Svetlana Tarbanakova, head of STD department, tells me that there is only one theater for 220,000 inhabitants in the republic. Renovated, 469 seats, but it works 1-2 times a week, because under the same theatrical roof there are several organizations: a philharmonic society, a state orchestra, a dance ensemble, and the directorate, as a distributor, also invites guest performers. Tickets for 150-200 rubles. People are walking.

And people live in the mountains, and they also want to see the theater, - says Svetlana Nikolaevna. - But because of the crisis, the poor state of agriculture, people have no money. We come to the club, but we don’t buy tickets for 130 rubles, they save. Here we play for those who come. The salary is 10-12 thousand, and the young people have even less.

- How do they live?

We all live like this. But now a new minister of culture has come, and we really hope for him.

Her words are confirmed by Aigum Aigumov from the North Caucasus: actors there have a salary of 11 to 13 thousand. The ardent Caucasian man directly proposes, on behalf of all the delegates, to send Alexander Kalyagin as a walker to Putin: let him talk about the plight of the provincial artists. Kalyagin writes down everything at the presidium table.

You do not know how to work with the authorities, - Vyacheslav Slavutsky from the Kachalovsky Theater (Tatarstan) retorts from the podium. - My president is a racing driver, why does he have to be a theatergoer? So, I need to prove to him that taking care of culture is taking care of the nation's gene pool. I have never heard that the profession is ending - it is becoming more and more difficult to find directors. What are you talking about? What are we complaining about all the time?

The congress ends its work. What will be its results and what documents will be adopted? Apparently, Alexander Kalyagin will have a hard time in his new term: the economic vise turned out to be tougher than the ideological ones that the theater experienced before perestroika.

In his closing remarks, Kalyagin philosophically said:

Part of the problem is known to me, and part of it is a cold shower. But let me tell you: we creative people are impatient people. We want everything at once. I resent red tape, just like you, I resent! And they teach me patience. The authorities sincerely do not understand. Ekaterinburg was lucky with the Minister of Culture, but Volgograd was not. We need to learn to punch, punch, punch. We exist in such conditions: what is, is. So I urge everyone to be patient. And we will work patiently.

The head of the Satyricon Theater, Konstantin Raikin, spoke sharply at the congress of the Union of Theater Workers of Russia, attacking state censorship and the actions of public activists aimed at protecting morality. Raikin was answered by Alexander Zaldostanov (Surgeon).

On October 24, during the congress of the Union of Theater Workers of Russia, the head of the Satyricon Theater, a well-known actor and director, made a resonant speech. His performance fell on the next anniversary of the birth of his famous father,.

In particular, Konstantin Raikin believes that there is censorship in Russia, and he especially dislikes the struggle of the state "for morality in art."

In his speech, he cited as examples the Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography in Moscow, as well as the cancellation of the play "Jesus Christ Superstar" at the Omsk theater.

Konstantin Raikin said that the public organizations that have achieved the cancellation of these cultural events are only "hiding behind" words about morality, patriotism and the motherland. According to Raikin, such actions are "paid for" and illegal.

The head of the theater "Satyricon" reminded his colleagues "of the guild solidarity" of artists, and urged "not to pretend that the government is the only bearer of morality and morality."

Konstantin Raikin. Speech at the Congress of the Union of Theater Workers of Russia

FULL TEXT of Konstantin Raikin's speech at the Congress of the Union of Theater Workers of Russia

Dear friends, I apologize to you that now I will speak a little eccentrically, so to speak. Because I'm from rehearsal, I still have an evening performance, and I internally kick my legs a little - I'm used to coming to the theater in advance and preparing for the performance that I will play. And somehow it is quite difficult for me to speak calmly on the topic that I want to touch on.

Firstly, today is October 24 - and the 105th anniversary of the birth of Arkady Raikin, I congratulate you all on this event, on this date.

And, you know, I’ll tell you this, that my dad, when he realized that I would become an artist, taught me one thing, he somehow put one such thing into my mind, he called it - workshop solidarity. That is, this is a kind of ethics in relation to those involved in the same thing with you. And I think it's time for us all to remember this.

Because I am very disturbed - I think, like all of you - by the phenomena that occur in our lives. These, so to speak, raids on art, on the theater in particular. These completely lawless, extremist, impudent, aggressive, hiding behind words about morality, about morality, and in general all sorts of, so to speak, good and lofty words: “patriotism”, “Motherland” and “high morality” - these are the groups of supposedly offended people, who close performances, close exhibitions, behave very impudently, to whom the authorities are somehow strangely neutral, distancing themselves. It seems to me that these are ugly encroachments on the freedom of creativity, on the prohibition of censorship.

And the ban on censorship - I don't know how anyone feels about this - I think that this is the greatest event of secular significance in our life, in the artistic and spiritual life of our country. In our country, this curse and shame in general on our national culture, our centuries-old art, has finally been banned.

Our direct superiors speak to us in such a Stalinist lexicon, such Stalinist attitudes, that you simply can’t believe your ears!

And what is happening now? I now see how the hands of someone are clearly itching to change this and return it back. And to return back not just in times of stagnation, but even in more ancient times - in Stalin's times. Because our direct superiors are talking to us in such a Stalinist lexicon, such Stalinist attitudes, that you simply can’t believe your ears! This is what representatives of the authorities say, my immediate superiors, Mr. Aristarkhov * talks like that. Although he generally needs to be translated from aristarchic into Russian, because he speaks a language that is simply embarrassing that a person speaks like that on behalf of the Ministry of Culture.

We sit and listen to it. Why can't we all speak together?

Guild solidarity, as my father taught me, obliges each of us, a theater worker, whether an artist or a director, not to speak badly about each other in the media. And in the instances on which we depend. You can be as creative as you want to disagree with some director, artist. Write him an angry text message, write him a letter, wait for him at the entrance, tell him, but do not interfere with the media, and make it the property of everyone, because our strife, which will definitely be, will be!

Creative disagreement, indignation is normal. But when we fill newspapers and magazines and television with this, it only plays into the hands of our enemies, that is, those who want to bend art to the interests of power. Small, specific, ideological interests. We, thank God, have freed ourselves from this.

Words about morality, the Motherland and the people, and patriotism, as a rule, cover very low goals. I do not believe these groups of indignant and offended people who, you see, have their religious feelings offended. I do not believe! I believe they are paid.

I remember. We all come from the Soviet regime. I remember this shameful idiocy. That's the reason, the only reason I don't want to be young, I don't want to go back there again, to that nasty book, to read it again. They make me want to read this book again! Because, as a rule, very low goals are covered with words about morality, the Motherland and the people, and patriotism. I do not believe these groups of indignant and offended people who, you see, have their religious feelings offended. I do not believe! I believe they are paid.

So it's a bunch of nasty people who fight in illegal nasty ways for morality, you see. When photos are poured over with urine - is this a struggle for morality, or what?

In general, there is no need for public organizations to fight for morality in art. Art itself has enough filters from directors, artistic directors, critics, audiences, the soul of the artist himself. They are the bearers of morality. There is no need to pretend that power is the only bearer of morality and morality. In general, this is not so.

And the government pays not for that, as our leaders tell us, that: “And then you do it. We pay you money, then you do what you need to do.” Who knows? Will they know what to do? Who will tell us? Now I hear: “These are values that are alien to us. It's bad for the people." Who decides? Will they decide? They shouldn't interfere at all. They must not interfere. They should help art, culture.

There is no need to pretend that power is the only bearer of morality and morality. In general, this is not so. Actually, I think that we need to unite, I say again - we need to unite. We need to spit and forget for a while about our subtle artistic reflections in relation to each other.

I can dislike a certain director as much as I like, but I will lay down my bones so that they let him speak. I repeat the words of Voltaire in general, practically, because I have such high human qualities. Do you understand? In general, in fact, if not joking, then I think everyone will understand this. This is normal: there will be dissenters, there will be outraged.

For once, our theater workers meet with the president. These meetings are infrequent. I would say decorative. But still they happen. And there you can solve some serious issues. No. For some reason, here too, proposals begin to establish a possible boundary for the interpretation of the classics. Well, why would the president set this border? Well, why drag him into these things. He shouldn't understand it at all. He does not understand - and he does not need to understand. And in general, why set this limit? Who will be the border guard on it? Aristarkhov? Well, you don't need it. Let it be interpreted. Someone will be outraged - wonderful. What are we illustrating of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, who said: "Just deprive us of guardianship, we will immediately ask for guardianship back." Well, what are we? Well, is he really such a genius that he snitched about us a thousand years in advance? About our, so to speak, servility.

In general, a lot of interesting things happen in the theater. And a lot of interesting performances. Well, mass - I call when a lot. I think it's good. Different, controversial - great! No, we again for some reason want. We slander each other, sometimes inform, just like that, we slander. And again we want to cage! Why in a cage again? "To censorship, let's!" Don't, don't! Lord, what are we losing and giving up conquests ourselves? What are we illustrating of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, who said: "Just deprive us of guardianship, we will immediately ask for guardianship back." Well, what are we? Well, is he really such a genius that he snitched about us a thousand years in advance? About our, so to speak, servility.

I suggest to everyone: guys, we all need to clearly speak out on this issue - about these closures, otherwise we are silent. Why are we silent all the time?! They close performances, they close this ... They banned "Jesus Christ - Superstar". God! "No, it offended someone." Yes, offend someone, so what?

We all need to clearly speak out on this issue - about these closures, otherwise we are silent. Why are we silent all the time?! Close the performances, close this.

And our unfortunate church, which has forgotten how it was persecuted, priests were destroyed, crosses were torn down and vegetable stores were made in our churches. And she's starting to act the same way now. This means that Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy was right when he said that it is not necessary to unite with the authorities of the church, otherwise it begins not to serve God, but to serve the authorities. What we are seeing to a large extent.

And it is not necessary that: "The Church will be indignant." That is OK! Nothing! You don't have to close everything at once! Or, if they close, you need to react to it. We are together. Here they tried to do something with Borey Milgram in Perm. Well, somehow we stood on end, many. And put it back in place. Can you imagine? Our government has taken a step back. Being stupid, I took a step back and corrected this stupidity. This is amazing. It's so rare and atypical. But they did it. And we also took part in this - we got together and suddenly spoke out.

It seems to me that now, in very difficult times, very dangerous, very scary; it is very similar ... I will not say what, but you yourself understand. We need to unite together very strongly and very clearly resist this.

Once again, happy birthday to Arkady Raikin.

* Vladimir Aristarkhov - First Deputy Minister of Culture.

No less harshly answered Konstantin Raikin, the president of the Night Wolves motorcycle club, Surgeon ().

The president of the Night Wolves motorcycle club Alexander "Surgeon" Zaldostanov, in an interview with NSN, answered the head of the Satyricon Theater Konstantin Raikin, who called the activists of public organizations "a group of offended."

"The devil always tempts with freedom! And under the guise of freedom, these raykins want to turn the country into a sewer through which sewage would flow. We will not stand idle, and I will do everything to protect us from American democracy. Despite all the repression they spread around the world!" said the leader of the Night Wolves.

In his opinion, today Russia is "the only country that really has freedom."

"Raykins would not exist in America, but we do," said the Surgeon.

Those present for guild solidarity and the fight against prohibitions and censorship, which, in his opinion, are becoming more and more visible in the country.

“I am very disturbed - I think, like all of you - by the phenomena that occur in our lives. These, so to speak, raids on art, on the theater in particular. These are completely lawless, extremist, impudent, aggressive, hiding behind words about morality, about morality, and in general with all sorts of, so to speak, good and lofty words: “patriotism”, “Motherland” and “high morality”. These groups of allegedly offended people who close performances, close exhibitions, behave very brazenly, to whom, in a very strange way, the authorities are neutral - they distance themselves. It seems to me that this is an ugly encroachment on the freedom of creativity, on the prohibition of censorship, ”said the actor. He is sure that the prohibition of censorship is the greatest event of the century. The actor also said that he does not believe the offended feelings of many activists who allegedly commit immoral acts and “pursue low goals” in the struggle for morality.

Colleagues of Konstantin Raikin in the workshop reacted vividly to his speech. Artistic Director of the Provincial Theater Sergey Bezrukov in conversation with Metro said , that, in his opinion, in art there should be only internal censorship of the artist and no other. “The eternal Russian “No matter what happens”, unfortunately, sometimes progresses and takes on monstrous forms. The system of prohibitions sometimes destroys everything in its path, the wood is cut, the chips fly,” he said.

The position of Konstantin Raikin was supported by Evgeny Pisarev, artistic director of the Pushkin Theater: “I consider the main thing in Raikin’s speech to be a call for guild solidarity. We are terribly divided. We do not understand that people from the outside are using our internal strife against us ... And today we see the same intolerance and aggression towards a different view in art.

Artistic Director of the Lenkom Theater Mark Zakharov, in turn, noted: “It was an impulse associated with the theme of a certain power of darkness approaching us, which has already materialized in a number of actions. He called for consolidation against absolutely wild bans that fall on art, on exhibitions, on theaters ... ".

Kirill Serebryannikov, the artistic director of the Gogol Center expressed confidence that the customers of the theater are not officials, but society: “Who monitors the quality of the product made? Society. It simply does not buy tickets for bad performances, does not go to bad theaters, does not accept poor work. No official has the right to decide what kind of art should be - pleasing or not pleasing, protest or safe. Everything is decided by the viewer. Moreover, we often talk about culture and art. In this case, we are talking about art - about the work of an artist, director, creator.

In an interview with NSN, General Director of the State Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky called Raikin's statements about censorship in the country premature, but supported his fears of "mob dictate". “Censorship is always dictate. The dictate of power or the dictate of the crowd. In our country, everything is now moving towards the dictatorship of the crowd, that even the government is beginning to be built. The crowd begins to say: we want this and that. If it was possible to cope with the obkom censors, something to come, to explain. Not always, but the intelligentsia knew how to get around these things. But the dictatorship of the crowd is terrible,” the director of the Hermitage believes.

At the same time, Mikhail Piotrovsky is convinced that there is no censorship in Russia yet: “We have not yet come to the old days. I would not say that we have censorship, it is just emerging.” According to him, only the state can save culture from the transformation of “pseudo-understandable democracy into the dictate of power”, no matter how paradoxical it may sound: “There is only one remedy for this - this is a broad discussion and a certain protection of culture. And this is the function of the state.

The performance of the actor was commented on by representatives of the authorities. Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said in particular : “Censorship is unacceptable. This topic has been repeatedly discussed at meetings of the president with representatives of the theatrical and cinematographic community. But at the same time, it is necessary to clearly differentiate those productions and works that are staged or filmed with state money or with the involvement of some other sources of funding, ”Peskov said during a conversation with reporters (quoted by Interfax).

The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, meanwhile, was surprised by the words of Konstantin Raikin. “We were very surprised by the words of Konstantin Arkadyevich Raikin both about the possible closure of the theater and about the presence of “censorship”, “attacks” on theaters. Theatrical figures have no grounds for such statements,” said the Deputy Minister of Culture Alexander Zhuravsky.

“I note that we do not demand anything related to creative performance, we do not interfere in artistic activity, we do not control the choice of theatrical plays and materials. But at the same time, we want economic indicators to improve,” Zhuravsky said.

The artistic director of the theater "Satyricon" Konstantin Raikin spoke at the congress of the Union of Theater Workers of Russia. In his speech, he criticized censorship, the “Stalinist guidelines” of the Ministry of Culture, the closing of performances and exhibitions under the guise of patriotism and morality, and the church serving the interests of the state. Raikin reproached the entire theatrical community for their silence and urged them to unite in order to "rebuff" what is happening.

Here is the full transcript.

Dear friends, I apologize to you that now I will speak a little eccentrically, so to speak. Because I’m from rehearsal, I still have an evening performance, and I internally kick my legs a little - I’m used to coming to the theater in advance and preparing for the performance that I will play. And somehow it is quite difficult for me to speak calmly on the topic that I want to touch on. First of all, today is October 24, and the 105th anniversary of the birth of Arkady Raikin, I congratulate you all on this event, on this date.

And, you know, I’ll tell you this, that my dad, when he realized that I would become an artist, taught me one thing, he somehow put one such thing into my mind, he called it – workshop solidarity. That is, this is a kind of ethics in relation to those involved in the same thing with you. And I think it's time for us all to remember this.

Because I am very disturbed - I think, like all of you - the phenomena that occur in our lives. These, so to speak, raids on art, on the theater in particular. These completely lawless, extremist, impudent, aggressive, hiding behind words about morality, about morality, and in general all sorts of, so to speak, good and lofty words: “patriotism”, “Motherland” and “high morality” - these are the groups of supposedly offended people, who close performances, close exhibitions, behave very impudently, to whom the authorities are somehow strangely neutral, distancing themselves. It seems to me that these are ugly encroachments on the freedom of creativity, on the prohibition of censorship.

And the ban on censorship (I don’t know how anyone feels about this) - I believe that this is the greatest event of secular significance in our life, in the artistic and spiritual life of our country. In our country, this curse and shame in general on our national culture, our centuries-old art, has finally been banned.

Our direct superiors speak to us in such a Stalinist lexicon, such Stalinist attitudes, that you simply can’t believe your ears!

And what is happening now? I now see how the hands of someone are clearly itching to change this and return it back. And to return back not just in times of stagnation, but even in more ancient times - in Stalin's times. Because our direct superiors are talking to us in such a Stalinist lexicon, such Stalinist attitudes, that you simply can’t believe your ears! This is what representatives of the authorities say, my immediate superiors, Mr. Aristarkhov [Vladimir Aristarkhov - First Deputy Minister of Culture] talks like this. Although he generally needs to be translated from aristarchic into Russian, because he speaks a language that is simply embarrassing that a person speaks like that on behalf of the Ministry of Culture.

We sit and listen to it. Why can't we all speak together?

I understand that we have quite different traditions, in our theatrical business too. We are very divided, I think. We have little interest in each other. But this is half the trouble. The main thing is that there is such a vile manner - to rivet and slander at each other. I think it's just unacceptable right now! Guild solidarity, as my father taught me, obliges each of us, a theater worker, whether an artist or a director, not to speak badly about each other in the media. And in the instances on which we depend. You can be as creative as you want to disagree with some director, artist. Write him an angry text message, write him a letter, wait for him at the entrance, tell him, but do not interfere with the media, and make it the property of everyone, because our strife, which will definitely be, will be! Creative disagreement, indignation is normal. But when we fill newspapers and magazines and television with this, it only plays into the hands of our enemies, that is, those who want to bend art to the interests of power. Small, specific, ideological interests. We, thank God, have freed ourselves from this.

Words about morality, the Motherland and the people, and patriotism, as a rule, cover very low goals. I do not believe these groups of indignant and offended people who, you see, have their religious feelings offended. I do not believe! I believe they are paid.

I remember... We all come from the Soviet regime. I remember this shameful idiocy. That's the reason, the only reason I don't want to be young, I don't want to go back there again, to that nasty book, to read it again. They make me want to read this book again! Because, as a rule, very low goals are covered with words about morality, the Motherland and the people, and patriotism. I do not believe these groups of indignant and offended people who, you see, have their religious feelings offended. I do not believe! I believe they are paid.

So it's a bunch of nasty people who fight in illegal nasty ways for morality, you see. When photos are pissed - is that a struggle for morality, or what?

In general, there is no need for public organizations to fight for morality in art. Art itself has enough filters from directors, artistic directors, critics, audiences, the soul of the artist himself. They are the bearers of morality. There is no need to pretend that power is the only carrier of morality and morality. In general, this is not so.

In general, the government has so many temptations around it, around it, so many temptations that smart government pays art for the fact that art holds a mirror in front of it and shows in this mirror the mistakes, miscalculations and vices of this government. Here is a smart government pays him for this! And the government pays not for that, as our leaders tell us, that: “And then you do it. We pay you money, then you do what you need to do.” Who knows? Will they know what to do? Who will tell us? Now I hear: “These are values that are alien to us. It's bad for the people." Who decides? Will they decide? They shouldn't interfere at all. They must not interfere. They should help art, culture.

There is no need to pretend that power is the only carrier of morality and morality. In general, this is not so.

Actually, I think that we need to unite, I say again - we need to unite. We need to spit and forget for a while about our subtle artistic reflections in relation to each other. I can dislike a certain director as much as I like, but I will lay down my bones so that they let him speak. I repeat the words of Voltaire in general, practically, because I have such high human qualities. Do you understand? In general, in fact, if not joking, then I think everyone will understand this. This is normal: there will be dissenters, there will be outraged.

What are we illustrating of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, who said: "Just deprive us of guardianship, we will immediately ask for guardianship back." Well, what are we? Well, is he really such a genius that he snitched about us a thousand years in advance? About our, so to speak, servility.

In general, a lot of interesting things happen in the theater. And a lot of interesting performances. Well, mass - I call it when there is a lot. I think it's good. Different, controversial - great! No, for some reason we want to again ... We slander each other, sometimes inform, just like that, we talk to each other. And again we want to cage! Why in a cage again? "To censorship, let's!" Don't, don't! Lord, what are we losing and giving up conquests ourselves? What are we illustrating of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, who said: "Just deprive us of guardianship, we will immediately ask for guardianship back." Well, what are we? Well, is he really such a genius that he snitched about us a thousand years in advance? About our, so to speak, servility.

I suggest to everyone: guys, we all need to clearly speak out on this issue - about these closures, otherwise we are silent. Why are we silent all the time?! They close performances, they close this ... "Jesus Christ is a superstar." God! "No, it offended someone." Yes, offend someone, so what?

We all need to clearly speak out on this issue - about these closures, otherwise we are silent. Why are we silent all the time?! Closing performances, closing this...

Once again, happy birthday to Arkady Raikin.