OREANDA-NEWS. September 16, 2011. “It is an excellent ground for arts enthusiasts and theatre lovers, in particular. <…> The theatre was joined by people with both the talent and enthusiasm necessary to take charge of this work and push through it. It is a real pleasure to see this enthusiasm”.
Transcript of the meeting:

Remark: Good afternoon, Mr Putin!

Yevgeny Mironov: Mr Putin, you should know Chekhov and Stanislavsky are said to have met here in 1897. Now you are here close to them in this sacred place.

Vladimir Putin: So, there are rooms with a history! How beautiful!

Remark: Yes.

Vladimir Putin: They are just wonderful! First of all, I would like to congratulate you, Yevgeny…

Yevgeny Mironov: Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: …and your colleagues on such a wonderful day, the theatre’s opening. As far as I know, this restoration project has existed since 1993, but the reconstruction itself started only in 2007 if I am not mistaken…

Yevgeny Mironov: In 2007.

Vladimir Putin: …very soon after Yevgeny Mironov joined the theatre company and his…

Yevgeny Mironov: …and my plea reached you.

Vladimir Putin: Yes. But the reason was not the plea, but rather the fact that the theatre was joined by people with both the talent and enthusiasm necessary to take charge of this work and push through it. It is a real pleasure to see this enthusiasm, which is a rare thing to happen. This is why I would like to congratulate you! It does not happen often that public money is spent wisely and work is finished on time. I see that this has happened here. But as far as I know, the archaeologists found Vasily Shuisky’s treasure trove in 2009. Where is the money?

Yevgeny Mironov: Where could it be? I think you have it, Mr Putin, if you know about it.

Vladimir Putin: Did you pocket the money?

Yevgeny Mironov: No.

Chulpan Khamatova: We wanted to keep the renovation going.

Yevgeny Mironov: I was afraid a little bit, I really thought the repairs would stop and the archaeologists would start digging to get more treasure. But thank God, three coins were enough.

Vladimir Putin: So, it is finished?

Yevgeny Mironov: Yes.

Vladimir Putin: It has taken four years, right?

Yevgeny Mironov: Yes, maybe even less.

Vladimir Putin: Major work has been done in less than three years. What I have just seen is impressive and I am not exaggerating. The restoration has been finished. A beautiful building reflecting the spirit of old Moscow has been restored. Now it is equipped with modern technologies. It is an excellent ground for arts enthusiasts and theatre lovers, in particular. The artistic director told me that his concept of the theatre was to invite young actors and various drama companies from Russia and abroad -- to invite talented directors. This is everything that you are successfully doing now. There is such a wonderful platform to make these ideas come true, and to polish and present them to the public. I’m sure this will be a centre of attraction.

Yevgeny has just been talking about the plans for expansion. Mr Sobyanin is nodding his head, which means that Moscow, with its big financial resources, will join the effort. Moscow's resources are truly great, because well above half of major taxpayers are concentrated in Moscow. The city's taxable income and revenues are huge.

Zhenya and I will be close by and will help you, of course. I hope that the second part is no less ambitious, perhaps even more ambitious than the first. It is hard to say when we will begin and when we will finish, but this is an interesting idea and it can be fully carried out. I wish you success. Thank you very much. Congratulations!

Yevgeny Mironov: Mr Putin, may I say something before the guys who were so eager to meet you – actors, directors and even critics…

Vladimir Putin: What for?

Yevgeny Mironov: Just in case, so that nobody will make anything up later, but will know for sure what was said here. I’d like to start with one unpleasant matter, so that I can leave it behind afterwards and talk only about pleasant matters. The programme I’ve described to you is that of a unique, international theatre centre, a centre of innovations in every area (as you said, plays by great directors, and most importantly, a school of debut, of advanced qualifications and festivals). We have been involved in this for four years now, but to be honest, we can no longer continue in this way. We have no power left and will simply cease to exist. I can see that you look cross, and yes, I really am going to ask you for money and I’m not ashamed to do so, because I know this is a very serious and important cause.

Vladimir Putin: And I’m not ashamed to tell you that there is no money.

Yevgeny Mironov: Yes, Mr Putin.

Vladimir Putin: But we will search for it.

Yevgeny Mironov: That's the main thing. I knew you wouldn’t toss us aside.

Vladimir Putin: I never toss anyone aside.

Yevgeny Mironov: We are always responsible for those we have tamed.

Vladimir Putin: But we need to clearly formulate the requirements, the scale, the deadlines and so on.

Yevgeny Mironov: I know, we simply… To live and work with an outstretched hand... I’m referring to sponsors, because after they help we have to perform for them at corporate parties and all kinds of festivals. We simply cannot continue like this. Whatever we do, we want to do it seriously, as adults. Serious directors and even experimentations… They must have a chance. If a budding director stages his first play, we shouldn’t simply thank him and forget all about him. We should monitor his progress and help him grow into a master. We want to be responsible for everything and, to be honest, to do so we need… We have a budget. We have looked at the budgets of other Moscow theatres that do not have such a difficult and interesting structure as we do, and we realised, let me repeat, that we need support.

We have drafted a tentative annual budget. We have also indicated what we have done, and we did so honestly and modestly.

Vladimir Putin: Please, write to Mr Avdeyev.

Yevgeny Mironov: But since we have addressed this letter to you…

Vladimir Putin: I’ll redirect it to Mr Avdeyev here and now.

Yevgeny Mironov: And what else will you write?

Vladimir Putin: What do you think?

Yevgeny Mironov: I think you will ask him “to resolve this problem”.

Vladimir Putin: This would be superficial solution. I’ll write: “Please review this.”

Yevgeny Mironov: I was warned this is not a very good resolution. Is that so?

Vladimir Putin: Spit in the face of those who told you so!

Yevgeny Mironov: Okay, Mr Putin. That's all I wanted to say. Now I’d like to introduce you to the guys. Some of them are actors. We simply wanted to share our problems with you, our ideas of how to enter into adulthood and how the Theatre of Nations may help do this.

Yulia Peresild: May I?

Yevgeny Mironov: Yulia Peresild.

Yulia Peresild: My name is Yulya.

Vladimir Putin: Hello.

Yulia Peresild: I'd like to say that Theatre of Nations is like a breath of fresh air for the younger generation of budding actors and directors.

Vladimir Putin: It was the Theatre of Friendship of Nations in Soviet years, wasn’t it?

Yulia Peresild: Because here, they have freedom of creativity. We have gotten to know directors whom we couldn’t have dreamed of meeting. The typical scenario is that you graduate from the institute, go on to a repertory theatre and then sit in the smoking room for five years waiting to be given a role.

Remark: Five years if you're lucky.

Yulia Peresild: Indeed! And what happens next? In five years you no longer want to work. All you want is to receive a salary. But here, things are totally different. People do not simply come here without a reason.

Vladimir Putin: You have desire and opportunities – everything is there.

Yulia Peresild: Only people who truly want to accomplish something come here.

Yevgeny Mironov: And Yulia is not the only one to come here.