People’s Artist of Russia Liya Akhedzhakova said in an interview with Novaya Gazeta that she voluntarily wrote a letter of resignation from the Sovremennik Theater on March 10.
Akhedzhakova said that she now plans to participate in touring activities.
“The actress has a few suggestions for other tours. Akhedzhakova has no plans to leave Russia yet,” writes Novaya Gazeta.
In mid-March in Cyprus, the actress played in a play based on Lyudmila Ulitskaya’s play “My grandson Benjamin”. According to the publication, the actress played “with a full house.” At the end of 2022, this performance will be in St. Petersburg’s performance was cancelled.
Sovremennik did not comment on the words of the people’s artist. “Unfortunately, I have no comment on this. I am not authorized to comment on this,” said Elena Volkova, the theater press secretary. “socialbites.ca”.
When asked by MK whether Akhedzhakova wrote a statement of her own free will, the theater director replied that the actress was “still in the group” and received a salary “according to the roster”.
“She is an emotional actress, writes a lot. But no one fired him, ”says the theater management.
“I didn’t have time to say goodbye to my stage”
On March 9, the Free Space website (a project of the editors of Novaya Gazeta) published an open letter from Liya Akhedzhakova in which she thanked the audience and said goodbye to the stage of Sovremennik.
According to the actress, the new head of the theater, Yuri Kravets, said that the Moscow Ministry of Culture supports the proposal to exclude Akhedzhakova from the Sovremennik repertoire, because the theater administration “literally overflowed with angry letters” in connection with her. political position.
“Recently, the “network court” according to the appropriate diagnosis [Дмитрия] Muratova (editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta – yak. socialbites.ca) was outraged by my dislike of the Motherland, ”wrote Akhedzhakova and noted that there were“ demands from the workers ”to cancel the performance with her participation.
Sovremennik canceled his last game, The Gin Game, on February 13 with his participation. When asked by Novaya Gazeta when The Game of Gin would be available to watch, the theater director’s secretary replied, “Never.”
Before that, the artist’s St. Performances of the play “My grandson Benjamin” with his participation in St. Petersburg were canceled. “All theaters in Russia refused to accept this performance in Russia, where we played in America, Germany, Israel, Belarus,” Akhedzhakova wrote.
Earlier, Sovremennik filmed the play First Bread, in which the artist played the main role.
“I didn’t have time to say goodbye to my stage. Dear, dear scene – you gave me the opportunity to confess, to declare my love to people whom I love, admire, respect, ”Akhedzhakova said in her letter.
In February, the artist said that after each performance, where he received great support from the audience, the public thanked the actor for his civic stance.
Akhedzhakova’s theatrical career
Liya Akhedzhakova, 84, has been working in Sovremennik since 1977. He played in the theater in well-known productions: “From Lopatin’s Notes”, “Forever Alive”, “Hurry to Do Good”, “Steep Path”. With the participation of Sovremennik in his repertoire, the performance “The Game of Gin” is the last. Its cancellation was announced on 8 February.
The actor has repeatedly spoken out against the entry of Russian troops into the territory of Ukraine and hostilities. In July 2022, information appeared in the media that Sovremennik decided to stop performing with the participation of Akhedzhakova. Later, these reports were denied in the theater and the first cancellations of the productions in which the artist played began in the fall.
To support Akhedzhakova, director Kirill Serebrennikov launched the Letters to Leah campaign, for which the artist received more than 15,000 letters of support.
Chulpan Khamatova, People’s Artist of Russia and former deputy artistic director of Sovremennik, also recorded a video message in support of Akhedzhakova.
“Liya Akhedzhakova was the reason why I came to work in this theater, I liked the Sovremennik Theater. Khamatova said that Leah Akhedzhakova is the personification of the Sovremennik Theater.
According to him, the theater director was afraid of “some denunciations, some angry letters” and canceled the production of “Gin Game”. Khamatova said that love for Akhedzhakova was “country-wide”, despite the fact that “it was a disgrace, it was cowardice, it was meanness, it was some kind of disgusting deviation.”