The war in Ukraine also has consequences in the field of culture. In Russia, many artists have had to flee the country, while, in solidarity with the Ukrainians, in Madrid, the Teatro Real has decided to cancel the performances of the Bolshoi Russian Ballet scheduled for next May. In Romania, in Bucharest, the actors’ union of the National Theater took care, with its own bus, of two transport of refugees, from the border towards Bucharest.
In Russia, fear and flight
In Russia, the war in Ukraine also has consequences inside the country. Because if much has been said about the wave of repression that has fallen on the independent media which have been forced to close, human rights activists prosecuted and forced to leave the country, demonstrators arrested and imprisoned , the artistic world has also been hit hard… Many actors and directors have fled Russia in recent weeks and those who remain are often in disarray.
How many have left the country? It’s hard to say, but several actors from the theater world confirmed to us that the exodus was massive. The actors feel that they too are endangered by the new laws which prohibit the word war, the propaganda which imposes the narrative of an operation to liberate Ukraine. The most famous of these exiles, the actress Chulpan Khamatova, who we saw in France in particular in the film Goodbye Lenin is now a refugee in Latvia, and she has no plans to return. “I can’t call a war with any other words, she points out. I cannot say of a tragedy that it is a liberation. If I want to go back to Russia, I will have to stop saying that it is a war, that I ask forgiveness for not having supported the military operation from the beginning…” “Moscow the big theaters are still functioning but their directors are silent for fear of losing their subsidies. Today we are lost, explains Matvey Matveev, comedian. Whatever we say, we are afraid it will be misinterpreted…”
In Bucharest, culture helps refugees
In Romania, the world of culture participated in welcoming refugees fleeing neighboring Ukraine from the first days of the Russian invasion. The Actors’ Union of the National Theater in Bucharest took charge of transporting two refugees, from the border to Bucharest, with the theater bus. “This tragedy of the Ukrainian people has united us in a common goal: to help, explains actor Mihai Calin, one of the leaders of this union. We feel useful in one way or another: we have meaning in this period.” Mihai Calin wanted to go further: “At the end of a show called No man’s land, I wanted to send, with another actor colleague, a message of solidarity with the Ukrainian people and especially with the Ukrainian artists who are dying there… They are being bombarded and they are asking for help. The Mariupol theater was destroyed.”
The goal was to start a campaign to raise funds to help Ukraine. But the director of the theater, also an actor, objected because on stage, he says, it is a question of doing “only what the director has decided”. “You can do politics if the text allows you to make a political message, but only in the text and inside the show, supports Mircea Rusu. Not with personal considerations. It’s forbidden ! After the show you can go out on the street and do whatever you want!” But the controversy continued because the management also refused to illuminate the building in the colors of the Ukrainian flag. More sensitive to the Russian threat – which weighs on Moldova and Romania – than to the martyrdom of the Ukrainians, the director ended up accepting that projectors display the message in English on the facade of the National Theater: “Putin, stop the war!”
The two camps, however, found the same voice, when the question of possibly suspending Russian authors from the repertoire was awkwardly posed by a television journalist: “I haven’t heard a single voice in Romania speaking out against Russian culture, insists Mircea Călin. No one said that Chekhov, Turgenev, Tchaikovsky or Dostoyevsky should be eliminated… no, no!” In conclusion, the director of the National Theatre, actor Mircea Rusu, tells us that if Chekhov or Gogol would be resurrected, they would undoubtedly be the fiercest opponents of Putin and his regime.
In Spain, the Madrid Opera cancels the Bolshoi Ballet
Faced with the war unleashed by Russia in Ukraine, in Madrid, the Teatro Real has decided to cancel the six performances of the Bolshoi Russian Ballet which were scheduled for next May. Through a press release, the Madrid institution says it regrets “not being able to count on this prestigious company, whose former musical director, Vladimir Urin, had publicly spoken out in favor of Ukraine and against the war”. But the Madrid Opera does not want to remain impassive in the face of “this conflict which is causing a serious crisis in the world and a painful humanitarian emergency”can we read.
This is not the first time that the Madrid Opera has paid homage to Ukraine since the start of the conflict: on January 27, three days after the start of the war, the Madrid institution had already taken sides, saying “shocked and dismayed by the dramatic situation” that Ukraine was going through. That day, on the occasion of the last performance of Wagner’s opera The twilight of the Godsthe Teatro Real wanted to make “tribute to the victims of war”, by wrapping in the Ukrainian flag the corpse of Siegfried, the main character, killed in the final scene. And that’s not all. Chance of the calendar, the opera The angel of fire of Prokofiev, who was born in Ukraine, has just started this week in Madrid. The Teatro Real has decided that the Ukrainian anthem will be performed before the start of each performance, as a sign of support for the Ukrainian people and condemnation of the war. A very moving moment because these days the public stood up and listened to the Ukrainian anthem in absolute silence.