In October 2022, the International Chekhov Theatre Festival turns 30.
Of course, compared to Avignon and Edinburgh, which both "turned" 75 in 2022, the Chekhov Festival is still young. Yet it must be acknowledged that over these years it has managed to earn a name and reputation, to establish friendly and creative ties, and, most importantly, to accumulate vast experience. The path was difficult, but exhilarating and honest.
By tradition, the Chekhov Festival's birthday is considered to be 4 October 1992, when the curtain first rose on the very first Festival performance – a production of Schiller's "Intrigue and Love" by St Petersburg's Bolshoi Drama Theatre, staged by Temur Chkheidze. In truth, however, the Chekhov Festival was not, as they say, a "product of the 90s."
It all began in 1986. By that time, it was clear that the most theatrical country and one of the world's acknowledged theatre capitals needed its own large‑scale international theatre forum. "The long‑held dream of many generations of theatre workers – to hold a world theatre festival in Moscow" – was voiced at the First Founding Congress of the USSR Union of Theatre Workers by People's Artist of the USSR Kirill Lavrov.
It took six years of work to bring the festival to life. Dozens of events organised by the Union of Theatre Workers during those years served as a kind of preparation: Days of German Theatre in Moscow and Days of Moscow Theatres in Munich, a Season of Soviet Theatre in France and a Season of French Theatre in the USSR, Three Days in Moscow with Peter Brook, a Festival of Italian Theatre Art, and a vast number of tours, meetings, exhibitions and conferences across the USSR and abroad. By the time of the Festival's opening, it was absolutely clear that the interest of theatre practitioners from around the world in one another was sincere and mutual, that the need for communication was immense, and that our country's culture was an integral and important part of world culture.
The very first programme proved that the name had been chosen correctly and that the Festival could only be a Chekhov Festival. Three different versions of "The Cherry Orchard" – directed by Peter Stein, Otomar Krejča and Andrei Șerban – once again demonstrated that Chekhov's plays remain the tuning fork of the theatrical universe of modern times; contemporary directors and performers consistently test themselves against Chekhov's repertoire.
Initially, it was decided to form a new programme every four years. But by the third Festival, the Chekhov Festival had moved to a biennial rhythm. Along with the whole country, the Chekhov Festival has experienced different times. Yet simple arithmetic shows that over the past thirty years, fifteen festivals have taken place (not counting touring projects and programmes dedicated to various events and anniversaries). This means that never once did the Chekhov Festival shy away from difficulties or betray its audience's expectations.
Of course, without state participation, our mission would have been practically impossible. We are grateful to the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Moscow Department of Culture for their support of our work and their faith in us.
The Chekhov Festival adopted as its motto the words of the great Italian director Giorgio Strehler: "Theatre is for people." However, we have never been guided solely by the desire to please the public, nor by commercial gain. From the very beginning to this day, we offer audiences only what we believe to be interesting, unusual, striking, sometimes even revolutionary – seeing our task not so much as entertainment, but as enlightenment. We keep the entire theatrical world in our field of vision, in all its genre diversity.
Without holding competitions or awarding prizes, without dividing audiences into professionals and amateurs, the Chekhov Festival has regularly made discoveries, introducing both world‑renowned masters and new names to the broader Russian public: Ariane Mnouchkine, Peter Brook, Giorgio Strehler, Peter Stein, Pina Bausch, Christoph Marthaler, Heiner Goebbels, Tadashi Suzuki, Declan Donnellan, Philippe Genty, Matthew Bourne, Nacho Duato, James Thiérrée, Romeo Castellucci, Frank Castorf, Simon McBurney, Daniele Finzi Pasca, Robert Lepage, Robert Wilson, LIN Hwai‑min, Mats Ek, Sylvie Guillem, Satoshi Miyagi, Akram Khan, and dozens of others. In total, the programmes of the Chekhov Festival have to date featured 437 directors from 54 countries. Starting with Europe and the former USSR, the forum rapidly expanded its geography, soon working with companies from Asia, Latin and North America, eventually reaching Africa and Australia. For thirty years, the Chekhov Festival has been proving through its programmes that there are no "theatrical" or "non‑theatrical" countries or regions – because theatre is far broader and more diverse than any notion of it.
Having passed through the crucible of the pandemic in 2020–2021, observing the necessary restrictions, we managed to prepare and hold two festivals – the Chekhov Festival in Moscow and the Pacific Festival in Vladivostok. It was not an easy task, but it gave us invaluable experience that greatly helps us today.
Theatre cannot change the world, but it can support people with its unique creative energy, give them strength and faith in the future – because theatre is always a celebration. The gratitude of audiences who come to our Festival, their sincere, genuine emotions and applause, are undoubtedly worth all the efforts.