Valery Shadrin would have turned 86 on February 12, 2025.
He was the founder and, for three decades, the permanent director of the International Chekhov Theatre Festival.
To many, Valery Ivanovich was the Festival itself — alongside the Theatre Olympics, bold new names, ambitious co-productions, the Pacific Theatre Festival, and a great deal more besides.
Looking back today at the years gone by, one realizes that the path travelled has indeed been a long one – and it was travelled during a very difficult time. It was precisely during the transition from socialism to some kind of incomprehensible capitalism that our entire theatre system collapsed… So the idea of holding an international Chekhov festival in a country where there was no theatre festival movement at all was an attempt to gain a new quality and to find our own place in the international context. (From an interview with V. Shadrin given to the publication Snob).
Source: Interview with Valery Shadrin for Snob magazine (2021). https://snob.ru/entry/204006/
More than two years have passed since Valery Ivanovich left us. Yet the delight and wonder of the theatrical discoveries he made possible remain very much alive.
His work continues. This year, from 23 May to 25 July, Moscow will host the seventeenth Chekhov Festival — a living testament to his enduring legacy.