During a meeting of the Satire Theater troupe with the new artistic director Sergey Gazarov, Alexander Shirvindt unexpectedly joked about the low results of the Yabloko party in the Duma elections and commented on his departure from the theater
Alexander Shirvindt
The ex-artistic director of the Moscow Satire Theater, during a meeting of the troupe with the new artistic director Sergei Gazarov, made a risky pun hinting at the low results of the Yabloko party in the last elections, the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper reports.
“I understood that a new artistic director would come in the new season and my ideas might not suit him. We are also modern people and patriots, we receive our new friend on the same day when the chairman of the State Duma is appointed. Do you know what the new State Duma and stuffed goose have in common? An apple in…”,” the People’s Artist joked.
The gathering of the troupe was attended by the management of the theater and the head of the Moscow Department of Culture Alexander Kibovsky. According to the newspaper, only Kibovsky did not laugh in response to Alexander Shirvindt’s remark. “Can’t you laugh? Are you in the Apple?”raquo;— the artist asked, looking at him.
According to the results of the last elections to the State Duma, “Apple” gained 1.34% and did not pass the 5% barrier needed to get into the Duma.
The participants of the meeting unanimously elected Shirvindt as the president of the Satire Theater, although he himself voted against his appointment. During the meeting, Shirvindt also gave a short monologue about this election and his resignation from the post of head of the theater. “As life shows, either a person is expelled and he becomes an artistic director in exile, or he is carried forward with his feet and a new artistic director walks past him. <...>. The president of the theater is a mystery. I can be the president of the underpass. I was standing with my hand outstretched,” he quipped.
In an interview with MK after the meeting, Shirvindt expressed the opinion that the change of leadership in the theater is not a succession to the throne. “When there were endless debates and doubts about the change of leadership in the theater, I always said that this is not the succession to the throne, that it is necessary to choose and discuss. But this way we could have already reached a complete dead end. And indeed, I have already been taken out of here, and then it would be even more difficult to find a successor,” he explained.
People’s Artist of the RSFSR and full Knight of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland announced his resignation from the post of artistic director of the Satire Theater on September 27. “Since the limit is still limited, it is impossible to reset 87 years, I thank everyone for their patience and leave the position,” he said. And he noted that he wanted to continue working in the theateras an actor: “But it depends on God and the native department [of Moscow culture], which is looking for options for my further cooperation with the theater.”
Shirvindt has directed the Moscow Satire Theater since 2000, before that he served there as an actor for 30 years.
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