The theater begins with a viewer

As Boris Yeltsin said, “tea, sugar is already good,” bearing in mind that the main thing is to ensure that the country has at least the first level of the Maslow pyramid. Since then, of course, we have spoiled ourselves a little. Tea, sugar, buckwheat, as well as ketchup, as we think, should always be the default. And, I assure you, the absolute majority will do so. There’s probably even a sausage. In general, as we understand it, the sphere of food sales did not suffer in the current situation. Everyone goes to stores often and with pleasure.

Probably, after some time, restaurants will open again. Yes, it will not be easy for the owners, but even more difficult will be for those who have to go to these restaurants and pay there. But in more difficult times, catering existed, if allowed.

But what will happen to cultural institutions? Not only here, but around the world. And around the world, the cultural landscape is very heterogeneous, everywhere has its own specifics, and how theaters, libraries, museums and circuses will survive in accordance with this specificity - a question that, I believe, no one can answer now.

The easiest thing will be literature. Literature always survives because it does not need maintenance. Yes, several literary prizes will probably disappear, but prizes are not the basis of literature - this is such an application for a few select ones. Sales of paper books will probably fall, but we’ve heard about the death of the book market for twenty-five years, and books are still being sold, and authors are still writing. This is such a kind of activity: no costs, no infrastructure needed, sit yourself and write. Yes, moreover, the vast majority of those who write do this not in the calculation of a fee, but because they cannot write. So the literature, perhaps, will even please us with a surge: everyone will start writing, from now on who will appear at this time, and the other type of activity, on the contrary, will disappear. This can be fraught with a number of interesting discoveries.

More difficult for museums - is there a work of art at all if no one is looking at it? This is a matter of idea: museums are needed to be visited. And they will go to them as soon as they open again. The fact is that all major museums in Russia are state-owned, which means that they depend on the money for tickets to the least extent. The state will cover the costs, and we will be grateful to him, because imagine life without the portal of Freiberg Cathedral in the Pushkin Museum to them. Pushkin is scared. And tickets to museums are relatively inexpensive - people can afford this entertainment even in very cramped circumstances.

But what will happen to theaters? There are two opposite aspects: in the creative sense, theatrical art awaits an upswing, in the financial sense, a decline.

And Russian theaters will not be worse than everyone. The Russian theater system is mainly state-owned. That is, theater expenses, speaking roughly, generally, are paid by the state.

Yes, there are nuances, but in general it is. Salaries of artists, directors, make-up artists and props come from the state budget. Theaters, as a rule, do not pay for the rental of a building. Moreover, they rent out some of their own premises: in Lenkom, under the late Mark Zakharov, there was a strip club, which later became a fitness club.

Theaters also have their own means, sometimes very impressive. For example, the Bolshoi earned almost 3 billion rubles last year. From this money earned, bonuses are formed, funds for repairs, for new productions and other expenses, life without which is dull, but possible.

And, say, in the USA the theater system is absent altogether: if the theater does not play and does not sell tickets, then it does not exist. A theater, or rather a troupe, may have patrons, sponsors, but who will spend money on supporting comedians in difficult times.

German theaters, as a rule, also receive subsidies, that is, it is very likely that they will partially survive. In a similar way things are in France, in Italy.

But this is not important. It is important that theater is generally the art of crisis. The peak of the perfection of theatrical art almost always falls on difficult times: the post-revolutionary Moscow Art Theater, Meyerhold, the best plays of Bulgakov, Taganka of the stagnant period - all this is a theater of crisis and poverty. Poverty and poverty of the theater itself. The theater will survive as the water finds its channel; it simply has nowhere else to go. And the directors will live without premiums.

But there are other cultural institutions that do not have state support. The Nikulin Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard works according to the clean business scheme: how many tickets were sold, so much money and earned, all expenses at their own expense. And art is expensive. And what about them when there are no performances, and when they appear, will there be spectators willing to pay for the tickets? Meanwhile, the Russian circus in the international arena is no worse known than Russian ballet - it is also a kind of visiting card of Russia, an instrument of soft power.

So, I believe that everything related to the consumer sphere - restaurants, shops and other hairdressing salons - will recover in a couple of years in the necessary volume. In Moscow, there will always be money for this, but not so much in the backwoods of this. There will be people in bars drinking less than single malt whiskey and more cheap beer, they will cut their heads in a barbershop, and their beards at home with a typewriter. Somehow everything will certainly work out.

And the repertoire theaters in Russia are 665, and circuses 42, and museums 2027. And all of them absolutely need state money. Not for pampering and luxury, but just to survive.

And besides money, they all need spectators. Because a work of art does not exist if no one is looking at it. And please, when all this is over, remember the first thing about the theater, and not about your favorite restaurant. This may be an unexpected and literally life-saving experience.

The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.