A long-standing decision: the Yermolova theater commented on Menshikov's departure from the post of director

The Yermolova Theater confirmed RT reports that Oleg Menshikov resigned as director: “Yes, this is true.

He had been hatching this decision for a long time.

It was adopted in June. "

According to a spokesman for the press service, the appointment of a new director - Sergei Kuzoyatov - took place on June 25.

“Oleg Evgenievich made this decision due to the fact that the combination of two rather serious, responsible positions, such as artistic director and theater director, prevented him from concentrating on the creative component.

There are no more reasons for this, ”the press service explained.

The theater stressed that Menshikov's departure from the position of director is not related to the situation with staff cuts.

“Firstly, this decision was made before the decision to cut staff.

And, in fact, the decision to cut staff was made by the new director, ”the theater representative said.

Also on Monday, the Yermolova Theater released an official statement about the charges brought against the management by the laid-off employees.

“The rhetoric around the issue of personnel changes in Yermolova's theater acquired an aggressive tone and went beyond the framework of a civilized dialogue.

Employees on the downsizing list openly accuse the administration and the artistic director directly for acts that defame personal and collective reputations.

These accusations have nothing to do with reality, but at the same time cause anger and rude comments on social networks, ”the theater's press service noted.

The statement specifies that only artists who have no roles in the current repertoire, who have not appeared in the theater for several years and who do not take part in the life of the collective, were cut off.

In addition, according to the text of the statement, initially there were no honored and people's artists, as well as actors of pre-retirement and old age, among the laid-off employees.

Commenting on complaints about the new repertoire policy, management notes that actions to implement it in 2013 led to a 21-fold increase in theater revenues compared to 2011.

“Representatives of the theater are preparing statements of claim against some artists to protect the honor, dignity and business reputation of the State Budgetary Educational Institution“ MDT im.

M.N.

Ermolova "and the artistic director of the theater", - emphasized in the press service.

Sergei Kuzoyatov, in turn, said that Menshikov tried to defend the retention of the dismissed artists to the last.

“These are the people who did not go on stage for many years and, more to say, did not appear at the workplace at all, but at the same time continue to receive their salary.

People do not bring any benefit to the theater, ”the director explained in an interview with the NTV channel.

“The actors who were laid off have played a maximum of six roles in performances over the past 30 years ... When we tried to involve them in at least some role from the theater's repertoire, they brought medical withdrawals, said that they were physically unable to work ", - Kuzoyatov told Gazeta.Ru.

• Scene from the play "Master Servant"

• © ermolova.ru

Layoff scandal

At the end of July, the media reported that layoffs were taking place at the Yermolova Theater (according to the latest information - 18 employees), which caused discontent among the artists.

Then the institution said that such a decision was made by the management in order to optimize resources against the backdrop of a pandemic.

Members of the troupe commented on this information to the media.

Actress Lyudmila Shmeleva, in an interview with NEWS.ru, noted that the salary of an artist of the Yermolova Theater is on average 20 thousand rubles a month.

“Newly arrived people can receive 100-200 thousand rubles each.

Maybe it's contract salaries.

But they are not regular actors, they come to contracts.

And as I understand it, they are trying to cut our line-up for this very reason - they want to take other actors to our places.

From our point of view, this is not a layoff, this is a layoff disguised as layoffs, ”Shmeleva said.

According to the actress Elena Burkhanova-Kalinina, Oleg Menshikov receives 103 thousand rubles for going on stage in one performance.

“It is even more incomprehensible why our leadership is talking about the difficult economic situation when it receives huge amounts of money from the budget of the theater,” she told kp.ru.

Actress Elena Papanova told Gazeta.Ru that she was fired from the theater due to her “lack of involvement,” although, according to her, she repeatedly asked Menshikov to give her a job.

Her colleague Anna Skvarnik, in an interview with MK, said that in 2012, with the arrival of Menshikov, the theater's repertoire changed, some artists were left unused and left the theater.

“Before that, the directors were fired.

Who "broke" himself and wrote a statement.

Someone was caught on labor discipline issues.

Someone was laid off on the job, ”says Skvarnik.

At the same time, the actor and director, head of the Moscow Provincial Theater Sergei Bezrukov supported Menshikov.

“The problem that any artistic director inevitably faces: he sees that there are, alas, unsuitable artists, and even on indefinite contracts,” he said in an interview with MK.

However, he stressed that such situations are not so straightforward, and that it would be good to establish an independent commission that determines the qualifications of the artist.

“The repertory theater is a family, but, as Oleg Pavlovich (Tabakov. -

RT

) said, it is not an almshouse, but a factory.

And at the plant everyone should work for the plant and improve its welfare.

If we return to the question, then I am in favor of a mutual divorce, and if we say goodbye, then it is better to solve everything amicably, without scandals, ”concluded Bezrukov.

• Scene from the play "Summer Residents"

• © ermolova.ru

On August 20, MK published excerpts from the appeal of the dismissed artists to the President of Russia (in an interview with Gazeta.Ru, Kuzoyatov emphasized that this letter was written a month ago).

Sixteen signers of the letter criticized the activities of the theater director.

According to media reports, the artists informed the head of state that, barely becoming artistic director, Menshikov removed almost 90% of the performances from the repertoire.

Then the theater began to play performances of "Partnership 814", one of the founders of which is Menshikov.

The artists have complained about some of the performances for which money was spent, but they never came out or were shown several times.

Also, the authors of the letter were dissatisfied with the high fees of colleagues and the “wastefulness” of the management, against the background of which it was decided to dismiss some employees.

"It is the professionals who are fired so that they do not interfere with Menshikov's doing what he wants!"

- the letter says.

In "MK" the letter that came into the possession of the publication was called "incendiary" and emphasized that "there is a lot in it, and the cited facts will have to be refuted by the leadership of Ermolovsky."

The theater, in turn, expressed disagreement with the editorial policy of MK and some other media "in connection with the publication of unprofessional articles covering the current situation from only one side and provoking the escalation of conflict and the dissemination of unverified information."