Academic conversations. #10 years challenge. How will the 2010s be remembered in theatre?  

A program of the Theatre Institute, at the Stanislavsky Electrotheatre
An event of the Golden Mask Festival's Mask Plus non-competition program  

The 2010s in Russian theatre were a time of active change in theatrical tendencies, a time when new forms and new names emerged. The process of integration with European theatre, which began at the turn of the 1990s – 2000s, achieved its goal: Russian theatre began developing at an accelerated rate and achieved new dimensions.

Site-specific, immersive theater, the powerful movement of social art and documentary practices shook the old system of genres and pushed us toward the sacramental question: were any boundaries left in theatre? The productions of the 2010s indicated that these boundaries were becoming even more transparent. Theatres in a prison colony, an old mansion, a cemetery or an underground passage, once again convinced us that the phenomenon of play and imitation remained decisive in the human experience. They could be tools for analysis, therapy or entertainment. With this important clarification over the last decade: “the selfie era” provoked strategies and energies of theatricality in the sense of progression.

Spectators declared their presence in the communicative act more boldly – from talk backs to direct participation. They tried to understand, enter into conflict, and control the conversation, but this ultimately brought theatre into the sphere of public discussion. The question of violence in the nature of theatrical discourse was debated no less boldly, and at the same time there was a search for forms that involved a choice of perception in response to traditional authoritarian, authorial control of meaning. Such installations of the post-Soviet generation send us both to the avant-garde of the early 20th century, and to the performative exercises of the 1960s, and encourage us to think that experiments in art are still possible. Moreover, the technologies that provoke new visions and innovation have penetrated so deeply into everyday life in the past 20 years that theatre has inevitably included them in its vocabulary.

A hierarchy headed by an exclusive creator is no longer necessary to create a performance. Horizontal connections and collective writing are increasingly relevant in the rehearsal process. As a result, by the end of the 2010s there were less and less “big names” and more and more names of art groups emerging as recognizable brands.

The problem of a rigid theatrical structure was evident both in artistic systems and the organization of theatre business. Independent theaters, unconstrained by government oversight, internal censorship and the usual forms of repertoire activity, became more prominent. This began significantly to transform the Russian theatrical landscape: it proposed new themes, new ways of expression, and an economic model for the realization of theatrical planning.

Here, at the end of the subsequent decade, we have an opportunity to sum up the theatrical processes of the recent past. But not only. This will be a great chance to think about future #10yearschallenge topics. We will not stop.

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