Scandal in Young Spectator Theatre: Political subtext found in Three Little Pigs play

The theatre director find suspicious a pig's words about building a house on a good foundation.

The conflict in the Young Spectator Theatre began last month. Director Mikalai Kaziulin faced a vote of no confidence from the theatre's art council on January 24. The general meeting was held on January 25. The theatre members didn't like the director's intention to focus entirely on entertainment. Actors would like to preserve educational elements, Nasha Niva reports.

Kaziulin proposed to abolish the post of the art director, currently held by stage director Uladzimir Savitski. The legal status of the position is equal to that of the theatre director.

The theatre director apologized to the staff and decided to quit, media informed. But the recent general meeting showed Kaziulin is not going to give up.

The meeting was attended by officials Ihar Karpenka, Minsk's vice mayor and leader of pro-Lukashenka communist party, and Vitalina Rudzikava, the head of the cultural department of the Minsk city executive committee.

Karpenka said the post of the art director would be preserved and the first show in the renovated building would be The Blue Bird by Maurice Maeterlinck to demonstrate all technical abilities of the new building. Kaziulin planned to abandon the play.

Ihar Karpenka was optimistic about moving to the new building scheduled for summer and about new shows. However, the actors were outraged: “Didn't you see how the Yanka Kupala Theatre opened? You are telling us fairy tales.”

The actors meant that the process of moving to the new building would take a long time.

Mikalai Kaziulin then said he was ready to quit if the company didn't trust him (he had said it earlier at a meeting in the city executive committee). His statement was met with applause, but the actors didn't believe Kaziulin's words suspecting him of playing a double game.

The staff members complained that the theatre director had invited them for a talk and tried to enlist their support (for example, he promised a higher post to a member of the technical team for his loyalty).

Uladzimri Savitski says Kaziulin accused him of putting political subtext in children's plays. In particular, the theatre director found political implications in Three Little Pigs, a play for children over 5 years old. Kaziulin found suspicious a pig's words that a house needs a good foundation.

Conflicts are the last thing the Young Spectator Theatre needs in the current situation. The theatre moved out of the old building in 2008 having to show plays on the stage of the House of Writers, while all technical departments work on Minsk's outskirts, at the Electron cinema.

The staff gave a tour.

Technicians have to work in small cold rooms. Sets are being made in the cinema foyer. The temperature in the carpenter's shop is about zero.

The actors ask to finish the repair works as soon as possible and find a new theatre director who wouldn't interfere with the creative process.