A Future of 'UnFreedom': Lev Dodin's open letter to Zhurnal Teatr on the case of Kirill Serebrennikov

A Moscow court has today convicted the acclaimed Russian theatre and film director Kirill Serebrennikov of fraud in a case that is seen by many as a test of artistic freedom in Russia.

Serebrennikov has created works for opera, theatre and film, and his productions have regularly won awards. The ‘Platforma’ theatre project at the center of the case was established with a grant in 2011 from the Russian Ministry of Culture and Serebrennikov and three others in his team were accused of embezzling money from the grant. The court convicted Serebrennikov and his co-defendants Yury Itin and Konstantin Malobrodsky but acquitted one defendant, Sofia Apfelbaum.

Since his arrest in 2017, artistic figures in Russia and abroad have spoken out in his defence and this month thousands of artists signed an open letter to Russia’s culture minister, Olga Lyubimova, asking her to drop the complaint against the defendants.

Pushkin House is publishing here our own translation of a powerful open letter published on 25 June 2020 in Zhurnal Teatr by renowned Russian theatre director Lev Dodin, Artistic Director of the Maly Drama Theatre - Theatre of Europe, St Petersburg.

Today it seems we cannot fully comprehend what happened on 22 June, the anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, in the Meshchansky Court in Moscow. For the first time in the history of the new Russia, whose 30th anniversary we will mark next year […] an official representitive of the state - and a prosecutor IS a high representative of the state - demanded a long jail sentence be given to AN ARTIST, A CREATOR, A DIRECTOR as a punishment for his art. Yes, this is what it is, because within ‘Platforma’ which was created in accordance with a request and a state commission and which was approved personally by the president of Russia [...] there was a whole series of artistic works, multiple seminars, meetings and artistic research. This artistic endeavour created by many people gave an intensive impulse to the development of theatrical arts in our country […..]

But! It turns out that all this creative work was not done according to the rules. It broke the financial discipline. An artist and his team broke the rules when they acquired pencils to draw because the rules prescribed drawing not with a pencil but with a pen; they used the wrong brushes to paint their paintings; the piano which made enchanting sounds was not bought according to the rules. The piano was bought, a talented pianist was invited, his performance paid for, the music performed, but not according to the rules of buying the piano and paying the pianist. Productions were given life, reviewed by the Russian and foreign media, evoked interest and were well received by the audience, but the productions were not created according to the rules. Theatre sets were built before the approval for their production was received. Art generally is rarely produced according to rules but art remains while the rules change and are abolished. And in our country they get changed and abolished almost every year. […….]

Rules of creation are made up by people who create nothing but rules. And they are created most frequently in such a way as to prevent any creation. Or at best to create as little as possible. Nevertheless, rules exist. Nevertheless, this means that rules have to be followed. So - please - point out how the rules were broken, and administer a fine on those who broke them – you can even take part of the remuneration received by the artist. But to jail an artist for breaking rules while creating means to jail him for his art.

And this is blasphemy and turns us over into completely different circumstances and times.

I’m afraid we are not even able to imagine what we will all feel on 26 June if, and when, handcuffs will be put on the artist and his team and the talented manager Sophia Apfelbaum, who was brought into this for nothing, and they are led away from the courtroom into the dark unknown of a future of ‘unfreedom’. Will it not seem to us that each of us is being led away into the darkness of ‘unfreedom’? Will we be able to work, and forgive me for my high language, and lose ourselves in our inspiration? I’m not sure. [….]

Only yesterday, this could not have been imagined even in our worst nightmare. We know that in our country the justice system is completely independent. So all we can do is to pray that this independence will whisper into the ear of Olesya Mendeleyeva, the judge of the Meshchansky Court, that the verdict that she will read out on 26 June will become part of Russian history in the same way as did the verdicts in the cases of Brodsky, Meyerhold and many others. All we have left is that this woman Olesya Mendeleyeva enters a hopeful page into the history of Russian culture, full of tragedy and injustices.

Further reading

The original Russian text of Lev Dodin’s letter can be read here on the website of Zhurnal Teatr.

The Human Rights Watch website has some excellent background reading here as does this New Yorker article The Rise and Fall of Russia’s Most Acclaimed Theater Director.