Conceptual theater of Kirill Ganin. Nude actors play plays by classics and contemporary authors

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The Kirill Ganin Theater opened in 1994 in Moscow. The very first performance, in which naked actors participated, caused such a scandal that the director was arrested for advertising pornography.

Ganin's biography and creative activity

Sergey Ganin was born on March 8, 1967. He took a new name later, when he became interested in theater. Prior to that, he graduated from the Institute of Moscow State Construction University NRU (Construction University, Department of the Theory of Structures), but did not work by profession. After the success of his project, he went to study directing at the Moscow State Institute of Culture (Institute of Culture).

The Kirill Ganin Theater (the address of the first performance is the stage "SHOLOM") opened with a performance of "Behind Closed Doors" based on the play of the same name by Sartre on May 29. Ganin is the only director who directs foreign and domestic classics, as well as his own works.

At the third show, Kirill was arrested under Article 228 of the Criminal Code (distribution of pornography). He spent 4 months in a pre-trial detention center, then was released pending trial on bail. During the proceedings, he was sent to the Serbsky Research Institute to determine his sanity.

In mid-1995, he was fully acquitted and declared sane, after which the theater of Kirill Ganin resumed work in an official status. The performances are mostly held in chamber mode on a small stage, which creates an atmosphere of intimacy and close contact with the audience.

The scandalous history of the theater

What is Kirill Ganin's Conceptual Theater famous for? Moscow has seen a lot, but dramatic productions with naked actors on stage are a unique phenomenon. There is nothing pornographic in the text itself. The director puts on favorite classics, but reveals the ideas of his works in the truest sense of the word.

Shock therapy from the "truth of life" does not delight everyone. Ganin is forced to sue the heirs of the plays and deputies of the State Duma. In 1997, the director released a fairy tale with an erotic bias "Fly-Tsokotuha". E. Ts. Chukovskoy (the granddaughter of the classic) sued the theater of Kirill Ganin. Lawyers for both sides settled the scandal out of court. The name of the performance was renamed to "Fly-Slut".

The Master and Margarita project based on Bulgakov's novel was staged at the theater in 1999. Sergei Shilovsky (the writer's heir) sued for violation of rights, but lost. The director managed to prove that there were no edits in the text, he paid all the contributions for authorship, therefore he has the right to put the work in his concept. Deputies N. Gubenko and E. Drapeko in 2003 appealed directly to the Minister of Internal Affairs with a demand to close the Kirill Ganin Conceptual Theater and to ban the showing of the production “Leninin sex. Their request was denied.

By 2005, the director was so harassed that in order to protect himself (and for advertising) Ganin himself sues Daria Dontsova and the Eksmo publishing house for the fact that in his novel “Dentists also cry” in one of the lines dialogue heroes undermined his professional status and reputation. The phrase in the book sounded like this: “Is this art? It's just a status, just like the theater of Kirill Ganin. Dirty pornography, but nothing can be done.”

This time the court dismissed Ganin's claim with the conclusion that Dontsova, as a writer, can create texts at her own discretion. In response, the director released a performance under the provocative title D. Dontsov. Erotic fantasies. The story ended peacefully. The publishers removed the phrase from the novel, and Ganin withdrew the production.

Ganin is a politician

April 4, 2012 Kirill Ganin with his friends, journalists I. Dudinsky and A. Nikonov, created the party "Russia without obscurantism", officially registered by the MURF. The main thesis is the fear of intellectuals for general education in schools and protest against the deepening of knowledge of the law of God to the detriment of mathematics and the Russian language.

In addition to the growing influence of the church on state power, the party puts forward theses about the general "stupidity" of the people. The evidence is the weakening of the school curriculum, low salaries, illogical decisions of the head of state. A quote from Ganin’s speech to V. Putin at a conference on October 25, 2012: “Patriarch Kirill is a danger to createmodern Rasputin. If the president lets the church take over, he can't take it back.”

Success of Naked Theater

Despite the hectic activity within the walls of the court and in the political arena, Ganin is primarily the director of his theater. The performances of Kirill Ganin are a success, and there are no empty seats in the hall. Although not everyone is ready to accept "nudity" on stage.

At every show, part of the audience leaves the middle of the production in deep shock and indignation. But those who stayed until the end fall in love with frank art forever. The conceptual theater of Kirill Ganin is an attempt to give people a powerful charge of positive energy, a feeling of catharsis (purification). Return the viewer to childhood, to the origins of the sandbox, where everyone was himself.

Support for Ganin's idea

During the first arrest of the director and in the future activities of Ganin, such famous people as R. Bykov, G. Volchek, R. Viktyuk, V. Zhirinovsky, B. Pokrovsky, V. Novodvorskaya, A. Khinshtein, M Zakharov, A. Vulykh, V. Lanovoy, K. Raikin.

• “I visited the Conceptual Theater of Kirill Ganin. Moscow is a great place for a revolution in dramatic art. Here it is - the future psychological theater. - A. Demidova
• "I don't want to criticize. Everyone chooses what to watch. If Ganin has artists, it means that they are close to the director's style of work and his moral values. - K. Orbakaite
• “The Ganin Theater is like a mirror. Who wants whathe sees it." - D. Dibrov.
• “We fought for the freedom of art and creativity. So get or create your own. - V. Zhirinovsky

Sincerity in the nude

The most sincere theater of Kirill Ganin (address: Dobroslobodskaya, 2 - 38) is waiting for its audience. Here everyone can participate in the action along with the actors. Get on stage or just enjoy the magic of Melpomene.