Theatre booms in Russia
Performance of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by the Russian Academic Youth Theatre in the southern Siberian city of Tuva as part of the "Big Tours" programme. Image: RAMT / VKontakte
31 July 2017
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Elise Morton
Audience figures for Russian theatres are at their highest since 1991, according to Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky.
“In our country we are seeing a theatre, [theatre] tour and philharmonic boom. Last year attendance at our theatres exceeded 38 million people. This is an absolute record since 1991,” Mr Medinsky said, quoted by the Interfax news agency at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin and other members of the government.
In addition, Mr Medinsky noted that record ticket sales had been seen at cinemas throughout the country, while the Moscow Philharmonic Society beat its own Guinness World Record for number of season tickets sold and the government-supported “Big Tours” programme is going from strength to strength.
“The ‘Big Tours’ programme, which we started [...] in 2014, sees the best of Moscow theatre touring remote regions of Russia. This year it is anticipated that 350,000 tickets will be sold across 700 performances. This is four times more than two years ago,” Mr Medinsky reported. While state financing of this programme has remained at the same level, support from sponsors and regional authorities has significantly increased.
Source: Afisha (in Russian)
