Государство и театр: к вопросу о законодательном регулировании театральной индустрии в постсоветской России, 1991–1999

Исторический вестник. 2022. Т. 42. № 4. С. 84–101.

Golovlev A.

This paper deals with the issue of theatre regulation in early post-Soviet Russia under President Boris Yeltsin. It examines a number of decrees signed by the President and the Government that addressed Russian theatre as a significant and economically significant part of the country’s cultural industry, an important component of its image and cultural capital. The first (May 1991) Presidential Decree ushered in the era of post-communist legislation, establishing all key features of Yeltsin-era theatre policies such as artistic liberalism, managerial autonomy, and a commitment to state patronage. A few houses with a large symbolic capital (such as the Bolshoi) later received much more personalized attention from Boris Yeltsin, who precluded theaters’ privatization, promised financial commitment, and made personal appointments in theatre management. Thus, continuous and «enlightened» attention of executive power remained in the normative perspective, being gradually reshaped toward more cost-saving policies after the 2008 shock. The 1990s legislation clearly was a democratic revolution in theatre and a period of unprecedented liberal interventionism, albeit with authoritarian tendencies. Yet the necessary economic upholstering failed to materialize, showing the discrepancy between the intentional and the real.

Keywords: Борис Ельцин, post-communist Russia, посткоммунистическая Россия, Большой театр, Boris Yeltsin, Bolshoi theater, theater legislation, theater liberalization, theater economy, theater governance, театральное законодательство, театральная либерализация, театральная экономика, управление театром