President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Mashkov, the Union of Theatre Workers is marking its 150th anniversary. Please tell me about the events programme.
Chairman of the Russian Union of Theatre Workers Vladimir Mashkov: Thank you very much for this meeting and the opportunity to tell you in person about the 150th anniversary. Thanks to your executive order and the well-coordinated creative work of the Organising Committee, the celebration programme is quite remarkable.
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Allow me to tell you briefly about our organisation. The Union of Theatre Workers is the largest creative association in Russia.
Vladimir Putin: It has 30,000 members.
Vladimir Mashkov: Yes, almost 30,000 theatre workers and the number is growing. We have 82 regional branches. In the past two years, we have opened regional branches in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.
We are currently preparing for the opening of our representative office in Abkhazia and setting up a youth council. Naturally, a large number of young people are closely involved in our common cause. Our entire large creative team has organised this anniversary. It was launched on January 17 with our new professional holiday, Performing Artist’s Day, supported by the Government. This holiday is for artists of all genres and forms of art – theatre, variety entertainment, film, circus, and even athletes, because artistic performance is an important part of assessment in some sports.
You know, Denis Fonvizin once offered a very accurate distinction between an actor and an artist. His witty remark goes something like this: an actor is a talented performer, and an artist is a creator. It is with the understanding of this mission that we came together for the first time. And I hope these meetings will continue. I think they are very important for our consolidation.
One of the key projects of this anniversary year, created with Russian Railways, is Theatre Train. Two beautiful modern trains, beautifully decorated. One departed from Vladivostok for Moscow and the other from Sevastopol to Moscow. Five thousand performers rotated during the trip through 43 cities, with Moscow being the 44th city. Thousands of people greeted them at Kievsky Railway Station. Two-day festivals took place in every city, bringing them to life with busy creative programmes.
I’d like to tell you one moving story. The train called at a small station called Sosnovye Rodniki for maintenance. It is near the town of Oktyabrsky in the Irkutsk Region. People from the town came out to look at the train. What is it? Actors were standing outside. The people asked them to recite something. The actors started reciting poems and singing. Children gathered. There is one unique carriage called the Puppet Theatre, with seats for the audience. The actors performed a play for the children. Then, the train departed. The locals pleaded for them to come back again, even if only for a pit stop. We have a preliminary agreement with Russian Railways to continue this project next year. It has united our entire creative country. This is very important.
Vladimir Putin: In total, 280 performances, correct?
Vladimir Mashkov: More than 280 performances, meet-the-artist events and workshops. It was popular in every city. I believe about 6,000 people greeted the train in Tomsk. There was a city march. Filling cities with art was fascinating. The train is incredibly beautiful.
The Russia National Exhibition Centre is hosting an exhibition called Theatre Legacy: The Masters. More than 100 teams organised this exhibition, which includes 600 exhibits. We show the backstage life, mainly for the youngest generation. The exhibition offers 17 themed interactive experiences where kids can try their hand at prop design, art, and stage lighting. Visitors come out quite emotional. Stanislavsky once said very accurately about young people: “To do something successfully, one needs passion, feeling, and desire.” If we can spark this passion, young people may want to choose a theatre job or fall in love with theatre as viewers. One can’t live without theatre.
The central event of our anniversary year is the Russia – Theatre – Society National Marathon Festival. It is currently taking place at Zaryadye from August 1 to 9. All federal districts have presented their performances and excerpts from them. Events are being held outdoors, with artists actively participating.
Vladimir Putin: The companies have come from the regions, right?
Vladimir Mashkov: The companies have indeed arrived. Each day, a different federal district presents its performances.
The opening took place on August 1, and more than 5,000 people came to watch the entire spectacle.
Vladimir Putin: And where are the audience seated?
Vladimir Mashkov: An improvised stage has been constructed within the amphitheatre, with the Kremlin as its backdrop. It is, without doubt, a remarkable and picturesque venue. From morning until late evening, activities are held there for children and teenagers, and in the evening a performance is staged.
This format – of theatres taking to the streets during the summer – is gaining momentum. Theatre Boulevard has now been operating in Moscow for a second year, with the support of the Government. This year, it has already attracted more than one million visitors. On every boulevard, people are drawn into the event in one way or another, which, to my mind, embodies a certain social optimism. Suddenly, people can bring their children, or simply come themselves to watch, and there are open-air cinemas as well. I believe this makes every city an even better place in which to live: it is uplifting to go out, to engage in conversation, to support a cause, or even to debate a point.
Another key area is the development of a concept for the development of theatrical art until 2035. We have held theatre forums in all federal districts, with more than 1,300 participants, including representatives and heads of leading theatres, directors and artists. In a sense, this serves as our roadmap. Why has everyone engaged in this work with such enthusiasm? Because this concept has not been imposed from above – we have devised it ourselves. There are many challenges, yet the goal remains singular: we must, no matter what, develop and preserve our great multinational culture. We intend to present this concept at the St Petersburg Forum of United Cultures, and perhaps it will provide the foundation for our subsequent steps.
Vladimir Putin: This will take place in the autumn, will it not?
Vladimir Mashkov: It will indeed be in the autumn, so we are already preparing for it. The concept is currently undergoing coordination ahead of approval by a Government order. Ultimately, we will present it at the forum.
We have developed a new concept and format for the country’s main theatre award, the Golden Mask. It is already 33 years old. It was on the brink and almost died three years ago but we managed to keep it alive. Today, we are seeking to rebuild trust within the professional community and among theatre fans. The Golden Mask innovated by leaving Moscow for the first time.
Last year, we held the award ceremony in Kazan, in the newly opened Galiaskar Kamal Tatar Academic Theatre. We spent several wonderful days there, full of creative undertakings, attended by both masters of theatre and the younger generation.
In 2026, we held the ceremony in Omsk, which is this year’s cultural capital. Once again, we spent several days celebrating theatre, which was probably one of the main events on Omsk’s cultural agenda.
We have been paying special attention to ethnic theatres. The Federation festival in Grozny has been one of our flagship projects. It used to take place once every two years, but has since evolved into an annual event. The Government of the Chechen Republic has been supporting us. Grozny is certainly a beautiful city. We innovated by including Russian theatre in the ethnic theatre programme. We will present a Cossack Theatre since this year was designated as the Year of Unity of the Peoples of Russia.
If you look at the acronym of the Year of Unity of the Peoples of Russia [in Russian], you get GEN, i.e. genome, of Russia. This demonstrates that unity is part of our DNA. The festival offers a spectacular experience with all the participating theatres, workshops and youth outreach initiatives. This year, it will take place from September 29 to October 6. We are looking forward to this encounter.
We want to bring our entire community together, and therefore we have introduced a new tradition. For the second year, we have laid flowers at our sacred site – by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. All theatre directors and heads of theatres stood together to pay tribute to our great ancestors. Our regional branches have joined this initiative as well, and now every year artists come out to honour their memory.
You know, we are standing there, with many veterans in the line, and I am standing next to our great actor Stanislav Lyubshin, whom you know very well. We are standing, there is a minute of silence, and I ask him: “Mr Lyubshin, where did you celebrate Victory Day?” He is 93 years old, in excellent creative form, still performing on stage and engaged in public work. He said: “Vladimir, I was 12 years old, and at six in the morning, as always, I was standing in line for milk. We stood there for about five hours. We stood and stood, but there was nothing. And then suddenly doors and windows started opening. People ran out, shouting something, but we were standing in the queue and did not understand what was happening. Then suddenly the door opened, a happy shop assistant came out and said: “Comrades, victory! There will be no milk.” He says: “We ran home, happy.”
These are the moments when our society comes together. Theatre, moreover, has always preserved and will continue to preserve memory, just as ethnic theatres preserve languages. It is the only place where national language, as well as the Russian language, will be preserved: on stage. In this sense, these efforts are extremely important for everyone. Even small ethnic theatres say: Suddenly, we are losing native speakers. They have to go to villages to find actors. But I believe it is very important to preserve our great Russian language.
We pay much attention to our veterans. We have established a departmental medal, Saving the Faith and the Fatherland, for veterans of the special military operation. It is awarded both to servicemen and to performers who travel to the war zone to support the soldiers. And now, within the Union of Theatre Workers, we have opened a separate branch where we will talk with them about drama, help them enter a new, peaceful life. It is a major effort.
You know, at the Sovremennik Theatre we have a wonderful actor Yevgeny Pavlov. He has been serving in the special military operation zone for more than three years. He is now part of the first frontline creative brigade. And when we have people like this – and there are many of them, both on the line of contact and in theatres, as well as among young people – then, of course, there is no doubt that victory will be ours. We will preserve both our country and our great culture.
Vladimir Putin: And there will be milk, too.
Vladimir Mashkov: And there will be milk. So thank you very much for your support of our creative community.
We will review the results of this anniversary year at our congress, which is held once every five years, on October 23. If you have the opportunity to meet with the entire Russian theatre community, we would like to invite you.
Vladimir Putin: I will certainly do my best to make it happen.
Vladimir Mashkov: Thank you very much.
Vladimir Putin: Thank you.
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