Mikhail Bychkov, the artistic director of the Voronezh Chamber Theatre, has been fired after signing an appeal to stop the war in Ukraine. Bychkov’s suspension was announced by the Ministry of Culture of the Voronezh Region.
On November 21, the Ministry of Culture of the Voronezh Region stated that the artistic director of the Voronezh Chamber Theatre had been relieved of his position. The reasons for Bychkov’s dismissal were not disclosed
The media outlet Vesti Voronezh, citing a source in the regional authorities, explained that Bychkov «retained his inclination for writing public letters of condemnation, and the theater itself did not endeavor to assist participants of the Special Military Operation and their family members with discounted tickets.»
As a consequence, several actors leave Voronezh Chamber Theatre in protest against the decision.
Since the start of the war, 17 Russian directors and musicians have signed an appeal to the warring parties, urging them to cease hostilities and engage in negotiations. Mikhail Bychkov was among them.
«Right now, we are speaking not only as cultural figures but as ordinary people, citizens of our country, our homeland. There are children and grandchildren of those who fought in the Great Patriotic War, witnesses and participants of that war. Each of us carries a genetic memory of war, and we do not want a new one; we do not want people to die, ” said Mikhail Bychkov on his Facebook* page.
On March 9, 2023, Mikhail Bychkov announced that he was stepping down from the position of artistic director of the international Platonov Arts Festival after nearly 12 years. «The world has changed, and the festival will inevitably change to match this new world, ” wrote the director.
What other say about Bychkov
Thursday, October 6, 2016 • 4 PM • Center for Russian Culture
MIKHAIL BYCHKOV, widely known in the Russian performing arts community as the founder of the Voronezh Chamber Theater and the International Platonov Festival, was chosen this year as chair of the jury for the Golden Mask National Theater Prize, Russia’s equivalent of the Tonys, in recognition of his contributions to Russian theater.
In the words of John Freedman, the most authoritative observer of contemporary Russian theater scene, Bychkov transformed a one-room basement affair into a “spectacular new multi-purpose building in the center of Voronezh that not only turns out ground-breaking theater but also serves as a major meeting place for art, artists and art consumers from all over Russia.”
Bychkov’s perspective on the place of Russian theater in the cultural transformation that has taken place over the past quarter of a century is especially valuable because he has played a leading role in shaping and developing theater in Russia’s regions, which is where the visionary theater-makers of the New Russian Drama movement have come from, and which are now viewed, in Moscow and Petersburg as incubators of the most far-reaching cultural experimentation.