38 productions from 18 countries.
The second festival was a real test for durability of the new institution. During the four years since 1992, the Chekhov Festival’s team led by Valery Shadin made the most serious breakthrough in joint international projects: with the support of the Goethe-Institut, they participated in the creation and run of a huge Russian-German scenic fresco – eight-hour long ”Oresteia" directed by Peter Stein on the stage of the Russian Army Theatre (1994). The production had a huge response and a successful festival story. In 1994, Valery Shadrin brought two magnificent productions by Declan Donnellan and Cheek by Jowl to Moscow, "Measure for Measure" and “As You Like It". The 2nd Chekhov Festival in 1996 has shown almost 40 performances, and each of them became an event! "Uncle Vanya" and "Oresteia" by Peter Stain, "Three Sisters" by Eimuntas Nekrošius, “The Duchess of Malfi" by Declan Donnellan at the theatre "Cheek by Jowl", "Happy Days" by Peter Brook (this great guru of the modern theatre will come to Chekhov Festival twice-in 2007 and 2017), “The Seagull” by Petr Lebl (Prague Theatre on the Balustrade), the first touring in Russia of the ballet staged by Maguy Marin (France), "Lamentations" by Anatoly Vasilyev and Vladimir Martynov - that’s only a part of this firework of various theatrical ideas and forms.
But, perhaps, the center of this magnificent composition was “The Island of Slaves" - the play of Pierre de Marivaux directed by Giorgio Strehler in the Piccolo Teatro of Milan. Giorgio Strehler could not come to Moscow, despite he was very much awaited on the Festival. In December 1997, he passed away. But his great production "The Servant of Two Masters" opened the Third World Theatre Olympics in Moscow (2001), and in 2011 this production returned to Moscow and then toured six more cities of the country.
It is essential, believe me, to always have a theatre, to have it developed and loved by viewers.
As artists, we are just a tool of theatre poetics, which is the essence of the theatre. I want to repeat again that this, I hope, is not the last meeting.
I cordially embrace my Russian colleagues and friends, because all of us, we are members of a large family, for which there are no borders.
Georgio Strehler
Milan, June 29, 1996
It is scary to write about the festival, because it forms a picture of the world theatre of the late 20th century and, regardless of all the pros and cons, this picture is probably the only consolation that we still have.
K.I. from «Crime»
