Moscow Diaries: Sunday at the Maly
Oblivious to geopolitics, the cultural scene is absolutely thriving in the Russian capital.
I have been to the Bolshoi, Russia’s greatest performing arts venue, on a number of occasions. It’s neighbour, the Maly, which traces its history to the beginning of the 19th century, and has been in its present building since 1824, is a place I hadn’t stepped into it, until today.
Today I went with a friend and her toddler for a staging of Zolushka (Cinderella). The play, obviously meant for children, was well produced. It’s heartening to see parents inculcate an appreciation of culture among their children.
The perfectly-maintained venue has the mainstays of any cultural institutions, a cafe, where people before and during the interval of a performance nibble on butrbord- open-ended sandwiches and have either tea, coffee or champagne. Since people were there with smaller children today, no one was drinking alcohol. As such, there is a great awareness across the country about alcohol abuse, and I have seen this urge to drink come down over the last two decades.
Before the concert I stood in a hall which has busts of the giants of Russian literature- Alexander Pushkin, Nicholai Gogol, Mikhail Lermontov and playwright Alexander Ostrovsky. It’s impossible to stand in that hall and be in the theatre that staged 40 premieres of Ostrovsky's plays and not be overcome with inspiration and the motivation to work on a fine and lasting piece of art.
The Maly was absolutely full for this performance of Zolushka. My friend had bought the tickets a week in advance, but she told me that for many concerts, the ballet or plays, tickets get sold out well in advance.
Another friend explained that the closing off of the West to Russia has led to many people travelling within the country for vacations and also making full use of what it offers. So, even tickets to museums for specific time slots get sold out weeks or months in advance. The same is the case with high-speed trains to cities like St. Petersburg and Kazan.
On the face of it, there seems to be a genuine economic boom within the country, at least in its big cities. So far, I have also noticed that the cost of eating out and taxis has risen quite a bit over the last few years. A taxi driver from Kyrgyzstan told me that the main aggregator takes a much larger commission from drivers than it did a year ago. He complained of rapid and senseless price rises.
What’s certain is that a particular segment of society is thriving in 2020s Russia.
Afterthought
The delightful children who came to see the play, looked at the only non-ethnic Russian face in the theatre with a mild sense of curiosity. This is no longer the Moscow of even the early 2000s. Thanks to the internet and the ability to travel, this generation is used to seeing foreigners and makes no big deal about it.
Yesterday, my godchildren told me about how they see diplomats from African embassies in the morning when they go to school and how cool that is. They are far better informed about the world than children their age in many parts of the world.