Российская профессиональная и "любительская" театральная критика в зеркале дискуссий

Abstract

The article is dedicated to discussions in old and new media about the state of modern Russian theater criticism and reveals the mechanism and consequences of dividing its authors into professionals and “amateurs” who write about the same performances, but with different degrees of responsibility and on different platforms – in special publications not for a mass audience and in amateur blogs that are easily accessible to everyone. A whole layer of scientific literature on theater criticism and theater journalism existing today in the conditions of digitalization of the media space and reflecting the phenomena of digitalization of the theater itself was studied. The theater critic has always not only assessed the phenomena of art, but also described them, trying to preserve living emotional impressions, recreating the appearance of disappeared performances, recording unique moments of acting, measuring the “temperature” of the auditorium; analyzed the changing styles and artistic trends, preferences, tastes and moods of the public. It would seem that the tasks of a professional theater critic remain the same. In fact, much has changed not only in its status, goals, functions, tools, and the content it creates, but also in the situation around it. Today we are witnessing the emergence of a new generation of young theater critics, who do not always have a special theater education, have never worked in professional media, call themselves bloggers, but are just as active as professionals in judging the theater. The topic of this study seems relevant since the discrepancies between the points of view expressed by the designated parties on modern theater are becoming more and more obvious. Therefore, the aim of our research is to study Russian theater criticism through the prism of the discussions going on around and within it. The study used the method of observing the practice of modern theater criticism, analyzed joint discussions published over the past ten years in the Russian media and the Internet, individual interviews and articles by professional representatives of the theater critical workshop and “amateur” bloggers about the purpose of criticism and the meanings it defends and the tools used. As a result, differences in the work of professional theater critics and representatives of amateur theater blogging, on the one hand, and, paradoxically, a tendency towards their convergence, on the other, were revealed. The described situation differs from the relationship in the environment of professional and blogger journalism, which is not related to such a specific field as theater. The most advanced “amateur” theater critics understand that they still cannot exist without knowledge of its fundamentals and deep mastery of the profession, and specialists feel a natural urge to move to the blogosphere, which they consider as an attractive platform for reaching the audience in conditions of a shortage of traditional print media.