Opera sacks art director, offers him post as cloakroom attendant
mainThe Novaya Opera in Moscow has fired Victor Gerasimenko, its chief stage designer since 1995. ‘In accordance with the established procedure, Gerasimenko was able to choose one of the available staffing positions – as cloakroom attendant or labourer,’ it was stated. Gerasimenko, an Honoured Artist of Russia, said he was a victim of vengeance by a new management.
They got the idea from watching Murnau’s classic DER LETZTE MANN (24).
They could also have gotten the idea from the US civil service. It’s called “bumping.”
It’s not uncommon, in arts companies all over the world, for new administrations to marginalize people who are, in the new leaders’ minds, associated with their predecessors. It’s a monumental waste of talent.
This somehow reminds me of the film “Das Konzert” where the protagonist was a cherished conductor during the Soviet era, and was demoted to janitor….
The resemblance is not accidental.