Moscow mayor ordered to demolish all theater box offices

Фото: Depositphotos

All theater ticket offices in the Russian capital will be dismantled by April by decision of Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin. Moscow authorities explained that such a step was dictated by the “fight against non-stationary trade.”

Earlier it was reported about the intention of Sobyanin to replace in 2016 year all the stalls that are located on the streets of the city and in the underground passages.

Representatives of the Russian theater elite criticized the mayor's office. Lenkom director Mark Varshaver called this decision “pure madness and disgrace,” since it equates box offices selling theater tickets to “beer and other stalls.”

“These are a kind of poster stands, of which there should be a lot in any city, especially in Moscow, where there are more than a hundred theaters,” complains the head of the Russian Academic Youth Theater (RAMT), Sofya Apfelbaum, who called the box office “a sign of the city’s culture.”

According to Vitaly Vinogradov, director general of the Moscow Directorate of Theater and Concert and Spectacular Boxing, around 140 ticket offices were working in the capital, selling about two million tickets annually.

“We were ordered to dismantle all ticket offices in the city, allowing only seven to remain. Their existence was extended for another three months,” Vinogradov said.

The Union of Theater Workers of Russia reported that they wrote letters to Sergei Sobyanin, in which they asked to cancel the illogical, according to members of the union, decision to demolish, but their voice was not heard.

At the same time, the head of the Moscow Department of Trade and Services, Aleksey Nemeryuk, said TV channel "Rain"that we are talking about the temporary cessation of work of theater box offices, which are located in the Moscow metro, due to repairs.

Last january last year like reminds RBC, the Moscow authorities took up the reform of the non-stationary trade market, deciding to demolish the old kiosks, independently install new ones, and enter into contracts with entrepreneurs not for renting space, but for an already equipped kiosk.

However, by October 2015, only 59 kiosks were rented out instead of approximately 5 thousand dismantled. In particular, seven kiosks specializing in “theater tickets” were rented out.