Russian theatre legend Lyubimov turns 95

Legendary Russian theatre director Yury Lyubimov, who turns 95 Sunday, said Friday that his dream of producing a comic opera based on Moliere may finally come true after a go-ahead from Moscow. As work continues on his highly anticipated production of the classic opera Prince Igor, to premiere in December at the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow finally found a place to stage Lyubimov's long-planned production based on two plays by Moliere, "The School for Wives" and "The School for Husbands". "Recently I met with the head of Moscow's culture department Sergei Kapkov, who offered to stage the Moliere performance at (Moscow theatre house) Novaya Opera," he said in an interview with Itar-TASS. Lyubimov was one of the giants of Soviet theatre, winning fame not only in Russia but also abroad for hugely visual and experimental spectacles that transcended language. He dazzled the Soviet public with his productions at the Taganka theatre until 1984 when he was stripped of his Soviet citizenship after giving an interview to Britain's The Times newspaper while putting on a play in London. But with the onset of perestroika, Lyubimov returned to Moscow in triumph in 1988 and retained his near mythical status after the collapse of the Soviet Union, still putting on new productions in his nineties. Lyubimov was as fit and eloquent as ever at a press conference on Friday, saying he had no intention of retiring and telling journalists that he plans to work as usual on his birthday. The director, who has a reputation of being extremely demanding of his actors, last year left the Taganka theatre, which he created and headed for half a century, after a conflict with his acting troupe. He later joined the Vakhtangov theatre in Moscow, where he had been acting in the 1950s, and in March staged Fyodor Dostoyevsky's classic novel "Demons" which many said alluded to the political situation in Russia after the rallies against President Vladimir Putin. The director said he had to rewrite the play after the 2011 massacre in Norway by rightwing extremist gunman Anders Behring Breivik, "to make it relevant to what is happening in the world." "I can find work anywhere," he said. "I've been working since I was 14. All my family was in prison (during the Stalin purges). This is why I am what I am, I had a difficult life, I didn't flutter about."