Folklore theater is diverse. This type of folk art includes performances of buffoons, the puppet theater of Parsley, booths, raek, nativity scene, and, finally, folk drama.

The origins of Russian folk theater go back to ancient times, to ancient Slavic holidays and rituals. Their elements were dressing up, singing, playing musical instruments, dancing, etc. In rites and rituals they were combined in a certain sequence into a single action, spectacle.

The first actors in Rus' are considered to be buffoons. They were often called “amusementists” because they entertained people with their jokes and funny satirical scenes. The first mentions of buffoons are found in The Tale of Bygone Years.

Buffoons were divided into sedentary and passers-by (vagrant), there were also single buffoons, puppeteer buffoons, buffoons with a bear, etc. Groups of traveling buffoons carried folk art across the country, sang mischievous songs, acted out “unprecedented events”, and performed “buffoons”. Some of them also included epics in their repertoire.

The most famous “unheard-of” stories that have survived to this day: a man and a gentleman, a man and a clergyman, a cunning old man who pretends to be deaf but hears everything, etc.

Buffoons showed audiences at fairs the “Bear Comedy” with the participation of a real bear. The respectful attitude towards this beast originated in pagan times. The bear was considered a progenitor, a symbol of health, strength, fertility, and prosperity. The “bear comedy” usually consisted of 3 parts: a dance of a bear with a goat, which was portrayed by a boy holding a goat’s head with horns on a stick, then followed by a dance of a bear with his guide and, finally, a fight between a bear and a buffoon.

The buffoons expressed the thoughts and feelings of the people, ridiculed the boyars and priests, and glorified the strength and prowess of the heroes, the defenders of the Russian land.

The authorities treated buffoons as destroyers of social foundations, rebels. In 1648 A royal decree was issued banning buffoonery. However, neither the authorities nor the church succeeded in eradicating the art of buffoons. After this, buffoons did not dare to perform in the monastery villages, but, contrary to the decree, they continued to be invited to perform at boyar feasts and other entertainments.

The appearance of buffoon games is also associated with puppet theater. The first puppet shows were performed by buffoons-puppeteers. Gradually, the main character of these performances was determined - the mischievous and cheerful Petrushka. He often filled the pauses between various theatrical performances. He was a favorite hero of both buffoons and spectators, a daring daredevil and a bully who maintained a sense of humor and optimism in any situation. The big-nosed merry fellow has always deceived the rich and government officials. As a spokesman for social protest, he invariably enjoyed the support and love of the audience.

In the comedies about Petrushka, two heroes constantly acted (according to the number of hands of the puppeteer) - Petrushka and the policeman, Petrushka and the doctor, etc. The plots were the most ordinary, life-like: Petrushka gets married, buys a horse from a gypsy, argues with a policeman, etc. However, Petrushka is invariably a participant in a conflict situation, which he himself often provokes.

A cheerful, desperate folk hero with a sharp tongue and a club always carries out justice and reprisals against hostile forces (often it was a priest who deceived the people, a doctor who treated poorly, a Tatar - a memory of the Tatar invasion, a policeman, a deceiver, etc.). But Petrushka also gets it: at the end of the performance, either the devil or the policeman appears, sometimes even death itself, but he successfully fights with them too.

The Comedy about Petrushka remains a monument to oral folk drama, although it never had a permanent text and existed in many versions and improvisations.

Parsley outlived its buffoon creators. This is a generalized symbolic image, the invincible hero of folk comedy.

In addition to the Petrushka Theater in Russia, especially in its southern regions, it was widespread nativity scene- a special portable wooden box in which dolls made of wood or other materials could move.

The “stage mirror”, open to the public, was usually divided into 2 floors: on top, on the lid, a miniature bell tower was built; a candle was placed on it behind the glass, which burned during the performance, giving the action a magical and mysterious character.

The doll was attached to a rod, the lower part of which was held by a puppeteer hidden behind a box. On the upper floor of the nativity scene, biblical scenes were usually played out, on the lower floor - everyday ones, most often comedic ones.

With the help of dolls depicting various biblical characters, scenes of the Nativity of Jesus Christ were played out, which, according to the Gospel, took place in a cave (which means “nativity scene”). One of the popular nativity plays was “King Herod,” the plot of which reflected the gospel legend about King Herod’s extermination of infants and the punishment that befell him for this crime.

With the development of trade in Russia, the growth of cities and the popularity of Russian fairs, fair spectacles are gaining strength. One of the most common ones was paradise. It existed until the end of the 19th century. and was an indispensable part of festive folk entertainment.

Art historian D.A. Ravinsky in the book “Russian Folk Pictures” describes it as follows: “The rack is a small box, a yard wide in all directions, with two magnifying glasses in front. Inside it, a long strip of home-grown food is rewound from one skating rink to another.

depicting different cities, great people and events. Spectators look into the glass. Raeshnik moves the pictures and tells tales for each new number, often very intricate ones.”

Rayok was very popular among the people. Raeshnik not only showed pictures, but also commented on the photos, talking about the events depicted there, sometimes criticizing the authorities and the established order, in a word, he touched upon pressing issues.

The basis of the district were popular prints, which formed a kind of people's library. At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries, pictures were bought up by ordinary people; they decorated the walls of the hut. In the evenings, the illiterate gathered to look at them, and the literate to read the signatures and interpret them.

The Raeshniks turned these pictures into a “funny panorama”, added to this a game with the viewer, and the result was an entertaining action.

The most important thing in the heavenly idea was that it included three types of impact on the public, image, word and game.

“Amusing panoramas” responded to various events inside and outside Russia. The Raeshniks, in their own way, enlightened the fair's visitors, broadened their horizons, but did this while entertaining and amusing the spectators. With their jokes they enlivened the pictures, popular prints lost their static quality. The raeshnik’s explanations made them topical, reflecting today.

Rayok entered the history of folk theater as one of the brightest, original phenomena of folk artistic culture

Along with the district, it is gaining wide popularity booth. In the 18th century, not a single fair was complete without booths. They were built right on the square from boards and canvas.

Inside there was a stage, a curtain and benches for spectators.

The outside of the booth was decorated with garlands, signs, and when gas lighting appeared, with multi-colored light bulbs.

The show troupe, as a rule, consisted of traveling actors. They gave several performances a day. These were mostly sideshows, magic tricks, and clowning. Singers, dancers and simply “outlandish people” performed here.

Folk dramas were staged for holidays in villages and cities. These were original performances on historical, everyday, religious themes and plots. They were usually played in a hut, in spacious barns or in the open air. Their texts, which are usually classified as works of oral folk art, were created by unknown authors. These texts, like all other elements of the productions, were varied by performers from the common people - peasants, artisans, and others.

The texts of such folk dramas as “The Boat”, “Tsar Maximilian”, and others have survived to this day.

Along with the Russian folk theater, there were performances similar to it in form, staged on church holidays in Orthodox churches. They got the name liturgical actions. The heyday of liturgical actions dates back to the 16th century.

The plots of several liturgical actions have survived to this day. “Walking on the Donkey” or “The Act of the Flower Blossom” was performed in the spring on Palm Sunday and illustrated the Gospel story about the entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem.

The action of “Washing the Feet” took place during Holy Week, before Easter. It reproduced the main episodes of the Last Supper.

The “Stove (caves) action” was distinguished by the greatest theatricality. It was a dramatization of the biblical legend about three pious youths who defended the true faith. The pagans want to burn them for refusing to worship idols. However, the Angel of the Lord frees the righteous.

Literature

Aseev B.N., Russian Drama Theater (from its origins to the end of the 18th century). M., 1977.

Gusev V.E. The origins of Russian folk theater. L., 1977.

Gusev V.E. Russian folk theater XV111 - early XX centuries. L., 1980.

Dmitriev Yu.A, Khaichenko G.A History of the Russian theater. M„ 1986.

Dmitriev Yu.A. At the old Moscow festivities / WTO Theater Almanac. Book 6. M., 1947.

Ivleva L.M. Mummers in Russian traditional culture. St. Petersburg, 1994.

The origins of the Russian theater. M., 1976. Russian folk drama of the 11th - 20th centuries. M., 1953.

Savushkina N.I. Russian folk theater. M., 1976.

Folklore theatre. M., 1988.

I. Pre-theatrical period (elements in calendar and family rituals, mummers, clowning, trainers, buffoons).

II. Theatrical period from the 17th century:

1. Balagan.

2. Rayok (moving picture theater).

3. Parsley Theater.

4. Nativity scene (about the birth of Christ in a cave).

For many centuries, the national (folklore) theater played an important role in the spiritual life of the Russian people, responding to all the most important events related to its history, and was an integral part of festive folk festivities and a favorite folk spectacle.

Its roots go back to ancient ceremonial rituals and actions associated with mummering. These rituals became an indispensable part of calendar and family holidays, which were based on a dramatic playful beginning.

Folk theater is the traditional dramatic art of the people. The types of folk entertainment and gaming culture are diverse: rituals, round dances, mummers, clownery, etc. In the history of folk theater, it is customary to consider the pre-theatrical and theatrical stages of folk dramatic creativity.

TO pre-theatrical forms include theatrical elements in calendar and family rituals.

In calendar rituals there are symbolic figures of Maslenitsa, Mermaid, Kupala, Yarila, Kostroma, etc., acting out scenes with them, and dressing up. Agricultural magic played a prominent role, with magical acts and songs designed to promote the well-being of the family. For example, on winter Christmastide they pulled a plow around the village, “sowed” grain in the hut, etc. With the loss of magical meaning, the ritual turned into fun.

The wedding ceremony was also a theatrical game: the distribution of “roles”, the sequence of “scenes”, the transformation of the performers of songs and lamentations into the protagonist of the ceremony (the bride, her mother). A complex psychological game involved changing the internal state of the bride, who had to cry and lament in her parents’ house, and in her husband’s house she had to portray happiness and contentment. However, the wedding ceremony was not perceived by the people as a theatrical performance.

In calendar and family rituals, mummers were participants in many scenes. They dressed up as an old man or an old woman, the man dressed in women's clothes, and the woman in men's clothes, they dressed up as animals, especially often as a bear and a goat. Dressing up in various clothes, making humps, masks, smearing with soot, as well as using sleds and ropes, benches, spindles and spinning wheels, troughs and frying pans, turned out fur coats and straw effigy, wax candles as conventional theatrical props, significantly enlivened folk entertainment, making their bright, exciting and unforgettable spectacle.

The costumes of the mummers, their masks, makeup, as well as the scenes they performed were passed down from generation to generation. On Christmastide, Maslenitsa, and Easter, mummers performed humorous and satirical scenes. Some of them later merged into folk dramas.

In addition to rituals, theatrical elements accompanied the performance of many folklore genres: fairy tales, round dances and comic songs, etc. An important role here was played by facial expressions, gesture, and movement - close to theatrical gesture and movement. For example, the storyteller did not just tell a fairy tale, but in one way or another acted it out: he changed his voice, gesticulated, changed his facial expression, showed how the hero of the fairy tale walked, carried a bucket or bag, etc. In fact, it was a game one actor.

Actually theatrical forms of folk dramatic creativity - a later period, the beginning of which researchers date back to the 17th century.

However, long before this time in Rus' there were comedians, musicians, singers, dancers, and trainers. This is a buffoon. They united in wandering groups until the middle of the 17th century. took part in folk rituals and holidays. There are proverbs about the art of buffoons (Everyone will dance, but not like a buffoon), songs and epics. Their work was reflected in fairy tales, epics, and various forms of folk theater. In the 17th century buffoonery was prohibited by special decrees. For some time the Sko-Morokhs took refuge on the outskirts of Rus'.

Specific features of folk theater— absence of a stage, separation of performers and audience, action as a form of reflection of reality, transformation of the performer into a different image, aesthetic orientation of the performance. Plays were often distributed in written form and pre-rehearsed, which did not exclude improvisation.

During the fairs they built BALAGANIA.

Booths— temporary structures for theatrical, variety or circus performances.

In Russia they have been known since the middle of the 18th century. Balagans were usually located in market squares, near places of city festivities. They featured magicians, strongmen, dancers, gymnasts, puppeteers, and folk choirs; small plays were staged. A balcony (raus) was built in front of the booth, from which artists (usually two) or a paradiseman invited the audience to the performance. Grandfather barkers developed their own way of dressing and addressing the audience.

Booth booths first appeared at European markets in the Middle Ages, when various shows and entertainments were organized to attract buyers, and traveling magicians, acrobats, and trainers performed. From the second half of the 16th century, professional actors began to be invited there.

The word “booth” has been known in the Russian language for a long time. It came from the Turkic language and meant a light, collapsible extension to a house, intended for storing goods or for trade. Researchers date the history of theatrical booths in Russia to the 18th century.

“Eh-wah, So many booths have been built for your pockets. Carousels and swings for festive fun! - shouted the barkers.

The first descriptions of booths, which were then called fair theaters, date back to the end of the 18th century. In these “wooden huts” all sorts of comic and tragic important acts, fables, fairy tales, miracles were presented. Each spectacle lasted no more than half an hour, “and therefore there are up to 30 or more of them a day, and although each spectator only costs 5 kopecks he pays for the entrance, but this amounts to a significant profit.”

Booths, along with other entertainment facilities, quickly gained popularity. In 1822, an entire city was erected in Moscow, consisting of 13 booths, 4 roller coasters, 2 carousels and 31 tents for trade.

There was no technical control over the construction of booths. They built it by eye, based on experience. This continued until thunder struck, or rather a huge fire broke out. In February 1836, during a performance, a booth caught fire from a lamp suspended close to the rafters. Panic began in the auditorium and out of 400 spectators, 126 died.

After this fire, rules for the construction of booths were developed, in particular, the width of passages and the number of emergency exits were determined, and it was forbidden to install stoves. However, these rules were often deviated from, especially in the provinces.

Especially in booths they loved the so-called frequent changes, i.e. instant changes of all the scenery with the curtain open, in full view of the public. Although the stage was dismountable, it was precisely calculated and “fitted.” Each year it was reassembled from the same parts, with minor replacements of warped or lost parts. In front of the stage there was an orchestral “pit” for 12-15 musicians; open boxes were adjacent to it, and behind them were two or three rows of chairs. Boxes and chairs had a special entrance and exit and were separated by a blank barrier. Then came the so-called “first places” - 7-8 rows of benches. Behind them, on a more sloping part of the floor, there were 10-12 rows of “second places” benches, also with a separate entrance and exit.

The “third place” audience watched the performances standing and was the last to enter the hall. These spectators were called “kopecks”, since the entrance ticket to standing places cost a kopeck. They waited for the performance to begin on a high, wide staircase, from where they were let in through a sliding gate called the “gateway.” And indeed, as soon as the doors were opened, a crowd of several hundred people broke through in a noisy wave and quickly rushed along the covered floor slope to take places closer to the barrier.

The spectators of the boxes, stalls, “first” and “second” seats were waiting for the start of the performance in the side extensions - cramped, but still a foyer.

In front of the stage, two wooden pillars with iron brackets were dug into the ground. Lightning lamps were inserted into these brackets with three sockets. After the ban on building stoves, they provided light and warmth; food could be heated on them. However, the lamps were expensive for the owner: in a large booth they consumed up to two pounds of kerosene every evening. The walls, covered with two rows of boards, helped to retain heat.

The spectators sat on simple, rough-hewn benches. The front ones were made lower, and the back ones were so high that those sitting on them did not reach the floor with their feet. There was also a brisk trade in seeds, nuts, and buns.

The repertoire could be unimaginable, for example: “On Sunday, May 9, great musical entertainment in the belly of a whale. First place 50 kopecks, second place - 25 kopecks. silver."

The fairgrounds displayed panoramas, dioramas, wax figures, monsters, wild people overgrown with moss, and even “a siren recently caught in the Atlantic Ocean by fishermen.”

RAYOK- a type of performance at fairs, widespread mainly in Russia in the 18th-19th centuries.

The rack is a small box, a yard wide in all directions, with two magnifying glasses in front. Inside it, a long strip with home-grown images of different cities, great people and events is rewound from one skating rink to another. The spectators, “a penny from the snout,” look into the glass - the raeshnik moves the pictures and tells tales for each new number, often very intricate.

During folk festivals, the raeshnik with his box was usually located on the square next to booths and carousels. The “grandfather-raeshnik” himself is a retired soldier, experienced, dexterous and quick-witted. He wears a gray caftan trimmed with red or yellow braid with bunches of colored rags on his shoulders, and a kolomenka hat also decorated with bright rags. He has bast shoes on his feet and a flaxen beard tied to his chin.

Such a spectacle appeared in Rus' at the beginning of the 19th century. The box in which a strip of pictures was rewound from roller to roller was called a district or cosmorama, and its owner was called a district.

The performance was a huge success at festivals and fairs: many Russian writers emphasized this in their works. A.I. Levitov, for example, in the essay “Types and Scenes of a Country Fair” ends the description of this spectacle with the phrase: “The crowd roared with pleasure...”

There are several versions of the origin of rajka as a type of spectacle. Academician A.N. Veselovsky believed that the model for them was nativity scenes, where drawn figures acted. Historian I.V. Zabelin argued that a box with holes - a cosmorama - was brought to us from the West by traveling artists. Be that as it may, we can assume that the first raeshniks in our country were ofeni, peddlers who sold popular prints. To make the goods move faster, they attracted the attention of buyers by giving humorous explanations of the contents of the popular prints. And the popular prints were really interesting.

Pictures on a variety of topics were chosen for display in amusing panoramas, or raikas. Portraits of Russian emperors, generals, as well as, for example, the jester Balakirev, Alexander the Great, epic heroes, Adam himself, etc. Images of various events of the past and present, wars, natural disasters were shown: the Battle of Sinop and the eruption Vesuvius, the battle with the Circassians and the comet Bel, “which almost touched our planet with its tail”; something interesting: “Balloon Flight”, “Lion Hunting in Africa”, “Elephant Ride in Persia” and the like.

Naturally, every rayonnik, in order to attract attention to himself, tried to make his speeches more entertaining and amusing. To do this, he entered into humorous dialogues with the audience, using the techniques and demeanor of old-time barkers and other farce comedians.

For example, the owner of the district, giving explanations to one of the pictures, says:

- But two fools are fighting, the third stands and watches. The one leaning to the window in the box is surprised:

- Uncle, where is the third?

- And you!?

Everyday scenes were most often colored with crude humor, but very understandable to ordinary people. They ridiculed laziness, greed, cunning, and the claims of the rootless to look like an aristocrat.

They often made fun of the dandy and his “sweetheart”: “Here, look both ways; a guy and his sweetheart are walking. They put on fashionable dresses and think they are noble. The guy is lean, he bought an old frock coat somewhere for rubles, and shouts that it is new. And the sweetheart is excellent: a healthy woman, a miracle of beauty, three miles thick, a nose - half a pound, and eyes - just a miracle: one looks at us, and the other at Arzamas.

Even about events that, it would seem, give no reason for fun at all, the “amusementists” still tried to talk about them as funny as possible: “But the fire of the Apraksin market. Firemen are jumping around, hiding half a pint in barrels; There’s not enough water, so they pour vodka to make it burn brighter!”

But, of course, not everything in the speeches of the raeshniks was reduced to jokes. There was, for example, a patriotic trend that developed during wars. The victories of the Russian army were spoken of with pride and pathos.

Showing a drawing of the Russian army crossing the Alps, the raeshnik exclaimed: “But this is a gratifying picture! Our dear Suvorov is crossing the Devil’s Bridge. Hurray! Take hostility!” And with what disdain the owner of the paradise spoke about, say, Napoleon, deliberately distorting the words for greater amusement: “I will report to you: the French king Napoleon is the same one whom our Alexander the Blessed exiled to the island of Elentia for bad behavior.”

Some of the audience looked with interest at pictures with views of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Paris and other cities. They listened: “And this is the city of Petersburg. The Peter and Paul Fortress stands. The guns are firing from the fortress, and the criminals are sitting in the casemates.”

Imagine a picture depicting the St. Petersburg-Tsarskoe Selo railway. Rayoshnik begins to tell: “Would you like to have some fun? Take a ride by rail to Tsarskoe Selo? Here are the miracles of mechanics: steam turns the wheels, a locomotive runs ahead and drags a whole convoy behind it. Carriages, lines and wagons in which different people sit. In half an hour we drove twenty miles, and then we arrived at Tsarskoye! Stop! Come out, gentlemen, please, to the station here. Wait a little, the Moscow road will soon be ready.

Well, now let's go back, the couples are already whistling again. The conductor calls and opens the doors to the cars. Come here, gentlemen, if you are late, there will be trouble!

Now the locomotive is moving, let's set off. Let's fly like an arrow! Smoke pours out of the chimney in a stripe, forests and villages flash by! They are coming back to St. Petersburg. What, what was the ride like? And we didn’t see how we found ourselves! This is the power of mechanics! Before, a nag drove you around...

Over the course of more than a hundred years, the performances of the raishniks, of course, changed. Technical improvements to the box took place. They increased its size and made not two, but four holes. Stationary panoramas appeared. And color reproductions were added to popular prints. In the texts of the raishniks, the influence of newspaper language and other printed publications was increasingly felt.

At the very beginning of the 20th century, the number of places at fairs and festivals decreased sharply. Apparently, interest in them was declining: they were being replaced by cinema and other new shows. And soon the raeshniks, who had entertained and enlightened Russian residents for more than a hundred years, disappeared without a trace...

PETRUSHKA THEATER- Russian folk puppet comedy. Its main character was Petrushka, after whom the theater was named. This hero was also called Pyotr Ivanovich Uk-susov, Pyotr Petrovich Samovarov, in the south - Vanya, Vanka, Vanka Retatouille, Ratatouille, Rutyutyu (tradition of the northern regions of Ukraine).

In ancient times, in order not to incur the wrath of the gods, presenting stories from their lives, actors resorted to a cunning trick - they “entrusted” responsible roles to wooden dolls. Probably, it was from then on that it became a custom not to identify puppeteer actors with their charges, who sometimes made very dubious jokes. A favorite of the ancient Romans, the big-nosed hunchback allowed himself not only various kinds of obscene remarks, but also poisonous remarks about the rich and powerful - and nothing: the doll, and at the same time the actor, usually got away with everything. Well, what to take from a creature with a wooden head!

With the advent of Christianity, puppet mysteries based on religious themes were played out even in churches. For example, during the celebration of the Nativity of Christ, a wooden box without a front wall was placed on the altar, where doll figures depicted the main event of the holiday.

There were three main types of puppets - cane puppets (they were especially popular in the East), rope puppets, that is, puppets, and easier-to-control glove puppets.

Parsley - from gloves. He had a wooden, rather crudely made head (a hooked nose, a mouth up to the ears), and his body was a cloth bag that the puppeteer put on his hand.

The Parsley Theater arose under the influence of the Italian puppet theater Pulcinello, with which Italians often performed in St. Petersburg and other cities. A sharp-tongued bully wearing a jester's cap appeared in Italy at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries.

Soon, Pulcinell's "brothers" were not slow in appearing in other countries - the English Punch, the French Polichinelle, the Dutch Pickelherring, the Czech Kasparek, the German Kasperle. In Russia, the red-nosed scoundrel was respectfully called Pyotr Ivanovich Uksusov. And if it’s simple - Pe-trushka. What characterizes the characters is not so much their external resemblance as their permissiveness, the ability to joke about any topic.

An early sketch of the Petrushka Theater dates back to the 30s. XVII century “A man, having tied a woman’s skirt with a hoop at the hem to his belt, lifted it up - this skirt covers him above his head, he can move his hands freely in it, put dolls on top and present entire comedies.”

Later, the raised women's skirt with a hoop at the hem was replaced by a screen.

In the 19th century The Petrushka Theater was the most popular and widespread type of puppet theater in Russia. It consisted of a light folding screen, a box with several dolls (but the number of characters is usually from 7 to 20), a barrel organ and small props (sticks or batons, rattles, rolling pins). The Petrushka Theater did not know the scenery.

The puppeteer, accompanied by a musician, usually an organ grinder, walked from courtyard to courtyard and gave traditional performances about Petrushka. You could always see him during folk festivals and fairs.

About the structure of the Petrushka Theater: “The doll has no body, but only a simple skirt, with an empty cardboard head sewn on top, and hands, also empty, on the sides. The puppeteer sticks his index finger into the doll’s head, and into the hands - the first and third fingers; he usually puts a doll on each hand and thus acts with two dolls at once.”

Characteristic features of Parsley's appearance: a large hooked nose, a laughing mouth, a protruding chin, a hump or two humps (on the back and on the chest). The clothes consisted of a red shirt, a cap with a tassel, and smart boots on his feet; or from a clownish two-color clown outfit, collar and cap with bells.

The puppeteer spoke for Petrushka with the help pika - a device, thanks to which the voice became sharp, shrill, rattling. (The pischik was made of two curved bone or silver plates, inside of which a narrow strip of linen ribbon was fastened), so it was not always possible to understand the words. But this did not at all detract from the audience’s enjoyment of the rough and fun action. Satisfied spectators threw money and demanded a continuation - an endless repetition of scenes known to everyone a long time ago.

The puppeteer spoke for the other characters in the comedy in a natural voice, moving the squeak behind his cheek

The performance of the Petrushka Theater consisted of a set of skits that had a satirical orientation. Parsley is the invincible hero of a puppet comedy, who defeats everyone and everything: the police, the priests, even the devil and death, while he himself remains immortal.

The appearance of the beloved hero was eagerly awaited at fairs, folk festivals and booths. As soon as the screen was installed, a crowd immediately gathered to “gawk at the comedy.” There was no smell of high “calm” here. The skits were primitive, but enjoyed constant success - here Petrushka buys a horse from a gypsy, he tries to deceive, but it doesn’t work out - he gets beaten; So Petrushka fell ill, and a stupid pompous doctor came to him, introducing himself:

- I am a doctor from Kuznetsky Most, a baker, a doctor and an aptechnician. People are led to me on their feet, and taken away from me in drays...

Here the fool of the quarter or the gentleman of the fool does not give the hero peace; They’re trying to teach Petrushka military skills, but he sneers and calls the corporal “Your frying pan.” At the end of a short reprise, Petrushka invariably beat the hapless opponent with a huge club and drove him away in shame, interspersing his tirades with obscene jokes.

As a rule, in the finale the ba-lagura was carried away by the devil or the dog. But the spectators were not upset - everyone knew that the cheerful Petrushka would again jump out from behind the screen and give pepper.

The bully usually had only one “partner” in each scene - at the same time there were two characters according to the number of hands of the puppeteer.

The simple “repertoire” consisted of a set of time-tested scenes and was passed on orally from artist to artist, acquiring new jokes.

Parsley and Gypsy

The image of Parsley is the personification of festive freedom, emancipation, and a joyful feeling of life. Petrushka's actions and words were opposed to accepted standards of behavior and morality. The parsley man's improvisations were topical: they contained sharp attacks against local merchants, landowners, and authorities. The performance was accompanied by musical inserts, sometimes parodies.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the popularity of Parsley began to decline. The authorities and guardians of morality turned against him. The Pyotr Ivanovich Theater was banned, and puppeteers were expelled from fairgrounds. To make money, artists began performing in front of a completely different audience. But the attempt to “comb” the vocabulary of the people’s favorite, to make him the hero of sugary moralizing stories and children’s holidays, failed. The time of the hooligan Uksusov has passed. And the Pulcinella brothers gave way to new heroes.

Puppet show VERTEP received its name from its purpose: to present a drama in which the Gospel story about the birth of Jesus Christ in the cave where Mary and Joseph found refuge was reproduced (Old Church and Old Russian "den" - cave).

The nativity scene came to Russia from Ukraine and Belarus at the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th century.

The nativity scene was a portable rectangular box made of thin boards or cardboard. Outwardly, it resembled a house, which could consist of one or two floors. Most often there were two-story nativity scenes. Dramas of religious content were played in the upper part, and ordinary interludes and comic everyday scenes were played in the lower part. This also determined the design of the parts of the nativity scene.

Nativity boxChristmas drama

The upper part (sky) was usually covered with blue paper from the inside; Nativity scenes were painted on its back wall; or on the side there was a model of a cave or stable with a manger and motionless figures of Mary and Joseph, the infant Christ and domestic animals.

The lower part (ground or palace) was covered with bright colored paper, foil, etc., in the middle on a small elevation there was a throne on which was a doll depicting King Herod.

In the bottom of the box and in the shelf that divided the box into two parts, there were slots along which the puppeteer moved rods with dolls - characters from dramas - fixedly attached to them. The rods with the dolls could be moved along the box, the dolls could turn in all directions. Doors were cut into the right and blind side of each part: they appeared from one doll and disappeared from the other.

Dolls were carved from wood (sometimes sculpted from clay), painted and dressed in cloth or paper clothes and mounted on metal or wooden rods.

The text of the drama was pronounced by one puppeteer, changing the timbre of his voice and intonation of speech, thereby creating the illusion of a performance by several actors.

Varieties of folk dramas.

Compared to other genres of folk literature, the repertoire of Russian folk drama is small. All known material consists of no more than two dozen plays. And even those are more different options with an independent name.

Why are there so few dramatic works represented in literature? There are sufficient grounds for this in the long-established way of life of the people. Staging a more or less voluminous play requires considerable effort and time. The peasant had little free time - only winter, and not all of that: after Christmas, weddings took place, and then there was Lent. In Rus', the Priesthood has always treated theater very strictly, calling it “demonic actions.”

In this we were very different from the theater of Ancient Greece, where theater was the main entertainment and was never prohibited. The clergy managed to convince the people that by performing “demonic games”, “satanic games”, they are pagan and unclean. If, nevertheless, someone was noticed in these actions, then it was necessary to plunge into the hole three times on the day of the Epiphany of the Lord (January 6), in order to atone for this sin. If you don’t wash yourself with Epiphany water, you will remain condemned to eternal torment.

For these two reasons, the “theatrical” season was short-lived: from December 26 to January 4, during Christmas time. It was then that all the festivities took place. Despite the shortness of the season, rehearsals began long before its performance. A few weeks before the Christmas holidays, a troupe was organized, and the participants in the performance, hiding from prying eyes, learned their roles. They were led by more competent comrades, as a rule, retired soldiers or factory workers. At the same time, other participants prepared decorations from multi-colored paper and costumes. The roles had to be learned by heart, because There were no prompters in the village theater.

The female roles caused great difficulty, because girls were forbidden to play, and boys took part in the performance instead of women with little pleasure. Therefore, everyone who expressed a desire to learn the female role was welcome. There were often difficulties with this. The small number of female roles is explained precisely by this fact. The performances began on the third day of the holiday (to start earlier is a sin). After lunch, the entire troupe, called a “gang” in the village, went around the village or village, first entering rich houses. An ambassador was usually sent ahead to ask if the owner would like to accept the performance. Or the whole “gang” lined up under the windows with a chant: “Allow me, allow me, master, to enter the new mountain, to ascend to the new mountain, to say a word...”.

When permission was received, all the performers burst into the house and began the performance. There were no preparations on site; all that was needed was a crowd from which the performers would emerge and hide there. Everyone tried to speak loudly, almost shouted, stamped their feet. All this was considered a sign of a good performance of the role. The listeners also did not mince words, approving or scolding the actors, and often interfering in the dialogue of the performers. This was the external environment of Smolensk folk performances.

There has always been a desire for folk drama.

The most common drama was folk drama about Tsar Maxemyan. Its content in general terms is as follows: the ambassador comes on stage and announces the arrival of the formidable Tsar Maxemyan. Maxemyan himself appears, ordering all the royal paraphernalia in which he is clothed to be brought. He asks his son Adolf to come, whom he orders to accept the Muslim faith. He refuses, actively defending Orthodoxy. For refusal, the king wants to kill his son. The death of his son does not pass without a trace for the king - Death appears and strikes Maksemyan.

Appearing at the end of the 18th century, this play has undergone various changes. It was added, retold, and new options appeared.

The origin of “Tsar Maximilian” (sometimes the drama had this name) has not yet been clarified. Some researchers have suggested that this play is a dramatic adaptation of the life of the martyr Nikita, the son of the persecutor of Christians Maximilian, who subjected Nikita to torture for confessing the Christian faith. Others, based on the foreign names in the play (Maximilian, Adolf, Brambeul or Brambeus, Venus, Mars), suggest that this drama dates back to some school drama of the first half of the 18th century, in turn based on some translated story late XVII, early XVIII centuries.

But from these possible prototypes, a story and a school drama, “The Comedy about Tsar Maximilian and his son Adolf” should have retained, in any case, only very little - maybe only scenes where the pagan king demands from his Christian son the worship of “idol gods” " The rest of the content is filled with scenes borrowed apparently from some interludes (one has already been established - “About Anika the Warrior and his struggle with death”), episodes from the nativity scene, Petrushka, as well as from other folk plays related to “Tsar Maximilian ": "Boats", "Barina", etc.

Moreover, the text of “Tsar Maximilian” is filled with excerpts from folk songs and romances, as well as distorted quotes from folk 559 alterations of poems by Pushkin, Lermontov and other poets. As you can see, the improvisational principle is used very widely in the play. In its original form, at the beginning of the 18th century, the play “Tsar Maximilian” could be perceived with political acuteness: in it contemporaries could see a satire on the attitude of Peter the Great, who married a Lutheran and fought against many traditions of the church, to Tsarevich Alexei (according to the play Tsar Maximilian marries the “idol goddess”). The plot of this play is very reminiscent of the family life of Peter 1.

Another equally famous play of this time is the drama "Anaka the Warrior and Death." This is a debate about life and death. Strong and invincible, Anika the warrior boasts of her strength. The Grim Reaper enters the stage. Anika the warrior greets her with ridicule. Death knows no mercy and kills the warrior.

Later, a drama called "Boat". At different times, “The Boat” changes, new heroes appear. Russian folk drama has different names: “Boat”, “Gang of Robbers”, “Ataman”, one of the complicated versions is “Mashenka”. In its basic scheme, this play is very close to the traditional beginning of several robber songs, often dedicated to the name of Stepan Razin: a boat is described floating down the river (Volga, Kama) with robbers sitting in it and an ataman standing in the middle of the boat. The content of the play is as follows: the ataman asks the captain what is visible in the distance. In different versions, the drama is complicated by introductory episodes, e.g. borrowings from the third folk play “The Imaginary Master”, or “The Naked Master”. The last play is based on a popular folk anecdote about a master and a headman, who informs the landowner that everything is fine with him, “only... mummy died, the house burned down, the cattle died,” etc.

Drama "Master" is a parody scene of a master's court and the master's purchase of a horse, bull and people. Apparently the play originated among the landed gentry.

In the drama “The Horse”, or “The Rider and the Farrier”, although in a very confused form of dialogue between the rider (originally the master) and the farrier, the relationship with the landowners and various authorities is also parodically depicted.

The drama “Mavrukh”, representing a folk adaptation of the song “Malbrouk is ready to go on a campaign,” contains a satire on the church funeral of the deceased and on the life of the clergy.

In the 19th century, dramas often used words from the works of famous poets.

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Folklore theater is the traditional dramatic creativity of the people. The types of folk entertainment and play culture are varied: rituals, round dances, mummers, clownery, etc.

In the history of folk theater, it is customary to consider the pre-theatrical and theatrical stages of folk dramatic creativity.

Pre-theatrical forms include theatrical elements in calendar and family rituals.

In calendar rituals there are symbolic figures of Maslenitsa, Mermaid, Kupala, Yarila, Kostroma, etc., acting out scenes with them, dressing up. Agricultural magic played a prominent role, with magical acts and songs designed to promote the well-being of the family. For example, on winter Christmastide they pulled a plow around the village, “sowed” grain in the hut, etc. With the loss of magical meaning, the ritual turned into fun.

The wedding ceremony was also a theatrical game: the distribution of “roles”, the sequence of “scenes”, the transformation of the performers of songs and lamentations into the protagonist of the ceremony (the bride, her mother). A complex psychological game was to change the internal state of the bride, who had to cry and lament in her parents’ house, and in her husband’s house she had to portray happiness and contentment. However, the wedding ceremony was not perceived by the people as a theatrical performance.

Specific features of folk theater are the absence of a stage, the separation of performers and audience, action as a form of reflection of reality, the transformation of the performer into another objectified image, the aesthetic orientation of the performance. Plays were often distributed in written form and pre-rehearsed, which did not exclude improvisation.

SHOW

During fairs, booths were built. Booths are temporary structures for theatrical, variety or circus performances. In Russia they have been known since the middle of the 18th century. Booths were usually located in market squares, near places of city festivities. They featured magicians, strongmen, dancers, gymnasts, puppeteers, and folk choirs; small plays were staged. In front of the booth, a balcony (raus) was built, from which artists (usually two) or the grandfather of the paradise invited the audience to the performance. Grandfather barkers have developed their own way of dressing and addressing the audience.

TRAVELING PICTURE THEATER (RAYOK)

Rayok is a type of performance at fairs, widespread mainly in Russia in the 18th-19th centuries. It got its name from the content of pictures on biblical and evangelical themes (Adam and Eve in paradise, etc.).

During folk festivals, the raeshnik with his box was usually located on the square next to booths and carousels. The “grandfather-raeshnik” himself is “a retired soldier in manners, experienced, dexterous and quick-witted. He is wearing a gray caftan trimmed with red or yellow braid with bunches of colored rags on his shoulders, a kolomenka hat, also decorated with bright rags. He has bast shoes on his feet , a flaxen beard is tied to the chin"

Petrushka Theater

Petrushka Theater is a Russian folk puppet comedy. Its main character was Petrushka, after whom the theater was named. This hero was also called Pyotr Ivanovich Uksusov, Pyotr Petrovich Samovarov, in the south - Vanya, Vanka, Vanka Retatouille, Ratatouille, Rutyutyu (tradition of the northern regions of Ukraine). The Parsley Theater arose under the influence of the Italian puppet theater Pulcinella, with which the Italians often performed in St. Petersburg and other cities.

The puppeteer, accompanied by a musician, usually an organ grinder, walked from courtyard to courtyard and gave traditional performances of Petrushka. He could always be seen during folk festivals and fairs.

About the structure of the Petrushka Theater D. A. Rovinsky wrote: “The doll has no body, but only a simple skirt, to which an empty cardboard head is sewn on top, and on the sides there are hands, also empty. The puppeteer sticks his index finger into the doll’s head, and in his hands - the first and third fingers; he usually puts a doll on each hand and thus acts with two dolls at once."

Characteristic features of Parsley's appearance are a large hooked nose, a laughing mouth, a protruding chin, a hump or two humps (on the back and on the chest). The clothes consisted of a red shirt, a cap with a tassel, and smart boots on his feet; or from a clownish two-color clown outfit, collar and cap with bells. The puppeteer spoke for Petrushka with the help of a squeak - a device thanks to which the voice became sharp, shrill, and rattling. (The pischik was made of two curved bone or silver plates, inside of which a narrow strip of linen ribbon was fastened). The puppeteer spoke for the rest of the characters in the comedy in his natural voice, moving the squeak behind his cheek.

The performance of the Petrushka Theater consisted of a set of skits that had a satirical orientation. M. Gorky spoke about Petrushka as an invincible hero of a puppet comedy who defeats everyone and everything: the police, the priests, even the devil and death, while he himself remains immortal.

The image of Parsley is the personification of festive freedom, emancipation, and a joyful feeling of life. Petrushka's actions and words were opposed to accepted standards of behavior and morality. Parsley's improvisations were topical: they contained sharp attacks against local merchants, landowners, and authorities. The performance was accompanied by musical inserts, sometimes parodic: for example, an image of a funeral under “Kamarinskaya” (see in the Reader “Petrushka, aka Vanka Ratatouille”).

Nativity scene

The den puppet theater got its name from its purpose: to present a drama in which the gospel story about the birth of Jesus Christ in the cave where Mary and Joseph found refuge (Old Church and Old Russian “vertep” - cave) was reproduced. Initially, the nativity scene was presented only during Christmastide, which was emphasized in its definitions

The nativity scene was a portable rectangular box made of thin boards or cardboard. Outwardly, it resembled a house, which could consist of one or two floors. Most often there were two-story nativity scenes. Dramas of religious content were played in the upper part, and ordinary interludes and comic everyday scenes were played in the lower part. This also determined the design of the parts of the nativity scene.

The upper part (sky) was usually covered with blue paper on the inside; Nativity scenes were painted on its back wall; or on the side there was a model of a cave or stable with a manger and motionless figures of Mary and Joseph, the infant Christ and domestic animals. The lower part (the land or the palace) was covered with bright colored paper, foil, etc., in the middle, on a small elevation, there was a throne on which was a doll depicting King Herod.

In the bottom of the box and in the shelf that divided the box into two parts, there were slots along which the puppeteer moved rods with dolls - characters from dramas - fixedly attached to them. The rods with the dolls could be moved along the box, the dolls could turn in all directions. Doors were cut out on the right and left of each part: they appeared from one doll and disappeared from the other.

Dolls were carved from wood (sometimes sculpted from clay), painted and dressed in cloth or paper clothes and mounted on metal or wooden rods.

The text of the drama was pronounced by one puppeteer, changing the timbre of his voice and intonation of speech, thereby creating the illusion of a performance by several actors.

The performance in the nativity scene consisted of the mystery drama “King Herod” and everyday scenes.

The type of folk or folk theater includes the performances of buffoons, the puppet theater of Parsley, booths, raek, nativity scene, and finally folk drama.

The origins of Russian folk theater go back to ancient times, to ancient Slavic holidays and rituals. Their elements included acting, singing, playing musical instruments, and dancing. In rites and rituals they were united in a certain sequence into a single action, spectacle. The first actors in Rus' are considered buffoons. Buffoons were divided into settled and wandering, buffoons-puppeteers, buffoons with a bear. Groups of traveling buffoons spread folk art throughout the country, sang mischievous songs, and performed buffoons. Buffoons performed “Bear Comedy” to audiences at fairs, with the participation of a real bear. The buffoons expressed the thoughts and feelings of the people, ridiculed the boyars and priests, glorified the strength and prowess of the heroic, the defenders of the Russian land. The authorities treated the buffoons as rebels. In 1648, a royal decree was issued banning buffoonery. However, neither the authorities nor the church succeeded in eradicating the buffoons.

The emergence of puppet theater is associated with buffoon games. The main character has been determined - mischievous and playful Parsley. He was a favorite hero of both buffoons and spectators, a mischievous daredevil and a bully with a sense of humor and optimism, he dressed up the rich and government officials. The Comedy about Petrushka remains a monument to oral folk drama, although it never had a permanent text and existed in many versions and improvisations.

In addition to the Petrushka Theater in Russia, especially in its southern regions, it was widespread nativity scene - a special portable wooden box in which dolls made of wood or other materials could move. The "stage mirror", open to the public, was usually divided into 2 floors. A miniature bell tower was built on top of the roof; a candle was placed on it behind glass, which burned during the performance, giving the action a magical, mysterious character. The dolls were attached to a rod, the lower part of which was held by a puppeteer hidden behind a box. On the upper floor of the nativity scene, biblical scenes were usually played out, on the lower floor, everyday ones, most often comedic ones.

With the development of trade in Russia, with the growth of cities and the popularity of Russian fairs, fair spectacles are gaining strength. One of the common ones was Raek. It existed until the end of the 19th century and was an indispensable part of festive folk entertainment. A rack is a small instrument with two magnifying glasses inside. Inside it, a long strip with homegrown images of different cities, great people and events is rewound from one skating rink to another. Spectators look through the glass... Raemnik not only showed pictures, but also commented on them, touching on pressing issues, and told sayings. Raek was very popular among the people. The main thing about the raimnik was that it included 3 types of influence on the public: picture, word and game. Raek entered the history of folk theater as one of the brightest, original phenomena of folk artistic culture.

Along with the district, it is gaining wide popularity booth. In the 18th century, not a single fair was complete without a booth. They were built right on the square from boards and canvas. Inside there was a stage, a curtain and benches for spectators. The outside of the booth was decorated with garlands, signs, and, when electricity appeared, with multi-colored garlands. The show troupe, as a rule, consisted of traveling actors. They gave several performances a day. These were mostly sideshows, magic tricks, and clowning. Singers, dancers, and simply “outlandish people” performed here.

Folk dramas were staged for holidays in villages and cities. These were original performances on historical, everyday life, religious themes and plots. They were played in a spacious hut, barns or in the open air. The texts were created by unknown authors and were works of oral folk art. These folk dramas were performed, as a rule, by people from the people, peasants, and artisans.

Along with the Russian folk theater, there were performances similar in form to it, staged on church holidays in Orthodox churches. They were called liturgical actions. The heyday of liturgical actions dates back to the 16th century. Liturgical performances were staged mainly on biblical subjects.