Bolshoi Puppet Theatre, St. Petersburg, st. Nekrasova, 10. Performances, reviews

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The Bolshoi Puppet Theater (St. Petersburg) is considered the oldest in Russia. It was founded on May 16, 1931. It was then that the audience saw the first play called Incubator.

History

It started back in a small house located on Poklonnaya Hill. One day, five friends, among whom were three actors, decided to create their own theater. These were the artists N. Komin, A. Gak and A. Gumilyov, the artist V. Komin and the musician M. Aptekar, who were simply in love with the magical art created with the help of dolls. At first, they were sheltered in the House of Communist Children's Education in the Smolninsky District, located on Volodarsky Avenue. Gradually, the theater for children grew, uniting talented actors around itself and gaining strength. In 1939, the institution, which was then called the Second Leningrad, received the status of a state institution. A year later, it moved to a building at 10 Nekrasova Street. The Bolshoi Puppet Theatre, whose address has not changed since then, is still located in the former apartment building of A. Burtsev, built before the revolution by architect Volodikhin.

Development

From 1932 to 1948 the Bolshoi Puppet Theaterwas headed by a student of Meyerhold, a graduate of the School of Russian Drama Savely Shapiro. With the advent of this director and reviewer, a professional era began. The repertoire included not only productions devoted to contemporary themes, but also dramatizations from Russian and foreign classics, re-arranged for children's perception. The most significant works of S. Shapiro were "Kashtanka" (1935 and 1945), "Bevron Meadow" (1937), as well as "Aladdin and the Magic Lamp" (1940) and "The Scarlet Flower", staged after end of the war.

Hard years

The Great Patriotic War was a great test for all Leningraders. Shared the fate of the blockade and this theater for children. On a truck, in a body, knocked together on their own, the team took the surviving actors and all the puppets through Ladoga to distant Siberia. Here he performed not only with performances intended for children, but also with satirical performances for the older population. I had to play in hospitals and in the hangars of airfields, in factories and on ships. Twice the Bolshoi Puppet Theater visited its native besieged Leningrad. Under shelling, the actors traveled to Kronstadt to speak to the sailors.

After the war

The Bolshoi Puppet Theater was one of the first to return to Leningrad from evacuation, opening the post-war season with "The Scarlet Flower". It was an already established creative team with a clear aesthetic program and a highly professional troupe. The names of the leading actors - Alperovich, Kiseleva, Kukushkin,brothers Korzakov - went down in history. The era of Shapiro, who died in 1948, was completed by the poetic performance "The Legend of the Swan City". Since 1949, the Bolshoi Puppet Theater was headed by Mikhail Korolev. His most famous works for children were The Tale of Tsar S altan, Wild Swans, Ruslan and Lyudmila, Burning Sails, Ivan the Peasant's Son and Thumbelina, as well as The Little Humpbacked Horse. Since 1954, the Bolshoi Puppet Theater has included dramatizations for adults in its repertoire.

Performances

In 1957, for the first time in our country, adult prose was staged on the puppet stage. The performances "12 Chairs", "Golden Calf" were awarded diplomas of the 1st degree. In 1958, the theater received a bronze medal "For Dolls" in Brussels. The play "The Charming Galatea" by S. Darvash and B. Gador has more than a thousand performances to its credit. In 1959, Korolev created the very first department of the puppet theater, which brought up a galaxy of talented directors and professional puppeteers.

From 1965 to 1986, the Bolshoi Puppet Theater was headed by Viktor Sudarushkin. Many major achievements are associated with the name of this director. He was the youngest artistic director in the USSR - he was only twenty-eight years old. The most significant works of Sudarushkin were Kipling's Little Elephant, Unknown Man with a Tail and Malchish-Kibalchish, and from the adult repertoire - Utter Comedy, Adventures of the Good Soldier Schweik, Love, Love …, Bedbug, "Until the Third Roosters" by Shukshin, "Foreigner in Rome" by Zoshchenko.

AfterAfter the death of this talented director, the theater was headed one after another by Vladimir Maslov, Academician A. Belinsky, V. Bogach, Alla Polukhina, a student of Tovstonogov. The latter staged many performances based on children's classics, such as The Little Fox, The Blue Bird, The Nightingale, The Three Little Pigs, etc. But, unfortunately, the adult repertoire, which the Bolshoi Puppet Theater (Petersburg) was so proud of, was lost.

Today

Since 2006, Ruslan Kudashov, a director and professional actor, who once created Potudan, has become the main director. He is known for his work not only in our country. In 2005, the Bolshoi Puppet Theater showed the premiere - the play "Viy" staged by Kudashov, thereby restoring the tradition of having a repertoire intended for adults on its stage. For several years, BTK has visited many countries, where it has received the highest awards. In the same 2006, together with the St. Petersburg State Academy of Theater Arts, he announced the creation of a studio course from which puppet theater artists graduated. This workshop exists to this day, and its performances enrich the adult repertoire, which the Bolshoi Puppet Theater lost in its time.

Poster

In addition to student productions, here you can see adult works by many directors - Kudashov's Kholstomer, Byzgu's Toybele and Her Demon, Tumina's 100 Shades of Blue, etc. There are many new titles for children on the playbill of the theater e.g. "The Little Prince", "The Nutcracker, or Marie Stahlbaum's Christmas Visions", "Herringbone's Big Journey", "A Tale for the Naughtycubs” and others. Currently there are twenty-two performances for young spectators and nine for adults.

It must be said that tickets have different prices. For children's productions, you need to pay from twenty to four hundred and fifty, and for adults - up to one thousand five hundred rubles, depending on the place chosen in the auditorium.

Reviews

All those who were lucky enough to visit the Bolshoi Puppet Theater unanimously say: everything was so interesting that young children are still overwhelmed with emotions when they talk about performances. Almost all productions are made at the highest level. Particularly impressive is the conversation between the actors and the audience, which takes place in the language of hands. Many viewers say they were simply shocked at how a person can have such plasticity. Each number in the performance is a separate work of art. Almost everyone, both children and adults, judging by the reviews, get a huge portion of positive, so they come to the Bolshoi Puppet Theater more than once. A cozy compact hall and soft armchairs create a feeling of warm home atmosphere.

A lot of feedback on the work of the director. Most consider him very talented, and his findings and solutions are amazing, making even the little ones smile.

The audience never ceases to admire the actors, especially their ability to change their voices. The same talented puppeteer can voice both a small fox and a huge evil monster. And his dexterous fingers allow you to revive smiles on the faces of fairy-tale characters andon the cute faces of forest animals.

Colorful costumes, professional musical accompaniment and, of course, the amazing skill of the artists allow the audience to immerse themselves in the wonderful world of the theater for a short time of the performance and forget about problems. Many of those who have visited the BTC in St. Petersburg strongly recommend visiting it to everyone who has not been here yet.