Journey to Kyiv. Puppet theater - a place worth visiting

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

It's no secret that many adults dream of returning to their childhood. But for this you do not need to invent time machines. It is enough to come to Kyiv with your children. The puppet theater, located on the right bank of the Dnieper, resembles a fabulous city in which the heroes of favorite children's fairy tales come to life.

History of the theater

The Kyiv Academic Puppet Theater is the oldest in Ukraine, because it was founded almost a century ago, back in 1927. The idea to create a theater that would be interesting for a small audience came from the People's Artist of Ukraine Alexander Solomarsky and actress Irina Deyeva. At that time, the theater was created at the Kiev Theater for Children. I. Frank. The idea of a people's artist was supported by the actors F. Andrievskaya, M. Kozlovsky, O. Mikhailov, I. Zaliznyak, A. Vishnevskaya, T. Vasnetsova, G. Soroka, Ya. Zhovinsky. They became the first actors working in the theater.

The first season was opened with performances for young viewers such as "Ancient Parsley" (this is a traditional puppet comedy, literary adaptationwhich was made by M. Kozlovsky) and "Musicians" (by L. Glibov, staged by P. Shcherbinsky).

The newly created theater began its work in the premises on Khreshchatyk, which was previously occupied by the theater "Rote Fahne". However, ten years later he was moved to Yaroslavov Val, in the building of the current House of Actors. The theater continued to work there for another twenty years, until the building of the Choral Synagogue was given to it. Only in 1997 the synagogue was returned to the Jewish community, and the Kyiv puppet theater was left without premises for eight years. Despite this, the actors did not stop working. Performances were given on rented stages, in schools and kindergartens. Therefore, all this time, the audience did not forget their idols.

Modern theater

A new stage in the history of the puppet theater began in 2005, when the construction of the current premises was completed. Work on it lasted exactly one year under the guidance of architect Vitaly Yudin. The new building, located on European Square, has become one of those places that Kyiv can boast of. The puppet theater has the appearance of a fairy-tale palace, with all the attributes necessary for it - spiers and columns. The three-storey building contains two halls - for 300 and 110 spectators. In addition, the theater houses the Museum of Antique Dolls, which contains puppets from all times and peoples.

Journey to a fairy tale begins for children in the courtyard of the theater. It is decorated in the appropriate fairy-tale style. There you can see funny figures of fairy-tale characters, interestingflowerbeds and fountains, stairs, the Museum of Water is located nearby. According to the head of the theater, in order to visit Cinderella or the Sleeping Beauty, it is enough for children to come to Kyiv.

Puppet theater: poster for children

90% of the puppet theater's repertoire is classical performances. Among them are both folk tales (“Gingerbread Man”, “Turnip”, “Pockmarked Hen”) and Western classics for children (“Peter Pan”, “Aladdin's Magic Lamp”, “Cinderella”). The fairy tales of the famous children's writer G. Andersen ("The Little Mermaid", "The Steadfast Tin Soldier", "The Ugly Duckling") are very popular.

Until now, theater actors have adhered to the classics in dramaturgy, artistic expression and music. According to the artistic director of the theater, modern artistic genres have a negative impact on the mind of a small child and do not bring any benefit. Therefore, in the theater they create such performances that would remind the smallest spectators of the real world around them. After all, when the curtain rises, the child should be interested, not scared.

As the actors themselves say, it's hardest to play for a children's audience. Their interest is genuine. And if during the performance the child does not pay attention to what is happening on stage, this can be called a complete failure of the production.

Adult repertoire

Once a year, the children's puppet theater in Kyiv gathers older spectators. Everyone here is an ancient traditionyear to release a new puppet show for adults. Such work is significantly different from staging a children's play, because the actors have to "return" to the adult genre. Comedies or serious melodramas are being prepared for adults. The most successful among such productions are: "For Two Hares" (based on the play by Staritsky) and "Forest Song" (based on the work of Lesya Ukrainka), "The Devil's Mill" and "The Divine Comedy" (staged by I. Stock), "The Decameron".

Dolls

The main thing that no puppet theater can do without is, in fact, the puppets themselves. The one that glorified Kyiv was no exception. The puppet theater boasts 2,000 puppets, and new “actors” are created for new performances.

But still the main puppets can be safely called veterans of the scene. Most of them have survived from the time of the first performances. Undoubtedly, they are restored from time to time, but the honorable age of the puppets makes the performance more interesting.

New dolls are also made in the theater. In order to bring to life only one doll, you have to spend more than a month. The process of its manufacture includes the creation of a plaster mold and mechanics, image and clothing. All this is manual work, which finally ends only in the hands of the actors. They put character and soul into puppets. More than thirty of these puppets can take part in new performances.

Theatre actors

After visiting the theater, it seems that the most talented actors-puppeteers were brought together by Kyiv. The puppet theater has 24 highly professional actors-puppeteers of the highest and first categories, as well as leading stage masters. Among them are V. Rusan, V. Malinsky, A. Rosse, S. Churkin and L. Yasinovskaya, who share their experience with talented youth.

Since 1990, the theater has been organizing international festivals, in which groups from European, Asian countries and America take part. Since 1995, the theater has been a member of the International Organization of Puppet Theaters UNIMA.