FEDERAL STATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

HIGHER PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

"MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY OF CULTURE AND ARTS"

Folklore theater

Course work

Completed:

correspondence student

Groups 11105

Zakharova I.V.

Teacher:

Blinova G.P.

Moscow

Introduction

Chapter I. Folklore theater

1.1. Origins and development of folk theater

1.2. Types of folk theater

Chapter II. Development of folk theater in the XX-XXI centuries.

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

This work is devoted to the study of folk theater, its role in folk artistic culture, consideration of its types and key features.

Relevance The topic of studying folk theater is determined by the urgency of the problem of preserving culture and its values. Not only social changes in Russia in the 20th century led to the destruction of the foundations of traditional culture, but also the current pace of life, which entails a rapid change of priorities, which does not allow one to look back and learn the history of the culture of one’s people. The consequence of this was the realization of the seemingly inevitable loss of popular culture. But the country’s interest in its history, art, folklore, and the desire to preserve and defend its cultural identity have not faded.

Target The work consists of considering the cultural potential of folk theater and revealing its importance at the present stage of development of society.

Achieving this goal is associated with solving the following tasks:

Describe the history of the emergence and development of folk theater;

Consider the main characteristics and types of folk theater;

Analyze its functions in the development and preservation of folk culture traditions using the example of the folk theater “Blossom, Our Land!”;

Identify prospects for development in modern society.

Object of study: cultural heritage, Russian folklore.

Subject of research: activities of folk theater.

Chapter I. Folklore theater.

1.1. Origins and development.

Russian folk theater originated in ancient times. The basis for its appearance was the production activity of our distant Slavic ancestors. Numerous rituals, ritual actions and folk holidays played a major role in the development of the theater.

The main way for the formation of folk theater in Russia is the gradual withering away of ancient pagan ideas of man about the world and the exchange of cultural values ​​between villages and cities, between the Russian people and foreigners.

In Russia, theater as an art form appeared only during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich “The Quietest”, and the words “theater” and “drama” are Greek in origin, as theater critic V.N. Vsevolodsky-Gerngross, entered the Russian language only in the 18th century. Among the people, “theater” was preceded by “disgrace,” and “drama” was preceded by play. Throughout the 17th century. The term “fun” was used, which was later replaced by “comedy”.

The grandiose reforms of Peter the Great changed not only the way of life, but also the traditional culture of Russia. “By planting the theater along the lines of alignment with Europe, Peter forced it to play the direct political role of an agitator, a panegyrist of his reforms. The theater that Peter started was supposed to be a public spectacle, i.e. essentially a completely new idea for Russia.”

Folklore in its ritual and ritual forms was supplanted and remained the lot of the common people, far from new theatrical amusements. Rituals and spectacles gradually lost the ritual functions of man’s magical connection with the natural world and their, as B.N. Putilov wrote, “directly ritualized forms.”

With the loss of the ritual function, the ancient action was preserved in folk life in the form of a game, no longer performing a ritual, but an aesthetic and etiquette function.

At the stage of such changes, folk theater is born. The conventional language of the performances did not require a special place - freely located spectators, of necessity, became participants in the fun. As D.M. pointed out. Balashov, “folklore theater - later

phenomenon of traditional culture<...>it arose as a result of the fundamental changes that Russia experienced, starting from the times of Peter the Great, and which gave rise to professional theater and drama” (quoted from).

The year of creation of the first national (folklore) theater in Russia is considered

1765, when “on the Broomberg square near the Moika<...>nameless Russian comedians under clear skies every day<...>presented their comedies."

Such theater - dressing up, farces, dramatic skits, puppet shows performed by non-professional actors - existed throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. Also, from the end of the 17th century, secular popular prints became popular, among which a significant proportion were Western European “amusing” sheets, Russian popular prints depicting jesters, buffoons, folk holidays and festivities, fairy-tale heroes. In the 19th century, they were replaced by popular print books with texts of stories, fairy tales, and satires, which were in high demand among the reading democratic public. The emerging urban folklore also included traditional folk spectacles: performances by puppeteers, bear leaders, musicians and jokers. New genres of folk theater are emerging. Since the beginning of the 19th century, paradise has become an indispensable part of holiday entertainment. From the middle of the 18th century, the booth became the soul of all city festivities.

Gradually, various restrictions are imposed on the genres of fair art, they are subject to strict censorship, fairs and places of entertainment are moved outside the city. Driven out of long-developed places, subject to censorship control, the festivities die down, and at the beginning of the twentieth century, essentially cease to exist.

The originality of the folk theater "Petrushki" as a form of urban spectacular folklore in Russia. Artistic originality and expressive elements of the performances of the folk theater "Petrushki". The main artistic and expressive elements of the image of "Petrushka".

St. Petersburg University of Culture and Arts

Test

Subject: “Folk artistic creativity”

Topic: “Folklore theater”

Rostov-on-Don

2010

INconducting

Folk art, which originated in ancient times, is the historical basis of the entire world artistic culture, the source of national artistic traditions, an exponent of national self-awareness. Some researchers also classify all types of non-professional art (amateur art, including folk theaters) as folk art.

Folk art - folklore, most often oral; artistic collective creative activity of the people, reflecting their life, views, ideals; poetry created by the people and existing among the masses (legends, songs, ditties, anecdotes, fairy tales, epics), folk music(songs, instrumental tunes and plays), theater (dramas, satirical plays, puppet theater), dance, architecture, fine and decorative applied arts.

Folklore is divided into two groups - ritual and non-ritual. Ritual folklore includes: calendar folklore(carols, Maslenitsa songs, spring songs), family folklore (family stories, lullabies, wedding songs, lamentations), occasional (spells, chants, counting rhymes). Non-ritual folklore is divided into four groups: folklore drama, poetry, prose and folklore of speech situations. Folklore drama includes: Parsley Theater, religious drama, nativity scene drama.

The nativity play got its name from the nativity scene - a portable puppet theater in the shape of a two-story wooden box, whose architecture resembles a stage for performing medieval mysteries. The beginning of the nativity scene should be considered the Christmas drama of puppets, which passed from Western Europe to Poland in the 17th century; At the same time, nativity play appeared in Ukraine. The environment in which nativity drama was born, grew up and became widespread is the Ukrainian students, mainly the Kyiv “spudes”, who contributed to its introduction to the north, for example, to Siberia. The existence of nativity play in Poland and Russia is estimated at approximately 200 years. In the first half of the 19th century, the nativity scene disappears as an everyday phenomenon, appearing at times in remote places of Belarus and Ukraine and lingering more firmly in the life of the Ukrainian peasantry of Eastern Galicia. The text of the Khorol nativity scene, published in the book by E. Markovsky, recorded in 1928, indicates that the nativity scene drama in Ukraine has survived to this day.

The Belarusian Batleyka theater was also famous. It was a portable wooden cabinet with a two-tiered stage for performing drama. The front side of the box is closed with shutters. The dolls, attached to rods, move along slots in the floor. Scenes with the birth of Christ were traditionally played out in the upper tier. A fortified manger and figures of Mary and Joseph were placed here.

The active development of folk art was expressed in poetry. Folklore poetry includes: epic, historical song, spiritual verse, lyrical song, ballad, cruel romance, ditty, children's poetic songs (poetic parodies), sadistic rhymes. Folklore prose is again divided into two groups: fairy-tale and non-fairytale. Fairy-tale prose includes: a fairy tale (which, in turn, comes in four types: a fairy tale, a fairy tale about animals, an everyday tale, a cumulative fairy tale) and an anecdote. Non-fairy tale prose includes: tradition, legend, tale, mythological story, story about a dream. The folklore of speech situations includes: proverbs, sayings, well wishes, curses, nicknames, teasers, dialogue graffiti, riddles, tongue twisters and some others. There are also written forms of folklore, such as chain letters, graffiti, albums (for example, songbooks).

A precise definition of the term “folklore” is difficult, since this form of folk art is not immutable and ossified. Folklore is constantly in the process of development and evolution: Chatushki can be performed to the accompaniment of modern musical instruments on modern themes, new fairy tales can be dedicated modern phenomena, folk music can be influenced by rock music, and itself contemporary music may include elements of folklore, folk fine and applied arts may be influenced by computer graphics, etc.

About the forms of urban spectacular folklore, first of all, it is necessary to say about the era of Peter I. In the era of Peter I, the number of fairs (fairs) sharply increased in the cities of Russia. Fairs were held before major holidays. Holidays include elements and forms of various traditions, spheres of life, culture and art. Initially, folk fair culture absorbed strict regulation and ritual, magical and pagan functions. The main element of urban spectacular folklore is public art.

The middle strata of the townspeople participate in the formation of their public art. People's entertainers flocked to the fairs. They built taverns, carousels, swings, circus and theater booths, and later stages. The fairground became a place for various mass entertainments and amusements.

Between Russian fair entertainment and Western European phenomena, scientists (M.M. Bakhtin, D.S. Likhachev, A.F. Nekrylova, N.I. Savushkina) discover similarities in artistic means and stylistic techniques, a merging of two cultures - agricultural and industrial. The fair square theater incorporates many staging techniques, various pyrotechnic and lighting effects, colorful costumes and a repertoire of European art. He was no stranger to traditional folk shows, performances by actors and jokers. Folklore theater occupied a very prominent place in the life of Russian cities. By adapting all types of art to the needs of his visitor, he has a great influence on his tastes and needs.

Parsley performances were especially popular at fairs and folk festivals and were a form of urban spectacular folklore.

1. The originality of the folk theater "Petrushki" as a formurban spectacular folklore of Russia

Parsley is one of the characters in Russian folk puppet shows. Depicted in a red shirt, canvas pants and a pointed cap with a tassel; Traditionally, Parsley is a glove doll. PETRUSHKA, "the nickname of a farce doll, a Russian jester, a jokester, a wit in a red caftan and a red cap; the name is also Petrushka, the whole clownish one, puppet nativity scene" (V. Dahl).

The origin of this doll, which appeared in Russia in the second half of the 19th century, has not been reliably clarified. Although in Russia (Encyclopedia Around the World) Parsley has been known since the 17th century. Russian puppeteers used marionettes (string puppet theater) and parsleys (glove puppets). Until the 19th century, preference was given to Parsley, by the end of the century - to marionettes, as parsley makers united with organ grinders. The parsley screen consisted of three frames, fastened with staples and covered with chintz. It was placed directly on the ground and hid the puppeteer. The barrel organ gathered spectators, and behind the screen the actor began to communicate with the audience through a peep (whistle). Later, with laughter and reprise, he ran out himself, in a red cap and with a long nose. The organ grinder sometimes became Petrushka's partner: because of the squeak, speech was not always intelligible, and he repeated Petrushka's phrases and conducted a dialogue. The comedy with Petrushka was played out at fairs and booths. From some memoirs and diaries of the 1840s it follows that Petrushka had full name- they called him Pyotr Ivanovich Uksusov. The famous Russian puppeteer Sergei Obraztsov called Petrushka Pyotr Petrovich Uksusov (the story "The Four Brothers") or Vanka Ratatouille. There were main plots: Parsley's treatment, soldier training, the scene with the bride, buying a horse and testing it. The stories were passed from actor to actor, by word of mouth. Not a single character in the Russian theater had the popularity equal to Petrushka.

The first puppet shows with the main character, Petrushka, appeared in the first half of the 19th century. On the pages of everyday life essays and popular print books, his name has been mentioned since the 1840s.

In Russia of the last century, the comedy about Petrushka had no equal among other types of puppet theater in terms of its popularity among the common population, its breadth of distribution (from St. Petersburg to Sakhalin and from Arkhangelsk to the North Caucasus), its topicality, sharpness and deadly power of laughter. Petrushka was considered the main and perhaps the only hero of the Russian puppet theater.

Petrushka's comedy was constantly in the process of development, replenished with new characters, and became more and more relevant and socially rich.

The Petrushki Theater was created not only under the influence of Russian, Slavic, and Western European puppet traditions. He was a kind of folk theatrical culture, part of the extremely developed (spectacular folklore) in Russia. Therefore, it has a lot in common with folk drama, with the performances of farce barkers, with the verdicts of the groomsmen at the wedding, with amusing popular prints, with the jokes of the raeshniks, etc.

The special atmosphere of the city's festive square explains, for example, Petrushka's familiarity, his unbridled gaiety and indiscriminateness in the object of ridicule and shame. After all, Petrushka beats not only class enemies, but everyone in a row - from his own fiancée to the policeman, often beats him for nothing (a blackamoor, an old beggar woman, a German clown, etc.), and in the end he gets hit too: the dog mercilessly tugs at his nose. The puppeteer, like other participants in the fair, square fun, is attracted by the very opportunity to ridicule, parody, beat, and the more, louder, more unexpected, sharper, the better. Elements of social protest and satire were very successfully and naturally superimposed on this ancient basis of laughter.

Like all folklore entertainments, “Petrushka” is filled with obscenities and curses. The original meaning of these elements has been studied quite fully, and how deeply they penetrated into the folk culture of laughter and what place swearing, verbal obscenity and demeaning, cynical gestures occupied in it, is fully shown by M.M. Bakhtin.

Performances were shown several times a day in different conditions(at fairs, in front of booths, on city streets, in the suburbs). "Walking" Parsley was the most common use of the doll.

For the mobile folk theater, a light screen, dolls, miniature backstage and a curtain were specially made. Petrushka ran around the stage, his gestures and movements creating the appearance of a living person.

The comic effect of the episodes was achieved using techniques characteristic of the folk culture of laughter: fights, beatings, obscenities, the imaginary deafness of a partner, funny movements and gestures, mimicking, funny funerals, etc.

There are conflicting opinions about the reasons for the extraordinary popularity of the theater: topicality, satirical and social orientation, comic character, simple play that is understandable to all segments of the population, the charm of the main character, acting improvisation, freedom of choice of material, the sharp tongue of the puppet.

Parsley is a folk holiday joy.

Parsley is a manifestation of popular optimism, a mockery of the poor at the powerful and rich.

The Parsley Theater remained a part of holiday entertainment for a long time. As a mass phenomenon of folk fair culture, it ceased to exist at the beginning of the 20th century.

2 . Artistic originality and expressive elements of the performances of the folk theater "Petrushki"

2. 1 Content and plot basis of parsley performances of folk theater

An organ grinder is coming to our yard this spring

He brought the actors and the troupe on his back...

He unfolded the screen in the middle of the yard;

Janitors, footmen, laundresses, coachmen

They crowded around the screens to watch,

How Parsley will represent the comedy.

The originality of the Petrushki Theater was that the viewer did not derive pleasure from meeting a new hero and plot: the content of the comedy and its characters were well known to everyone. The main attention was paid not so much to what they were playing, but to how they were playing. This was also facilitated by the “antipsychologism” of the comedy heroes. Viewers of "Petrushka", whose aesthetic ideals and artistic taste were brought up mainly on folklore works, did not require psychological development of characters in comedy, they liked to follow what one or another would do famous character, finding yourself in this situation. In this theater, all the characters, “well known to the public audience from life, from everyday life... entered the play already fully formed, and it was not their “development” that was interesting to the viewer, but their “overcoming”, their shame.”

Petrushka, and comedy itself, have gone through an interesting, complex path, absorbing foreign and Russian features, processing and specially mastering the rich spectacular folklore, comic and satirical genres of Russian folk art, the achievements of the democratic theater of the 17th - 18th centuries in folk drama.

The cast of characters in the comedy is quite wide and varied - a soldier, a gentleman, a gypsy, a bride, a doctor, a policeman, etc. The surviving materials allow us to talk about about 50 characters, although in reality each puppeteer had no more than 20 - 25 dolls, and participated in the performance not all of them.

The performance consisted of a chain of meetings - clashes between Petrushka and different characters. The scenes in the comedy are weakly or not at all connected with each other, so the order of their placement was not strictly fixed and allowed for a variety of rearrangements, the loss of individual scenes and the addition of new ones.

Judging by the material at our disposal. The comedy could include the following scenes:

A)Exit Parsley.

The performance began with laughter, singing, noise coming from behind the screen, and then parsley quickly jumping out. He greeted the people gathered around his screen, congratulated everyone on the holiday, started a conversation on some topical topic, asked questions, joked, and “bullied” the audience. Characteristic feature This scene is Petrushka's exit monologue, which included typical folklore comic self-characterization and mockery of the audience.

B)Marry.

After talking with the audience, Petrushka turned to the musician and informed him of his intention to get married. The musician asked to bring the bride and asked about the dowry. The bride appeared, Petrushka praised her, and the musician always found a flaw in her: from his point of view, she had a snub nose, “lame in one eye,” “bricky,” etc. Petrushka got angry, asked the musician to play something funny, danced with his chosen one and then escorted her “home”, behind the screen. In most cases, the bride was depicted as chubby, red-cheeked, plump, dressed in fashion, while fashionable details were exaggerated and caricatured.

Often the scene with the bride was filled with comic cynicism and stood out as a special interlude, which, under the name “Petrushka’s Wedding,” was shown for an additional fee and not for wide range spectators.

IN)Buying a horse.

Petrushka was planning to buy a horse. He barely had time to tell the musician about this when a gypsy immediately appeared and offered an excellent horse: “Not a horse, but a miracle: it runs and trembles, but if it falls, it never gets up. In the wind, without a collar, drive with two whips, flies like an arrow and doesn’t look back... He’ll run up the mountain and cry, and he’ll run and jump down the mountain and get stuck in the mud, so take him from there yourself - an excellent horse.”

A gypsy - a doll in a red shirt, a black vest, with a whip in her belt, black disheveled hair and a face smeared with soot - demands a huge price. After a long bargain, Petrushka goes for a deposit, but returns with a stick and beats the gypsy, who runs away or falls killed from too much portions of “birch money”.

Horse test. Petrushka examines the horse, tries to mount it, climbs on backwards and falls, thrown off by the restive purchase.

G)Treatment.

Parsley, lying on the ground, moans loudly, screams, and calls the doctor. A doctor appears, dressed all in black, with huge glasses. He pronounces a comic monologue - self-characterization:

I am a staff doctor, a healer,

from under the Stone Bridge there is a pharmacist.

I take out my teeth

I'm adding leeches and jars.

I take it on my feet,

I send you on crutches.

Then follows an episode of searching for a bruised place, during which the doctor and patient are mutually angry with each other: the Doctor because Petrushka cannot indicate what and where it hurts, and Petrushka because the doctor himself is not able to identify the sore spot . In the end, Petrushka beats the doctor, thus paying him for the visit and showing him on the “medic-re-pharmacist” where the horse hit.

D)Meeting with a foreigner.

Most often, a German plays the role of a foreigner. Petrushka teaches him to speak Russian or tries to explain himself. in German, translating foreign words and expressions according to the principle of folk etymology (translation not by meaning, but by similar sound). In the scene with the German, the most everyday German phrases, best known to the Russian population of the urban lower classes, are played out:

Was? Was it das? - once, sour kvass.

Donner Wetter? - the wind is blowing.

Guten Morgen? - in the face

Schprechen-sie Deutsch? - Ivan Andreich, Trifon Matveich, etc.

After several unsuccessful attempts to understand each other, the heroes fight, Petrushka gains the upper hand, drives away, and more often kills the German.

Training in soldier techniques. A soldier appears on the stage, announces the order to take Petrushka into service and begins to teach him the science of soldiering. The central moment of the scene is the episode of Petrushka’s comic execution of the soldier’s commands, where the play on auditory homonyms is also widely used:

“Corporal: Here's a gun for you. Hold it!

Parsley: I'll hold it.

Corporal: Look!

Parsley: I'm looking.

Corporal: Listen!

Parsley: I'll eat it.

Corporal: Don't eat, but listen. Keep it straight!

Parsley: What is it? Matryona Petrovna?

Corporal: Not Matryona Petrovna, but hold it straight! What kind of Matryona Petrovna do you like? How clueless you are.

Parsley: Come on, I’ll take a ruble, go and bring it...”

When Petrushka gets tired of this activity, he gets rid of his “teacher”, as always, with the help of a club.

E) Interrogation.

The interrogation is carried out by a policeman, a police officer, or an officer after the next reprisal of Petrushka against any character. The police representative wants to punish Petrushka, but he does not allow himself to be offended and deals in his own way even with such a truly dangerous opponent. This scene was often perceived as the climax of the comedy; it was the most poignant and aroused warm approval from the audience of “Petrushka”. Let us recall that in A. N. Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” the folk parsley comedy is characterized by two lines:

“To the resident, the quarterly

Not in the eyebrow, but straight in the eye!”

This, according to the poet, is its main advantage, strength, and this is why it attracts numerous participants in the rural fair. Iskrist poet G.N. Zhulev dedicated a whole poem to “Petrushka”, in which he emphasizes the same features and the same reaction of the audience:

Well done, Petrushka! But everything calmed down in an instant:

A red collar appeared from behind the screens,

He went up to Petrushka and said in a deep voice:

“Why are you a rascal here? I'll kill you!

Petka is not timid: take the stick, clap!

Wise bosses with a wooden forehead.

“I didn’t upset the authorities! What miracles!...”

YES. Rovinsky, in his description of the Moscow performance with Petrushka, reaching the scene of the interrogation, which was carried out here by the “fatal officer,” noted: “A fight begins, which ends with the destruction and expulsion of the fatal, to the general pleasure of the audience; this puppet protest against the police usually creates a real sensation in the public.”

AND)Service at the master's.

Petrushka announces to the musician that he is forced to enter the service, since he has completely “squandered”, or the master himself invites him to his place and sets him a salary - “the first month... a pound of chaff, for the second month - a quarter of rotten rowan.” Having agreed on the payment, the master sends a new servant to install the samovar. After some period of time, Petrushka appears and reports that “the samovar has run away.” The stupid master understands this in the literal sense and is surprised how the samovar can run. Sometimes the master’s wife takes part in this scene, or simply “Mamazelle Katerina”, with whom Petrushka dances.

H)Competition with a blackamoor.

Very often, the performance included scenes of Petrushka competing with a blackamoor (a doll with a black face in a red robe) in singing, playing the violin, etc., which, according to the rules of comedy, ended in the victory of Petrushka.

AND)Fights, dancing.

The parsley performance could be interrupted by peculiar interludes - scenes of fights or dances. In this case, the puppeteer demonstrated his virtuosity and invention, exhibiting dolls in exotic outfits that had nothing to do with the comedy with Petrushka. In the play, shown in 1899 in the city of Lyubech, Chernigov province, after several of the usual adventures of Petrushka, there was a pause: “From behind the screen there are dolls - representatives different nationalities, and they all start dancing. At this time, Petrushka sings “On the Pavement Street,” sitting on the edge of the screen.”

TO)Meeting with a friend.

In many versions of the comedy there is a scene where Petrushka meets a character who declares himself to be his friend. Filimoshka tries to remind him of himself, talks about their joint parties, about their previous fun pastime and asks to treat him on the occasion of the meeting. Petrushka pretends that he recognizes his friend, leaves for a drink and a snack, and, as always, appears with a stick, treating the found friend with blows.

L)Funeral.

Among the most common comedy scenes, let us also name the “funeral”, when Petrushka or some other characters bury the victim with a parsley club. As a rule, it was a pantomime scene. A striking example of such an inserted scene contains one of the southern comedy lists: “Two blueberries enter. They take the dead German and roll him into canvas. Then they bow to the audience and leave to pick up the coffin. [...] Blueberries bring in the coffin. They take the German and start measuring. The coffin is short in length and narrow in width. They try it on three times. Then they think about it. Then they grab the German, fold him, crumpling him into three, and stuff him into a coffin. One of the blueberry nuns bends low to see if the deceased is comfortably placed. Another, absent-mindedly, does not notice this, closes the lid of the coffin, and pinches the head of her friend. She screams obscenities, trying with all her might to escape. When she finally succeeds, she starts a fight with her distracted friend. Finally, to the sounds of Komarinsky, the coffin is carried away.”

In isolated cases, there are recordings of scenes of Petrushka’s quarrel with his wife, his reprisal against the shopkeeper, the trial of Petrushka and some others.

M)The final.

Deserves special attention final scene"Parsley". In the overwhelming majority of extant versions, the hero falls into the clutches of a watchdog, a mongrel, a devil, a brownie, who carry him down, thereby putting an end to the performance. Apparently, it is precisely this ending that should be considered most consistent with the nature of the comedy, where each scene and the entire performance as a whole have a clearly defined beginning and end. For example, Petrushka always almost disappears behind the screen as soon as the next scene ends (by the way, the puppeteer’s hand is resting at this moment), and reappears at the beginning of the next, thereby mechanically emphasizing the framework of individual scenes. In this sense, the “real” end of the comedy should be considered the death of the hero, since while he is alive, his adventures can continue indefinitely. At the same time, this is a cheerful death, a purely formal, compositional device, and it is perceived that way, without any regret or bewilderment about the so unjustified death of the beloved hero, especially since Petrushka “resurrects” at the beginning of the next performance. This is exactly what the last remark in A.Ya.’s quote speaks about. Alekseev-Yakovlev’s description of the St. Petersburg performance: “But here the musician set an evil, ferocious watchdog against Petrushka, who grabbed Petrushka by the nose and dragged him behind the screen.

Oh, musician, please intercede, - Petrushka screamed nasally - Goodbye, guys! Goodbye, brave life!... Oooh-ooh-ooh!... My daring little head has disappeared, gone along with the cap and the brush!... My respect!... Until the next performance!...”

Individual versions that lack such a scene are generally incomplete or defective recordings. At the same time, it can be assumed that in the last century comedy knew another ending - the triumph of Parsley. This was what M. Gorky meant when, in his speech at the First All-Union Congress Soviet writers Among other folk heroes, he named Petrushka, who defeats “the doctor, the priest, the policeman, the devil and even death.” The words of M. Gorky are confirmed by the Novgorod list of the comedy, where Petrushka beats the policeman with the devil, kills them both and drags them to the landfill. In addition, there is a description of Moscow performances of the 70s of the last century, it says that Petrushka, having dealt with his enemies (doctor, gypsy, gendarme, policeman), “put them all on his shoulders and hid behind a screen, singing.”

Not all of the listed scenes were present in every performance. Comparative analysis texts and descriptions allows us to say that there were main, obligatory scenes that formed the core of the comedy, its core, and secondary, individual ones. The first (coming, we note, in a certain sequence) include: Petrushka’s exit, the scene with the bride, buying a horse and unsuccessfully riding it, treating Petrushka, teaching him soldier science, interrogating and dealing with a policeman, and also final scene. The presence of two scenes, their order and number were determined by various circumstances, such as the puppeteer’s talent, his wealth (how many puppets and assistants he had at his disposal), local tradition, conditions of performance.

Everything that has been said about the Petrushki Theater reflects, in fact, the stage when the comedy was formed, developed a stable presentation scheme, basic images, criteria, and commonplaces. On this general basis, local, individual versions were created, starting from it, the puppeteers improvised, expanded or contracted, were content with simple mockery, or, on the contrary, filled their performances with topical content.

This state was preceded by a rather long period of development of comedy, and we will dwell on some moments of it.

That type of performance, which later became known as the Petrushki Theater, was formed among the abundance of puppet shows in Russian cities of the early 19th - late 18th centuries. The domestic puppet theater that existed at that time consisted mainly of separate, unrelated scenes. Gradually, a tendency to cyclization arises, to unite hitherto disparate scenes around one hero, who fools, deceives, punishes, and ridicules those persons who in life did not enjoy the sympathy of a simple viewer of folk puppet shows. In this regard, there is also a transition from pantomime to conversational scenes. Preference is given to scenes where the dolls “themselves” conduct a conversation, full of bright, sharp, imaginative remarks.

As a result, in the second quarter of the XIX V. On the basis of the traditional everyday puppet theater, the first versions of the future comedy with Petrushka appeared, the hero of which easily absorbed and adapted the scenes of folk puppet shows that existed before him.

In 1844, the caretaker of the parish school V.F. Zolotarenko writes in his diary a very valuable entry for us about his visit to a puppet comedy during the autumn fair in Yekaterinodar. The entry reflects a transitional moment in the development of this type of theater: “I was in a puppet comedy. Here I now saw a circle of violinists, bass, tambourine and cymbals. Screens are made from wallpaper, with a hole in the top. Farcical music began to play, and two unkempt male and female dolls began to dance, only, of course, no legs were visible. One couple was followed by another, in a completely different costume, and so on. At the end of the dance they will kiss. Finally, an unkempt, big-nosed giant appeared; he first killed the soldier, then the doctor, and finally the devil himself. He was rowdy until a white dog grabbed him by the nose and dragged him down backstage. Then they announced: it’s over.”

It is easy to notice that the second half of the performance is close to the classic “Petrushka” of the 19th century, and the first, as we will see later, is similar to the secular part of the performances in another type of puppet theater - the nativity scene. The combination of two traditions was also reflected in the interpretation of the image of the “nosed giant”: the Ekaterinodar puppeteer made him the winner of the devil (following the example of Zaporozhets - the hero of the Ukrainian nativity scene), but the victim of a dog (as in the Russian comedy with Petrushka).

2.2 Artistic and expressive elements of the image of “Petrushka”

The high, rattling voice of this hero was heard at all fairs, at traditional folk festivals, and at temple festivals. In St. Petersburg, for example, on Admiralteyskaya Square during Maslenitsa and Easter festivities, several parsley players performed simultaneously, each of them performing a comedy 8-10 times a day, and a crowd of people always gathered around the screen.

Usually two people walked with “Petrushka”: a puppeteer and a musician. The theater's property consisted of a light folding screen, a box with 7 - 20 dolls and a barrel organ. All dolls were made of gloves, with heads made of wood or papier-mâché, except for the horse, which was cut out of cardboard or plywood.

They tried to give typical features to the appearance of the characters in the comedy so that it would be easy to “recognize” the hero - his social status, nationality, profession, etc. Such demands were not made of Petrushka; he had no prototype in real life, but was part of a family of folklore jesters who possessed (within European tradition) general obligatory features in appearance: a huge nose, a hump or two humps - front and back, a protruding chin, a stupid cap on the head, etc. Petrushka was dressed in a red shirt or red caftan, trousers tucked into patent leather boots. Sometimes he was dressed in the manner of a harlequin (clothing made of colored scraps) or a clown (collar with bells, etc.).

Petrushka's voice was distinguished by a special timbre and pitch; for this, when speaking for him, the puppeteers used a special device - a talker, a squeaker. As one of the correspondents P.N. reported. Tikhanov, this is “a small projectile consisting of two bone plates, inside of which a narrow strip of thin linen ribbon is reinforced.” According to a collector from the Volyn province, “Petrushka’s special squeaky voice is produced with the help of a “talker”, which the owner of the theater, pronouncing the roles of other dolls, quickly moves to the side, behind his cheek; the speed of movement of the “talk” from the tongue to the cheek and back is remarkable and is achieved through long practice.”

The Petrushki Theater did not know the scenery. Of the props, the main and often the only one was the stick with which Petrushka beat his enemies. To create noise effects, a special ratchet baton was used. The stick also acted as a substitute for some object mentioned during the action: it imitated a gun, a violin, a rifle, etc.

Only two dolls could be present on the parsley stage at the same time (one on each hand of the puppeteer). Next to the screen, on the side, there was a musician with a barrel organ.

One of the most important components performances of "Petrushka" is the movement of puppets. “Their beauty is in movement, the meaning of their existence is in the game. There’s nothing to see in the photo of Parsley,” wrote N.Ya. Simonovich-Efimova in famous book“Notes of a parsley plant.” This is fair because the puppet - the basis of the performance - is perceived only when it “comes to life” on stage, i.e. moves, gesticulates. The folk puppeteers knew this. At times it might seem that many of the dolls’ gestures were unnecessary; are meaningless, but the parsley makers believed that without this the doll would cease to live and instead of “a creature made of meat and blood, with a heart, soul, mind and character,” as Parsley was seen on the screen of the famous I.A. Zaitsev, the viewer will find in front of him only “a rag with a painted wooden head.” This rule was strictly followed by all puppeteers, especially in relation to Petrushka, “whose funny figure” always “fusily flashed on the “bar” above the clumsy, motley movable screen.” Even while pronouncing his exit monologue, Petrushka did not stop moving and gesticulating. About 40 famous words - this is Petrushka’s speech when entering the screen in the Maikop performance, and it is accompanied by a lot of movements: the hero bows to the audience, hits himself on the forehead, sits on the barrier, knocks on it with his hand, and at the same time interrupts his words with laughter and singing , which were also, naturally, accompanied by various body movements and running along the garden bed.

The comedy was replenished with new characters, became more relevant and socially rich. And where the protest is against various representatives power, against oppressors or existing orders achieved greater strength.

Parsley in all his actions is a spokesman for protest. His inexhaustible gaiety and striking wit made him a favorite of the broad masses, and the comedy about him the most popular of all ancient folk comedies.

Brawls and murders do not cause censure among the audience for a minute. Moreover, all the recordings of this comedy that have reached us end with Petrushka cruelly paying for his crimes. And yet, the “heavenly punishment” that befalls him does not detract from the optimism and strength of protest that pervade the play as a whole.

The comedy about Petrushka was created and circulated, apparently, in urban, township, and suburban circles. This is evidenced by the scenes in the tavern, the image of Petrushka's friend - a young, artisan who came to the city to earn money, the grief of Petrushka's mother over the fact that her son was marrying a city girl, while he could have chosen a bride in the village. Petrushka remained the main character of a number of new plays and underwent significant changes in character and appearance.

Currently, performances involving parsley are rare, but the system of puppets, commonly called “parsleys” or hand-held riding puppets, is widely used in puppet theater.

One has only to add that “Petrushka” as a mass phenomenon of folk entertainment culture did not cease to exist at the beginning of the 20th century. With all its advantages and disadvantages, the Petrushki Theater occupied a very prominent place in the circle of folk entertainment and had a great influence on the first steps of the professional puppet theater.

Conclusion

If we talk about the topicality of the Petrushki theater, its social relevance, it is necessary to note that their degree could be different even for the same puppeteer, changing from scene to scene, from performance to performance. The comic effect in most cases was achieved using techniques characteristic of the folk culture of laughter, which M.M. wrote about. Bakhtin. These are endless fights, beatings, all kinds of obscenities, witty and illogical combinations of words, playing up the partner’s imaginary deafness, etc. the puppeteer could give each episode the shade he needed at the moment, place the necessary accents, focus attention on some scenes and remove and smooth out others. For example, if a comedy was staged in a single company (mainly officers), then the center of gravity fell on the movements of the characters, colored with a kind of comedy. A special interlude called “Petrushka’s Wedding” was played out here, which D.A. wrote about. Rovinsky: “There is no plot in it, but there is a lot of action. Petrushka brings his bride Varyusha: he examines her like a horse. Petrushka liked Varyushka very much, and he can’t bear to wait for the wedding, which is why he begins to beg her: “Sacrifice yourself, Varyushka!” Then the final scene occurs, in which the fair sex cannot be present.” If the performance was performed in front of “his brother,” ordinary spectators (peasants, the urban poor), then the culmination was the interrogation of Petrushka, which surpassed all comedy scenes in terms of the power of social and emotional impact on the audience. Petrushka's reprisal against the policeman especially attracted regular viewers and was highly appreciated by some revolutionary or democratically minded people. Let us remember: in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” the comedy is characterized by two lines:

“To the resident, the quarterly

Not in the eyebrow, but straight in the eye!”

This, according to Nekrasov, is her main advantage, her strength, and this is why she attracts a crowd of people at a rural fair.

M. Gorky, characterizing the image of Petrushka, wrote “... a figure was created, also known to all nations: in Italy it is Pulcinello, in England it is Ponch, in Turkey it is Karapet, and in our country it is Petrushka.

M. Gorky put him on a par with what he said were the deepest and brightest, artistically perfect types of heroes created by folklore, such as Hercules, Prometheus, Mikula Selyaninovich, Svyatogor, Faust, Vasilisa the Wise, Ivan the Fool. Comedy performances always felt like a celebration. Around the screen on which Petrushka was rampaging, it was crowded and very lively.

Parsley is invincible hero folk puppet comedy, he defeats everyone and everything, and he himself remains immortal. In this deep and naive image, the working people embodied themselves and their belief that in the end they will overcome everything and everyone. In the hands of real masters of their craft, rag artists “could” even change their facial expression due to a barely noticeable tilt or turn of the doll’s head, during which the eyebrows and mouth were shaped differently, the painted or glass button eyes were illuminated - the doll laughed, was sad, was perplexed , angry, etc. Professional Soviet puppeteers later established that the doll's facial expression should be neutral, only in this case it can change it depending on the nature of the movement. The head of the folk Parsley was not made according to these rules, in spite of them. At the same time, the hero of the comedy was sometimes not perceived at the time of the play as created from inanimate material; for the public he had facial expressions. The secret of its vitality is its continuous movement throughout the performance.

To the oldest actor Soviet theater dolls E.V. As a child, Speransky had to see the folk “Petrushka” more than once and this is what he writes about him: Pyotr Petrovich Uksusov is a “creature” tailored, it would seem, contrary to all the laws of our art: we are now afraid of the too definite expression of a doll mask, but he laughs openly and boldly; we avoid naturalistic details, and carefully drawn eyes stare at you. It is designed for quick rises and falls, for instant turns, lightning strikes. His stage pauses were measured in fractions of seconds; he, like a photon, a particle of light, was deprived of “rest mass” - that’s why he had the right to carry his impudent, toothy smile through the entire performance: it did not have time to freeze, turn into a grimace.” The role of movement is great in performances like the comedy about Petrushka also because the audience was attracted not so much by the plot itself, which was well known in advance, but by the living embodiment, playing it on stage. This is a typical manifestation of the folklore nature of the Petrushki theater and it was designed for spectators whose aesthetic ideals and artistic taste were formed and brought up mainly on folklore traditions. What was required from the performance was not the psychological development of the heroes, not the disclosure of the motives of their actions, but the actions themselves, actions aimed primarily at overcoming obstacles and shaming their enemies. “The whole comedy is filled with punches and kicks,” noted D.A. Rovinsky, - they constitute the most significant and most ridiculous part of the audience. Fights always took place with noise and exclamations. Not only the vocal capabilities of the puppeteers were used, but also the ratchet baton with which Petrushka beat his victim, as well as the knocking of the wooden heads of the dolls on the edge of the screen. The audience especially liked the latter, as it “visually” showed the force of the blow and the intensity of the fight.

Pantomime occupied a prominent place in the Petrushki Theater. These are funerals, fights, dances, divertissement appearances of “outside” dolls.

Despite the brightness and extreme comedy of pantomimic episodes of comedy, they do not form its basis. The Petrushki Theater is a type of folk theater that was not only watched, but also listened to, so most scenes included both movement and conversation in varying proportions. In the episodes of bargaining (the scene of buying a horse), treatment, ridicule of soldier drill, word and gesture are, as a rule, equivalent; they complement each other, combining visual and auditory perception.

Songs and dances were an integral part of most of the performances of the Petrushki Theater. The heroes of the comedy performed lyrical songs, dance songs, couplets of the ditty type, cruel romances, songs literary origin. They danced Russian, Komarinskaya, trepaka, “lady”, polka, waltz, etc. Musical exhibitions played a large role in comedy. Dances and songs, hurdy-gurdy melodies were not just the musical setting of the performance, they were designed to set the audience in a cheerful, festive mood, and create additional comic effect through a contrasting relationship between melody and action, serve as a characteristic of the characters, diversify them, in other words, together with other poetic and stage techniques, make the performance a lively and vibrant spectacle.

The puppeteer was free to choose the repertoire, to distribute it among the characters, and to enrich the performance with musical inserts. First of all, it depended on the parsley man’s talent, taste, ability to sing and knowledge of songs and dances, on his ability to “feel” the audience. However, there were still some limitations and rules. Firstly, songs and melodies that were popular in this environment were selected. This was done not only because the performances were designed for the widest, grassroots audience. Another thing is no less important. Due to their specificity, folk puppet shows cannot go on for long and require frequent changes of episodes and rapid action. Therefore, the heroes of such a performance, as a rule, do not sing entire songs and do not dance for a long time, otherwise this will disrupt the tempo and will certainly affect the quality of the performance. The verse, the initial lines of the song are performed, the first bars of the melody are played, sung or whistled, and since well-known works are used, the audience themselves instantly restores the whole and tunes into the mood needed at the moment. In addition, often a song and musical insert creates a comic effect by parodying some work, and the degree of comedy largely depends on the popularity of the thing being parodied. Often the laughter of the audience accompanies the performance of a song because its content is sharply contrasted with the actions of the heroes. Petrushka with difficulty climbs onto the horse, sits backwards, comically grabs the tail or mane so as not to fall, and begins to sing a dashing coachman's song, “I will harness three greyhounds of dark brown horses.” No less contrasting, hence the lines of the romance “Don’t leave, my darling, Don’t leave your dear fields...”, performed by Petrushka immediately after he beats and drives away the blackamoor with a stick, sounds no less funny.

A song can also act as a character’s self-description. So, a drunken man appears above the screens, singing “Oh, late in the evening, a fine fellow took a walk in the field”; friend Filimoshka usually sings songs that in one way or another touch on the theme of the tavern, like

"The breeze is blowing, the breeze is blowing

From the tavern to the cellar.

Walk and walk";

The gypsy sings those songs that talk either about gypsies, or about horses, etc.

The structure of a theatrical performance is also determined by the relationship between spectators and actors. Orientation towards the public has existed and exists in all types of theatrical art, to varying degrees, of course, and in different qualities.

PEOPLE'S THEATER- Theater created directly by the people themselves, existing among the broad masses in forms organically related to oral folk art. In the process of historical development of arts. the culture of the people is the fundamental principle that gives rise to the entire subsequent history of prof. theater. lawsuit, is adv. theater. creation.

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 stately 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, for 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 also represented; theatrical play: the order of “roles”, the sequence of “scenes”, the transformation of the performers of songs and lamentations into the protagonist of the ritual (the bride, her mother). Complex psychological game there was a change in the internal state of the bride, who in her parents’ house had to cry and lament, and in her husband’s house meant 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, an old woman, a man dressed up as women's clothing, and the woman - as a man, dressed up as animals, especially often as a bear and a goat. 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.

Balagan- a temporary wooden building for theatrical and circus performances, which has become widespread at fairs and folk festivals. Often also a temporary light building for trade at fairs, to accommodate workers in summer time. In a figurative sense - actions, phenomena similar to a farce show (buffoonish, rude). Balagans have been known since the 18th century.

Nativity scene- a folk puppet theater, which is a two-story wooden box resembling a stage. The nativity theater entered Russia at the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th centuries from Poland through Ukraine and Belarus. The name is associated with the original depiction of scenes about the life of Jesus Christ in the cave where he was hidden from King Herod.

Among Ukrainians, Belarusians and Russians, the performance was divided into two parts: religious and everyday. Over time, the religious part shrank and acquired a local flavor, while the repertoire expanded and the nativity scene turned into a folk theater.

Unlike the “Parsley Theater”, the puppets are controlled from below

Nativity scene theater was a large box with a stage inside, usually two tiers. On the upper stage they showed the worship of the newborn baby Jesus, on the lower stage - episodes with Herod, after whose death the everyday part of the performance followed. Wooden dolls were attached to a wire from below, with the help of which the nativity scene maker moved them along slots in the floor. The main decoration on the stage is a manger with a baby. At the back wall were the figures of the righteous Joseph with a long beard and the holy Virgin Mary. Scenes with the birth of Christ were traditionally played out in the upper tier. The owner of the nativity scene usually spoke the text himself in different voices and drove dolls. The choir boys sang Christmas carols. And if a musician was present, he would accompany the singing and dancing with music. Puppeteers and the accompanying musicians and choir walked from house to house, or staged performances in public gathering places - in shopping areas.

Essentially, a two-tier box 1x1.5 m, dolls moved on the tiers.

Petrushka Theater- The parsley screen consisted of three frames, fastened with staples and covered with chintz. It was placed directly on the ground and hid the puppeteer. The barrel organ gathered spectators, and behind the screen the actor began to communicate with the audience through a peep (whistle). Later, with laughter and reprise, he ran out himself, in a red cap and with a long nose. The organ grinder sometimes became Petrushka's partner: because of the squeak, speech was not always intelligible, and he repeated Petrushka's phrases and conducted a dialogue. The comedy with Petrushka was played out at fairs and booths.

In Russia, only men “drove” Petrushka. To make the voice louder and squeakier (this was necessary both for audibility at fair performances and for the special character of the character), they used a special squeak inserted into the larynx. Petrushka's speech had to be “piercing” and very fast.

Unlike the Nativity Scene, the screen is not a box, but a window with “curtains”. And the person who controlled the puppet in the Parsley Theater could appear to the public himself and talk to his own puppet.

Rayok- a folk theater consisting of a small box with two magnifying glasses in front. Inside it, pictures are rearranged or a paper strip with homegrown images of different cities, great people and events is rewound from one skating rink to another. Raeshnik moves the pictures and tells sayings and jokes for each new plot.

The highest manifestation of folk theater is folk drama. The first folk dramas were created in the 16th–17th centuries. Their formation proceeded from simple forms to more complex ones. The most famous and widespread folk dramas were "The Boat" and "Tsar Maximilian". Folk, everyday satirical dramas were also performed ("The Master", "The Imaginary Master", "Mavrukh", "Pakhomushka", etc.), adjacent to the Yuletide and Maslenitsa games. They are based on dramatic scenes that were performed by mummers.

Some of the folk dramas were historical in nature. One of them is “How the Frenchman took Moscow.”

Folklore theater is a set of theatrical phenomena in folklore, the performance folklore dramas folk performers, puppet and heavenly performances, sentences of farcical grandfathers.

Types and genres:

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

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

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 them as rebels; in 1648, a royal decree was issued banning buffoonery.
Puppet theaters. The first performances were staged by buffoons-puppeteers. Main character- mischievous and cheerful Petrushka. In the comedies about P. there were 2 heroes according to the number of hands of the puppeteer; eg P. and the doctor, policeman, etc.. P. always carries out justice and reprisals against hostile forces.

The nativity scene was widespread especially in the southern regions of Russia. V. is a special portable wooden box in which dolls made of wood or other materials could move.

2 floors. On the top floor they usually played biblical stories, on the bottom - 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 in the lane. nativity scene Popular play King Herod.

Rayok is a small box with two magnifying glasses in front, inside of which a strip with images of different cities, great people and events is rewound from one skating rink to another.

Associated with the development of trade in Russia, the growth of cities and the popularity of Russian fairs. Raeshnik not only showed pictures, but also commented on them, talking about the events depicted there, sometimes criticizing the authorities and established order, in a word, touched upon pressing issues.

Showcase. They were built right on the square from boards and canvas. Inside there was a stage, a curtain and benches for spectators.

The show troupe, as a rule, consisted of traveling actors. They gave several performances a day. Mostly these were tricks and clownery. Singers, dancers and simply strange people performed here.
Folk dramas were staged during 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. Boat, Tsar Maximilian.

Along with the Russian folk theater, there were performances similar to it in form, staged on church holidays in Orthodox churches. They were called liturgical actions. Walking on a Donkey or the Flower Blossom Act was performed in the spring on Palm Sunday.

Introduction

I chose this topic because I wanted to learn more about Russian folklore, its festive features and customs. This topic makes it possible to reveal the expressive means of most folk performances, holidays and folk theater in general.

Folklore is the creativity of any people, which is passed on from generation to generation. main feature- this is the absence of a famous author.

Theater (from Greek - I look, I see) is a type of art; the place where the action takes place; the performance itself, the stage or stage; a body of dramatic works.

Artistic originality of folk theater

Russian theater originated in ancient times. The soil for the appearance of its initial elements was the production activity of our distant Slavic ancestors. Numerous rituals, ritual actions and folk holidays played a major role in the elements of the development of theater into a complex system of folk dramatic creativity.

Having gone through a centuries-long path of independent development, the Russian folk theater had a huge influence on professional theater. It can be said that without taking into account the experience of the people's theater, without relying on it as a solid foundation, professional Russian theater would not be able to historical period of your existence to rise to world heights. This alone makes us treat Russian folk theater with great attention and makes it necessary to study it.

Elements of artistic comprehension appeared in the era of the primitive communal system. Art in that distant era was “directly woven into material activity and into the material communication of people.”

The main place in the art of primitive man was occupied by the beast - the subject of hunting, on which all life largely depended. In the rituals before the start of a hunt or after its successful completion, there were also dramatic elements that reproduced elements of the hunt. Perhaps even then one or more participants dressed up in skins and portrayed animals, others were “hunters”.

With the development of agriculture, similar actions appear that reproduce the planting, harvesting and processing of useful plants. Such actions lasted for many centuries. Some of them, in the form of round dances or children's games, have survived to this day.

Every nation has its own art; these are legends, epics, songs, dances, the art of lacemakers, knitters, woodcarvers, metal chasers, and the art of weaving products from birch bark, from twigs, and the art of potters, and weaving.

Many types of folk art gave rise to folk crafts in ancient times. There are many places in Russia where artistic crafts were born and still live. Who doesn’t know the famous painting on Gzhel dishes, Zhostovo trays, Vyatka toys, Palekh and X boxes O Luya, wooden ladles of Khokhloma, Gorodets painting on the boards?! What about Rostov enamel? What about Vladimir embroidery? What about Vologda lace? And although not all folk crafts have survived over time, nevertheless, the centers of many folk arts are still alive and there are still brilliant masters in Russia, thanks to whose art the ancient tradition folk arts and crafts.

However, not all folk art should be called folklore. Research last decades led to an understanding of folklore as oral folk art, expressed in verbal, musical, choreographic and dramatic forms. This means that folklore includes epics, folk tales, folk songs(games, rituals, etc.), the art of buffoons, folk farcical scenes. Rituals, rituals, folk games and amusements, folk festivals - all this is also folklore. But folk crafts and crafts do not belong to folklore, although they represent folk art, really existing in people's life.

Folklore is characterized by bifunctionality and syncretism. These properties make it similar to primitive art. Folklore, like primitive art, syncretic: in its origin and existence there was no division into types of art. The epics were told by storytellers to the accompaniment of the gusli; songs were often accompanied by dancing and contained dramatic play elements; and the art of buffoons often combined acting, singing, dancing, juggling, and acrobatics.

The bifunctionality of folklore means that it is both art and non-art, i.e. part of everyday life. This was especially clearly manifested in ritual folklore, which was distinguished by its entertainment.

Bifunctionality also characterizes such a feature of folklore as the absence of division into performers and audience (which is important feature established art); here - all participants and spectators at the same time.

But in addition to these important properties of folklore, it also has special characteristics. The characteristics of folklore include the following: orality, collectivity, anonymity, traditionality, variability, artistic creativity.

These signs in different eras had different meanings, but their complex was always important; this means that it is impossible to determine the folklore in front of us or not based on any one or two or three signs.

Orality of creativity means that folklore works exist in oral form, that is, in transmission “from mouth to mouth”. The oral nature of creativity is associated not with the lack of literacy of the population and not so much with the process of creation, as previously thought, but with the psychological need for communication.

Collectivity and anonymity of creativity mean that folklore works have no authors, that they were created over decades, and perhaps centuries, collectively, passed on from mouth to mouth, supplemented, but at the same time the established centuries-old traditions were not violated.

Traditional creativity means certain canons of content, forms and techniques of creativity. Over the centuries, certain “rules” have developed that cannot be broken. So, for example, in fairy tales there is always a beginning. This is a tradition, a canon. In the content - the hero goes through three trials - this is also canon. In the finale, evil is defeated, good triumphs - this is also canon. Fairy tales were also supposed to be told in a certain way, and wonderful storytellers and storytellers knew how to do it. Unfortunately, today this tradition of telling fairy tales has not been preserved. Details included in many rites and rituals have also been lost; other details have been preserved, but their symbolic meaning, meaning.

Variability of creativity. This feature is associated with the anonymous nature of his creativity and means that the same work of folklore exists in dozens of variants, depending on the locality of its existence. But it is necessary to distinguish between variability folklore work from a distorted author's text, in the process of existence of which the text (or melody) has changed. For example, some authors have many works that have “gone to the people”: “Why are you greedily looking at the road”, “Peddlers” by N.A. Nekrasov, some poems by S.A. Yesenin, which became songs, etc. If in different areas we find different text m different melody, then this is not a manifestation of variability, but a distortion of the author's text and the melody composed by the composer.

Artistic creativity is a very important feature of folklore. In pre-revolutionary science, it was believed that all that art that is not recognized by society, because it does not correspond to the aesthetic criteria prevailing in society at a given time, should be classified as folklore. However, this is a deeply erroneous statement, because each type of art and folklore has its own imagery, its own system of expressive means, its own aesthetics. Therefore, we should talk about the aesthetics of folklore, which differs from the aesthetics of the “scientific” art that is familiar to us.

Folklore flourished in the 17th century. The beginning of the reforms of Peter 1, the development of foundries, manufactories, etc. entailed the gradual destruction of the patriarchal way of life in which folklore successfully developed and lived. Its social base was the peasant community, which was dealt a blow by Peter’s economic reforms. Consequently, folklore began to collapse. This process proceeded unevenly in different regions: in some regions economic processes were active, destroying natural economy and, accordingly, the base of folklore. In others, these processes took place slowly (in the Russian “outbacks”, in the northern, western, southern, Siberian provinces), and many types of folklore were preserved there.

Currently, song and dance forms of folklore are alive in villages remote from industrial centers. Storytellers are a thing of the past; in many rites and rituals the meaning of their individual details has been lost, the traditions of many festivals and folk games have been lost, because all this has long since disappeared from people’s life. Loss of folklore - objective historical process. Attempts to preserve some of its forms are commendable, but, unfortunately, they are not being carried out in the name of folklore itself; Most often this is facilitated by commercial interest. That’s why there is so much pseudo folklore nowadays.

Among the many forms of folklore there was one - folk theater.

Folklore theater is a unique phenomenon in Russian folk artistic culture, a phenomenon that combines the concepts of “folklore” and “theater”. Until now, experts disagree on the definition of “folklore theater”. Some believe that folk theater is everything in folklore that has entertainment value - ceremonies, rituals, games, mass events, festivals, etc. Others classify performances based on oral folk drama as folk theater. Who is right? To answer this question, remember specific signs theatrical art. Among them there will be entertainment, and effectiveness, and play, and collective creativity, and artistry, (and a number of others), i.e. signs characteristic of both theater and ritual folklore. But the content of these signs will be different.

Ritual entertainment is a necessary element of the ritual itself and exists primarily for its participants.

Such entertainment is traditional, canonical, and cannot contain an individual element. Entertainment theatrical performance exists for the public. It is inextricably linked with the artistic expressiveness of the performance. It is conceived and embodied in dramatic action. The entertainment value of each performance is individual.

Effectiveness can be seen in a whole series of rites, rituals, celebrations, etc. But, unlike the effectiveness of a theatrical performance, in ritual effectiveness there is no drama, no dramatic struggle, no conflict. Theater is unthinkable without conflict, without dramatic struggle. Consequently, effectiveness in theatrical art presupposes drama and dramatic conflict.

Play in life is a means of satisfying the needs of its participants in the game itself.

Playing in the theater is a way for an actor to create artistic image, the nature of a particular character. It's a way to express conflict. Such a game is a means of satisfying the aesthetic needs of the public.

Collectiveness of creativity in folklore means impersonality, anonymity, and lack of authorship. In theatrical art, this is a huge team of actors, an artist, a composer, costume designers, make-up artists, lighting designers, sound designers, stage workers, etc., organized and directed by the director towards a single goal - the creation of a performance. At the same time, the creativity of each participant is deeply individual. And authorship is manifested in the creativity of each participant in the performance.

Image is a characteristic feature of art. In folk theater this is a mask image, i.e. traditional, canonical image of this or that folklore character, indicated by certain details of costume, makeup, and props. Creating such an image does not require individualization of his character traits; on the contrary, traditional execution should be observed here. This is an essential feature of folklore artistry. (Here, for example, is how the costume of some folklore heroes is expressed: Lady - cap, umbrella and fan; Gypsy - red shirt, boots; Pop - beard made of tow, wooden cross in hand; Goat - the performer is covered with a sheepskin coat, turned inside out, etc. .).

The art of theater is characterized by an individual beginning in the creation of a character's image; the created image itself is endowed with many individual character traits. Traditional, canonic performance is inappropriate here. It would be regrettable to see identical Hamlets and other heroes of Shakespeare’s plays on the stages of theaters around the world, recognizable by their costumes, details of props, and makeup. Over the course of several hundred years, great works of various actors have been created on the theater stages of the world; The history of world theater includes the famous creators of the image of Hamlet: the Englishman David Garrick, the Italian Eleonora Duse, the German Devrient, many others, as well as the Russian theater actors Mochalov, Karatygin, and in our time the famous Laurence Olivier, Innokenty Smoktunovsky and a number of other great actors. Each of them has their own Hamlet.

Folklore theater, of course, has lost such properties of folklore as syncretism and bifunctionality: it already has a clear division into “artists” and “audience” (although the “artists” were fellow villagers of the “spectators”); and he himself clearly gravitates towards the art of theater (that is, he breaks with folklore syncretism). Over the many decades of his existence, he also developed his own dramaturgy, which, by the way, has not lost touch with folk tradition. Therefore, we can say that folk theater is a theater of oral folk drama. There are mainly three major dramas - “Tsar Maximilian”, “The Boat”, “Gang of Robbers”, as well as smaller ones - “Black Raven”, “Ermak”, “How the Frenchman Took Moscow”, “Parasha”. Their variants are also known. There are also satirical dramas: “The Master”, “The Imaginary Master”, “Mavrukh”, “Pakhomushka”. Collectors of Russian folklore wrote them down. Tsar Maximilian was first recorded in 1818, other dramas were recorded later. This means that at the beginning of the 19th century there was still a folk theater. But, apparently, its heyday took place earlier. He lived in villages. Performances were prepared in advance and usually took place during Christmas time or during Holy Week. Participating in the performances were traveling actors (former buffoons) and the most “poor” guys in the village, those who were distinguished by their resourcefulness, sense of humor and were considered recognized artists who knew the traditions of performing certain roles.

If we read the text of any of the oral folk dramas, we will not get any idea about the performance, because the plot, for example, of “Boats” or “Gang of Robbers” is quite primitive, inspired by the “exploits” of Ataman Stenka Razin. It contains borrowings from both folk songs and folk legends, and from literary sources. The plot itself is very sketchy. All spectators knew the content of the upcoming performance in advance. But the whole advantage of the theatrical performance was not in introducing the public to the plot, but in what improvisational interludes between the “tragic” scenes would arise today. These farcical interludes were in no way connected with the main plot of the oral drama, and the audience could contact the “artists” directly from the “audience”, and they usually deftly parried all the attacks of the audience. This was the main pleasure of such a spectacle-game. But it was precisely this ability to improvise that was lost in the first place.

Economic reforms in Russia, begun by Peter, marked the beginning of the destruction of that way of life (i.e. peasant community), which fed folklore and contributed to its flourishing. Further development commodity-money relations increasingly affected the state of the village community and the state of folklore. By the twentieth century, many types of folklore were lost. Modern amateur performances are a qualitatively new phenomenon. Some scholars try to present this as modern folklore. But such a statement, from a scientific point of view, is not true. Modern amateur performances do not correspond to any of the characteristics of folklore; This is a qualitatively new folk art.

There have been attempts to invite modern amateur theater performances to take the path folklore creativity: to revive oral folk drama. But very soon it became clear that folk theater was not viable and its revival in amateur theater was futile; it could not lead to creative success. Sometimes some directors boasted that they turned to folk theater and reaped success. However, in fact, these were performances in which only some elements of folklore expressiveness were used, which is quite appropriate. Here one could cite one brilliant example of a folklore performance: it was a performance by the Skomorokh theater in the 70s. last century, staged by Gennady Yudenich. It was the history of our country, presented in folklore aesthetics and expressiveness. But this one creative luck- unfortunately, the only example.

Russian folk drama and folk performing arts overall - a most interesting and significant phenomenon national culture. Even at the beginning of the 20th century, dramatic games and performances formed an organic part of festive folk life, be it village gatherings, religious schools, soldier and factory barracks, or fair booths.

Folk drama is a natural outgrowth of folklore tradition. It was compressed in it creative experience, accumulated by dozens of generations of the broadest strata of the people. In later times, this experience was enriched by borrowings from professional and popular literature and democratic theater.

Folk actors for the most part were not professionals, they were a special kind of amateurs, experts in folk tradition, which was inherited from father to son, from grandfather to grandson, from generation to generation of village youth of pre-conscription age. A man would come home from work or a trade and bring back to his native village his favorite play, memorized by heart or copied into a notebook. Even if at first he was just an extra in it - a warrior or a robber, but he knew everything by heart. And now a group of young people gathers and, in a secluded place, adopts the “trick” and learns the role. And at Christmas time there is a “premiere”.

The geography of distribution of folk drama is extensive. Collectors of our days have discovered unique theatrical “hearths” in the Yaroslavl and Gorky regions, Russian villages of Tataria, on Vyatka and Kama, in Siberia and the Urals.

Formation of the most famous folk plays occurred during the era of social and cultural transformations in Russia at the end of the 18th century. Since that time, popular prints and pictures have appeared and been widely distributed, which were both topical “newspaper” information for the people (reports about military events, their heroes), and a source of knowledge on history, geography, and an entertaining “theater” with comic heroes - Petrukha Farnos, broken pancake, Maslenitsa.

Many popular prints were published on religious themes - about the torments of sinners and the exploits of saints, about Anika the warrior and Death. Later, they gained extreme popularity in popular prints and books. fairy tales, borrowed from translated novels and stories about robbers - Black Raven, Fadey Woodpecker, Churkin. Cheap songbooks were published in huge editions, including works by Pushkin, Lermontov, Zhukovsky, Batyushkov, Tsyganov, Koltsov.

At city and later rural fairs, carousels and booths were set up, on the stage of which fairy-tale and national performances were played. historical topics, which gradually replaced the earlier translated plays. For decades, performances dating back to the dramaturgy of the early 19th century have not left the public stage - “Ermak, the Conqueror of Siberia” by P. A. Plavilshchikov, “Natalia, the Boyar’s Daughter” by S. N. Glinka, “Dmitry Donskoy” by A. A. Ozerov, “The Bigamist” by A. A. Shakhovsky, later - plays about Stepan Razin by S. Lyubitsky and A. Navrotsky.

First of all, the confinement of folk ideas was traditional. Everywhere they settled down for Christmastide and Maslenitsa. These two short theatrical “seasons” contained a very rich program. Ancient ritual actions in late XIX- at the beginning of the 20th century, already perceived as entertainment and, moreover, mischief, were performed by mummers. artistic performance theater actor

The ancient meaning of mummering is the magical effect of words and behavior on the preservation, restoration and increase in the vital fruitful forces of people and animals, and nature. This is associated with the appearance of naked or half-dressed people at gatherings, “pecking” of girls with a crane, blows with a tourniquet, spatula, bast shoes or stick when “selling” kvass, cloth, printed cloth, etc.

The Yuletide and Maslenitsa games of mummers are accompanied by small satirical plays “The Master”, “The Imaginary Master”, “Mavrukh”, “Pakhomushka”. They became a “bridge” from small dramatic forms to large ones. The popularity of comic dialogues between master and headman, master and servant was so great that they were invariably included in many dramas.

The style of folk drama is characterized by the presence in it of different layers or stylistic series, each of which relates in its own way to the plot and system of characters.

So, the main characters express themselves in a solemn ceremonial speech, introduce themselves, give orders and instructions. In moments of emotional turmoil, the characters in the drama pronounce heartfelt lyrical monologues (they are sometimes replaced by the performance of a song). In dialogues and crowd scenes, everyday event speech is heard, in which relationships are clarified and conflicts are defined. Comic characters are characterized by humorous, parodic speech. Actors playing the roles of an old man, a servant, or a doctor often resorted to improvisation based on traditional folklore techniques for playing up deafness, synonyms and homonyms.

A special role is played in folk drama by songs performed by the heroes at critical moments for them or by the choir - a commentator on the events taking place. Songs were required at the beginning and end of the performance. Song repertoire folk dramas consist mainly of original songs popular in all strata of society from the 18th-19th centuries. These are the soldiers’ songs “The White Russian Tsar Went,” “Malbrouk Left on a Campaign,” “Praise, Praise to You, Hero,” and the romances “I walked in the meadows in the evening,” “I’m heading off into the desert,” “What’s clouded, the clear dawn " and many others.