It's no secret that many adults dream of returning.in childhood. But you do not need to reinvent time machines. Enough with their children to come to Kiev. The puppet theater, located on the right bank of the Dnieper, resembles a fabulous city in which the characters of favorite children's fairy tales come to life.
History of the theater
Kiev Academic Puppet Theater - the oldest onUkraine, because it was founded almost a century ago - in the distant 1927. The idea to create a theater that would be interesting for a small audience came from the People’s Artist of Ukraine Oleksandr Solomarsky and actress Irina Deeva. At that time, the theater was created at the Kiev Theater for Children. I. Frank. The idea of the folk artist was supported by actors F. Andrievskaya, M. Kozlovsky, O. Mikhailov, I. Zaliznyak, A. Vishnevskaya, T. Vasnetsova, G. Soroka, J. Zhovinsky. They became the first actors working in the theater.
The first season was opened by such performances forsmall spectators like “Ancient Parsley” (this is a traditional comedy doll, the literary processing of which was made by M. Kozlovsky) and “Musicians” (by L. Glibov, based on the dramatization of P. Scherbinsky).
The newly created theater began its work indoors.on Khreshchatyk, which previously occupied the theater "Rote Fahne." However, ten years later he was transferred to Yaroslavov Val, in the building of the current House of Actors. There, the theater continued to work for another twenty years, until it was given the building of the Choral Synagogue. Only in 1997 the synagogue was returned to the Jewish community, and the Kiev Puppet Theater was left without room for eight years. Despite this, the actors did not stop work. Performances were given on leased sites, 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 at2005, when the construction of the current premises was completed. Work on it continued for exactly one year under the guidance of architect Vitaly Yudin. The new building, located on the European Square, has become one of those places that Kiev can boast. 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 accommodates two halls - for 300 and 110 spectators. In addition, the theater houses the Museum of Antique Dolls, which contains puppets of all times and peoples.
Journey to the fairy tale begins for children still inbackyard theater. It is decorated in the appropriate fabulous style. There you can see funny figures of fairy-tale characters, interesting flower beds and fountains, stairs, located near the Museum of Water. According to the head of the theater, to get to visit Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty, it’s enough for the children to come to Kiev.
Puppet theater: poster for children
90% of the repertoire of the puppet theater isclassical productions. Among them are both folk tales ("Kolobok", "Turnip", "Chicken Ryaba") and Western classical works for children ("Peter Pen", "The Magic Lamp of Alladin", "Cinderella"). Fairy tales of the well-known children's writer G. Andersen (The Little Mermaid, The Resistant Tin Soldier, The Ugly Duckling) are very popular.
So far, theater actorsadhered to the classics in drama, artistic expression and music. According to the artistic director of the theater, modern art genres negatively affect the consciousness 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 frightened.
As the actors themselves say, the hardest thing is to play forchildren's audience. Their interest is genuine. And if during the performance the child does not pay attention to what is happening on the stage, it can be called a complete failure of the production.
Repertoire for adults
Once a year children's puppet theater in Kievcollects older viewers. An ancient tradition here is to produce a new puppet show for adults every year. Such work is significantly different from the production of children's play, because the actors have to “return” to the adult genre. For adults, comedies or serious melodramas are prepared. The greatest success among such productions is: “For Two Hares” (based on Staritsky’s play) and “Forest Song” (after the work of Lesia Ukrainka), “Devil's Mill” and “Divine Comedy” (directed by I. Shtok), “Decameron”.
Dolls
The main thing without which no theater can dodolls are actually puppets themselves. The one that glorified Kiev was no exception. The puppet theater boasts two thousand dolls, and new “actors” are also being created for new performances.
But still the main dolls can be calledveterans of the scene. Most of them have been preserved 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 realize 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, the image and clothing. All this is manual work, which finally ends only in the hands of actors. They put character and soul into the puppets. More than thirty such dolls can take part in the new performances.
Theater actors
После посещения театра создаётся впечатление, что Kiev was the most talented puppet actors. The puppet theater has 24 highly professional actor-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 pass on their experience to talented young people.
Since 1990, the theater has been organizing internationalfestivals in which teams from European, Asian countries and America take part. Since 1995, the theater is part of the UNIMA International Puppet Theater Organization.
