It is no secret that many adults dream of returning to childhood. But you do not need to invent time machines for this. It is enough to come to Kiev with your children. The Puppet Theater, located on the right bank of the Dnieper, resembles a fairytale city in which the heroes of favorite children's fairy tales come to life.
Theater History
The Kiev 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 Deeva. At that time, the theater was created at the Kiev Theater for Children. I. Frank. The idea of a national artist was supported by actors F. Andrievskaya, M. Kozlovsky, O. Mikhailov, I. Zaliznyak, A. Vishnevskaya, T. Vasnetsova, G. Soroka, Y. Zhovinsky. They became the first actors working in the theater.
The first season was opened by such performances for young spectators as “Ancient Parsley” (this is a traditional puppet comedy, the literary processing of which was made by M. Kozlovsky) and “Musicians” (by L. Glibov, based on a staging by P. Shcherbinsky).
The newly created theater began its work in the premises on Khreshchatyk, which was previously occupied by the Rote Fan Theater. However, ten years later he was transferred to Yaroslav Val, in the building of the current House of Actors. There the theater continued to work for another twenty years, until the building of the Choral Synagogue was given to him. Only in 1997, the synagogue was returned to the Jewish community, and the Kiev Puppet Theater was left without premises for eight years. Despite this, the actors did not stop working. Performances were given at rented stage venues, 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 a 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 of. Puppet theater looks like a fabulous palace, with all the attributes necessary for it - spiers and columns. The three-story building accommodates two rooms - for 300 and 110 spectators. In addition, the theater houses the Museum of Antique Puppets, which contains puppets of all time.
The journey to a fairy tale begins for children in the theater’s yard. It is decorated in the appropriate fairy style. There you can see funny figures of fairy-tale characters, interesting flower beds and fountains, stairs, and the Water Museum is located nearby. According to the head of the theater, to get to visit Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty, it is enough for children to come to Kiev.
Puppet theater: poster for children
90% of the puppet theater’s repertoire consists of classical productions. Among them are both folk tales ("Gingerbread Man", "Turnip", "Pockmarked Hen"), and Western classical works for children ("Peter Pan", "Aladdin's Magic Lamp", "Cinderella"). Very popular are the tales of the famous children's writer G. Andersen (The Little Mermaid, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, The Ugly Duckling).
To date, theater actors have adhered to the classics in drama, artistic expression and music. According to the artistic director of the theater, contemporary art genres adversely affect the consciousness of a small child and do not bring any benefit. Therefore, the theater creates 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, the hardest thing is 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 the stage, this can be called a complete failure of the production.
Repertoire for adults
Once a year, a children's puppet theater in Kiev gathers older spectators. An ancient tradition here is to release a new puppet show for adults every year. This work is significantly different from the production of a children's play, because the actors have to "return" to the adult genre. For adults comedy or serious melodrama is being prepared. The most successful among such productions are: “For Two Hares” (based on Staritsky’s play) and “Forest Song” (based on the work of Lesya Ukrainka), “Devil's Mill” and “The Divine Comedy” (staged by I. Shtok), “The Decameron”.
Dolls
The main thing that not a single puppet theater can do without is the puppets themselves. The one that glorified Kiev was no exception. Puppet theater boasts two thousand dolls, in addition, new "actors" are created for new performances.
But still the main dolls can be safely called veterans of the scene. Most of them have survived since 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 dolls can take part in new performances.
Theater actors
After visiting the theater, it seems that it was Kiev that gathered the most talented puppeteers. The Puppet Theater has 24 highly professional puppeteers of the highest and first categories, as well as leading stage masters. Among them are V. Rusan, V. Malinsky, A. Rosset, S. Churkin and L. Yasinovskaya, who pass on their experience to talented youth.
Since 1990, the theater has been organizing international festivals in which collectives from European, Asian countries and America take part. Since 1995, the theater is part of the International Organization of Puppet Theaters UNIMA.