Folklore theater is the traditional dramatic art of the people. The types of folk entertainment and play culture are diverse: rituals, round dances, dressing up, clowning, etc.

In the history of folklore theater, it is customary to consider the pre-theatrical and theatrical stages of folk dramatic creativity.

Pre-theatrical forms include theatrical elements in calendar and family rituals.

In the calendar rituals there are symbolic figures of Shrovetide, Mermaid, Kupala, Yarila, Kostroma, etc., playing scenes with them, dressing up. A prominent role was played by agricultural magic, magical actions and songs designed to promote the well-being of the family. For example, at winter Christmas time, a plow was pulled through the village, "sowed" in the hut with grain, etc. With the loss of magical significance, the rite turned into fun.

The wedding ceremony was also a theatrical game: the distribution of "roles", the sequence of "scenes", the transformation of the performers of songs and lamentations into the protagonist of the ceremony (the bride, her mother). The difficult psychological game was to change internal state the bride, who in the house of her parents had to cry and lament, and in the house of her husband to portray happiness and contentment. However, the wedding ceremony was not perceived by the people as a theatrical performance.

In calendar and family rituals, mummers were the participants in many scenes. They dressed up as an old man, an old woman, a man dressed in women's clothes, and a woman in men's clothes, dressed up in animals, especially often in a bear and a goat. The costume of the mummers, their masks, make-up, as well as the scenes they played were passed down from generation to generation. At Christmas time, Shrovetide, Easter, mummers performed humorous and satirical skits. Some of them later merged into folk dramas.

In addition to rituals, theatrical elements accompanied the performance of many folklore genres: fairy tales, round dances and comic songs, etc. An important role was played here by facial expressions, gesture, and movement, which were close to theatrical gesture and movement. For example, the storyteller did not just tell a fairy tale, but to some extent acted it out: he changed his voice, gesticulated, changed his facial expression, showed how the hero of the fairy tale walked, carried a bucket or bag, etc. In fact, it was a game of one actor.

Actually, theatrical forms of folk dramatic creativity are a stage-by-stage later period, the beginning of which researchers attribute to the 17th century.

However, long before that time in Rus' there were comedians, musicians, singers, dancers, trainers. These are buffoons. They united in wandering groups and until the middle of the 17th century. took part in folk ceremonies and festivals. There are proverbs about the art of buffoons (Everyone will dance, but not like a buffoon), songs and epics ("Vavilo and buffoons", "Guest Terentyshe"). Their work was reflected in fairy tales, epics, in different forms folk theatre. In the 17th century buffoonery was prohibited by special decrees. For some time, buffoons hid on the outskirts of Rus'.

The specific features of the folklore theater are the absence of a stage, the separation of performers and the audience, the action as a form of reflection of reality, the transformation of the performer into a different objectified image, the aesthetic orientation of the performance. Plays were often distributed in written form, pre-rehearsed, which did not exclude improvisation.

Cities played an important role in the origin, functioning and spread of all forms and types of folklore theater. In cities, fairs were a favorite time and place for folk spectacular performances, which were attended by many people, including villagers. They not only traded, but also had fun.

Zueva T.V., Kirdan B.P. Russian folklore - M., 2002

FOLKLORE THEATER. FOLK DRAMA

Folklore theater is the traditional dramatic art of the people. The types of folk entertainment and play culture are diverse: rituals, round dances, dressing up, clowning, etc.

In the history of folklore theater, it is customary to consider the pre-theatrical and theatrical stages of folk dramatic creativity.

Pre-theatrical forms include theatrical elements in calendar and family rituals.

In the calendar rituals - the symbolic figures of Maslenitsa, Mermaid, Kupala, Yarila, Kostroma, etc., playing scenes with them, dressing up. A prominent role was played by agricultural magic, magical actions and songs designed to promote the well-being of the family. For example, at winter Christmas time, a plow was pulled through the village, "sowed" in the hut with grain, etc. With the loss of magical significance, the rite turned into fun.

The wedding ceremony was also a theatrical game: the distribution of "roles", the sequence of "scenes", the transformation of the performers of songs and lamentations into the protagonist of the ceremony (the bride, her mother). A complex psychological game was a change in the internal state of the bride, who in the house of her parents had to cry and lament, and in the house of her husband to portray happiness and contentment. However, the wedding ceremony was not perceived by the people as a theatrical performance.

In calendar and family rituals, mummers were the participants in many scenes. They dressed up as an old man, an old woman, a man dressed in women's clothes, and a woman in men's clothes, dressed up in animals, especially often in a bear and a goat. The costume of the mummers, their masks, make-up, as well as the scenes they played were passed down from generation to generation. At Christmas time, Shrovetide, Easter, mummers performed humorous and satirical skits. Some of them later merged into folk dramas.

In addition to rituals, theatrical elements accompanied the performance of many folklore genres: fairy tales, round dance and comic songs, etc. An important role was played here by facial expressions, gesture, movement - close to theatrical gesture and movement. For example, the storyteller did not just tell a fairy tale, but to some extent acted it out: he changed his voice, gesticulated, changed his facial expression, showed how the hero of the fairy tale walked, carried a bucket or bag, etc. In fact, it was a game of one actor.

Actually, theatrical forms of folk dramatic creativity are a stage-by-stage later period, the beginning of which researchers attribute to the 17th century.

However, long before that time in Rus' there were comedians, musicians, singers, dancers, trainers. These are buffoons. They united in wandering groups and until the middle of the 17th century. took part in folk ceremonies and festivals. Proverbs are composed about the art of buffoons (Everyone will dance, but not like a buffoon), songs and epics ("Vavilo and buffoons", "Guest Terentyshe"). Their work was reflected in fairy tales, epics, in various forms of folk theater. In the 17th century buffoonery was prohibited by special decrees. For some time, buffoons hid on the outskirts of Russia.

The specific features of the folklore theater are the absence of a stage, the separation of performers and the audience, the action as a form of reflection of reality, the transformation of the performer into a different objectified image, the aesthetic orientation of the performance. Plays were often distributed in written form, pre-rehearsed, which did not exclude improvisation.

Cities played an important role in the origin, functioning and spread of all forms and types of folklore theater. In cities, fairs were a favorite time and place for folk spectacular performances, which were attended by many people, including villagers. They not only traded, but also had fun.

BALAGAN

Booths were built during fairs. Booths are temporary structures for theatrical, variety or circus performances. In Russia they are known from mid-eighteenth V. Balagans were usually located in market squares, near places of city festivities. Magicians, strongmen, dancers, gymnasts, puppeteers, folk choirs performed in them; small plays were staged. A balcony (raus) was built in front of the booth, from which the artists (usually two) or the grandfather-raeshnik invited the audience to the performance. Grandfathers barkers developed their own way of dressing and addressing the audience.

Performances in 1881 by one of the talented fairground actors of the Volga region, the owner of a booth called "The Theater of Spiritualism and Magic", Ya-I. Mamonov (1851-1907), were described by F. I. Chaliapin.

“I got my first theatrical burns in severe Christmas frosts, when I was eight years old. In the Christmas booth, for the first time, I saw the then fair actor Yakov Ivanovich Mamonov - known at that time on the Volga under the name Yashki as a fair coupletist and clown.

Yashka had a wonderful appearance, perfectly in harmony with his role. Although he was not old, he was baggy and fat in an old man's way. it was this that made him imposing. A thick black mustache as hard as steel and ridiculously angry eyes completed the image, created in order to instill superstitious horror in the little ones. But the fear of Yashka was special - sweet. Yashka frightened, but also attracted irresistibly. Everything about him was wonderful: his thunderous, rough, hoarse voice, his dashing gesture, and the cheerful swagger of his mockery and mockery of the gaping public.

Hey you, sisters, collect rags, and you, empty heads, come here! - he shouted to the crowd from the wooden balcony of his own wooden and canvas-covered booth.

The audience really liked these clowning, tomfoolery and heavy jokes. Each lunge of Yashka caused a loud, rolling laughter. Yashkin's impromptu and bold seemed.

Pushing forward towards the audience, for show, his actors - his wife, son and comrades, Yashka raised a funny scarecrow into the air and yelled: - Hey, stay away, on the ground - We are taking the Governor ...

For hours on end, tirelessly in the cold, Yashka made the undemanding crowd laugh and enlivened the square with bursts of laughter. As if spellbound, I followed Yashkin's acting. I stood idle for hours in front of the booth, shivering to the bone from the cold, but I could not tear myself away from the intoxicating spectacle. In the cold, steam sometimes poured from Yashka, and then he seemed to me a completely miraculous creature, a magician and a sorcerer.

With what impatience and thirst I waited every morning for the opening of the booth! With what adoration I looked at my idol. But how surprised I was when, after all his intricate tricks, I saw him in the Palermo tavern serious, very serious and even sad over a couple of beers and salted black bread rusks. It was strange to see this inexhaustible merry fellow and joker sad. I didn’t know even then what sometimes hides behind stage fun ...

Yashka was the first in my life to strike me with his amazing presence of mind. He did not hesitate to make faces in front of the crowd, to break the fool, dressing up in a cap. I thought: "How is it possible, without any difficulty, without stammering, to speak so smoothly, as if in verse?" I was also sure that everyone was very afraid of Yashka - even the police! After all, the governor himself is pulling through.

And I was freezing with him in the square, and I felt sad when the day was drawing to a close and the performance was over.

2. THEATER OF MOVING PICTURES (RAYOK)

Rayok is a type of performance at fairs, distributed mainly in Russia in the 18th-19th centuries. It got its name from the content of pictures on biblical and gospel themes (Adam and Eve in Paradise, etc.).

D. A. Rovinsky, a well-known collector and researcher of Russian folk pictures (lubok), described the rayek as follows: “A rayek is a small, arshin in all directions, box with two magnifying glasses in front. Inside it is rewound from one rink to another long strip with home-grown images of different cities, great people and events. Spectators, "on a penny from the snout," look into the glasses - the dealer moves the pictures and tells sayings to each new number, often very intricate.<...>At the end, there are shows and an ultra-modest kind<...>which are no longer suitable for printing.

During festivities, the raeshnik with its box was usually located on the square next to booths and carousels. The “grandfather-raeshnik” himself is “a retired soldier in terms of tricks, experienced, dexterous and quick-witted. He wears a gray caftan trimmed with red or yellow braid with bunches of colored rags on his shoulders, a hat-kolomenka, also decorated with bright rags. He has bast shoes on his feet , a flaxen beard is tied to the chin.

The explanations and jokes of the natives were divided into lines, with a rhyme (usually a pair) at the end of the lines. There was no regularity in the number and arrangement of syllables. For example: “But the undermanir pieces is a different view, the city of Palerma is standing, the lord’s family walks through the streets and endows the poor Talyan with money. But, if you please, the undermanir pieces is a different look. give"(see in the Reader). This folk verse was called "paradise". It was also used in jokes of farce grandfathers, in folk dramas, and so on.

WORLD OF ARTISTIC CULTURE

UDC 398(=82) + 792.031.2 BBK Sh3(2=Rus)6 + Shch334.3(2)

V.G. Pushkarev

folklore theater as a special form of entertainment in the culture of Russia

The formation and historical specifics of the folklore theater as a special cultural form are considered. The need to distinguish between the concepts of folklore, folklore theater, folk theater is analyzed. The style of the folklore theater is characterized through a set of artistic means that organize the action-spectacle,

Keywords:

habitus, spectacle, mythology, folk theatre, style of folklore theater, folklore theater, functions of folklore theater, ethos of culture.

The concept of folklore theater defines the type of public "common"1 actions - such as playing dramas folk performers, puppet and paradise performances, sentences of farce grandfathers - preserving the specific features of traditional art: syncretism, improvisation, verbality, canonicity.

Folklore theater is a phenomenon of modern times, a special form of preserving and transmitting the heritage of traditional culture, which is closely related to ritual and ritual practices, but differs from them in many ways. The article is devoted to the analysis of the features of the action-spectacle in the folklore theater and the functions of such a theater in culture.

In Russia, the theater as a form of art appeared only in the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich "The Quietest", and the words "theater", "drama", which are Greek in origin, as the 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" - a game. Throughout the 17th century there was a term "fun", which was later replaced by "comedy". “In the 17th century, with the deepening of the socio-economic differentiation of society, folklore was gradually rejected by representatives of the ruling classes, new

aesthetic tastes demand new forms, and folklore is losing ground. As a result of the vacuum created by the retreat of folklore, new genres are emerging. The grandiose reforms of Peter the Great, which overturned the entire former patriarchal way of life, also changed the traditional culture of Russia. “Planting the theater along the line of alignment with Europe, Peter forced him to play the directly political role of an agitator, 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 pushed to the periphery social space, remaining the lot of the common people, far from new theatrical amusements.

One of the main ways of the formation of the Russian folk (folklore) theater was the historical process of the withering away of ancient (pre-Christian) mythological ideas about the world and active cultural diffusion associated with the introduction of other, European, cultural values ​​from the city to the village. D.M. Balashov wrote: dramatic action was born from folk, ritual. On the contrary, professional art knows absolutely no ritual forms. Valid-

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but, if we are talking about the evolution of the theater, then the formation of the professional theater of the New Age can be seen as a gradual liberation from the ritual. Meanwhile, folklore also changed. The destruction of traditional forms of folk performances is undoubtedly associated with the dominance of foreign (as more "advanced", modern) culture in cities, and then in rural areas.

Rites and spectacles gradually lost their ritual functions of the magical connection of man with the natural world and their own, as B.N. Putilov, "directly ritualized forms". With the loss of the ritual function, the ancient action, as life has shown, was preserved in folk life in the form of a game, no longer performing ritual, but aesthetic and etiquette functions. Folklore became the regulator of the so-called. etiquette and household dispositions, formalizing and regulating permitted behavior in certain situations and in certain time.

At the stage of such a transformation, a folk (folklore) theater is born. The conditional language of performances did not require a special place - freely located spectators, of necessity, became participants in the fun. As pointed out by D.M. Balashov, "folklore theater is a late phenomenon of traditional culture<...>it arose as a result of those cardinal changes that Russia experienced, starting from the time of Peter the Great, and which gave rise to professional theater and dramaturgy ”(cited in ).

The birth of the folk (folklore) theater should not be considered only as the development of games and spectacles into "disgrace", "comedy", performances, and later - into oral plays. The professional drama theater, a new art form in the culture of Russia at the end of the 17th century, is also “guilty” of its birth.

18th century So, L.M. Ivleva convincingly substantiates this, suggesting the presence of " game language and playful form of expression. There is no doubt that cultural borrowing played a role in the emergence of both professional and folk theater in Russia.

The year of the creation of the first folk (folklore) theater in Russia is considered to be 1765, when “on Brumberg Square near the Moika<...>nameless Russian comedians under a clear sky every day<...>presented their comedies.

Such a theater - disguise, farces, dramatic scenes, puppet shows performed by non-professional actors - existed throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Researchers observed the process of "grafting" urban culture to village customs in late XIX and at the beginning of the 20th century. This process began much earlier, but the general mechanism of the meeting of urban and rural culture is probably similar to that described by V.N. Vsevolodsky-Gerngross in the materials of the folklore expedition to the Arkhangelsk province in the 1920s, of course, adjusted for the nature of the city theater, the experience of which was transferred to the village: “The main characteristic of local theatrical forms is that it was during the post-revolutionary to assimilate the forms of the bourgeois and proletarian amateur theatre, and therefore it is precisely here that we can accurately trace the ways in which new forms seep in and the old ones are ousted. As noted above, under the theater we mean ritual and game forms, and, therefore, in particular, dance, dances and round dances. New forms - theater in the usual sense, cinema, club and amateur theater and city dances were brought here by people who visited the cities during the imperialist war, as well as political education and wind work.

Folklore theater should not be confused with such a phenomenon that appeared at the end of

XIX century, which can be called a theater for the people. In 1888, rural theaters were created, which were known in the Voronezh, St. Petersburg, Oryol provinces. A prominent place in their repertoire was occupied by plays by A.N. Ostrovsky - "our only folk playwright". It was called folk, since the performances were intended for the peasant audience, although these were educational performances created by professional actors and directors. The ideas of enlightenment that came to Russia from the West became widespread among the country's democratically minded ruling class, the intelligentsia, and undoubtedly contributed to the search for ways to adapt drama theater to a new audience.

Then, in the 1880s, the issue of naming the educational theatrical activities and at times it sounded harsh. "People's theaters should not be simply folk or muzhik (according to

at least in big cities), but publicly available and popular, and bear the corresponding names. Their repertoire is the national repertoire...” . In these words, the opposition of the dramatic theater, which by that time had reached an unprecedented flowering, sounds like a farce "common folk" spectacle. It is clearly underestimated. “Life cannot be associated with death, and the art of the past is more than three-quarters dead,” R. Rolland argued, advocating the need to “make theaters schools of good morals and decency”, considering the theater as “one of the institutions most capable of contributing to the improvement social organization, enlightenment and improvement of people ", capable of improving morals.

However, at the beginning of the XX century. convinced supporters of the theater appeared, who saw in the inexhaustible potential of the people's element a source of new artistic means and a way to renew culture. So, for N.N. Evreinov, it was the theater-spectacle, rooted in ritual and ritual, that was truly popular. He wrote: “In order to get into its own rut, the Russian theater had to adapt for more than a hundred and fifty years. What a strange fate for a people who already possessed perfectly developed forms of their calendar, agrarian ritual actions - those actions that, without the slightest exaggeration, can be covered by the term "ritual theater"! 2.

It is necessary to dwell on the very concept of folklore theater, in which sometimes different content is invested. Along with the term "folklore" in scientific and educational literature the concepts of "folk art", "folk theater", "folklore theater" are often used as synonyms. Such an identification of concepts is not entirely correct, already in the 1970s and 1980s. there was a semantic division: “pre-theatrical” (V.E. Gusev’s term), play types of folklore, experts call folk theater, and dramatic performances based on folklorized text - folk theater.

It is important that the very concept of "theater" is dichotomous. This is also an “action-spectacle”, i.e. a kind of art, and at the same time a "creative association", a community and even an institution. So the term "folklore theatre", denoting the phenomenon of the culture of modern and modern times, indicates both the theater group, the professional status of the community of performers, and

the nature of the action, on the totality of genres of folk art. Folklore theater arose as a result of the deformation of folk ritual and ceremonial practices, but at the same time it is inextricably linked with the “system of worldview and folk ideas” (N.I. Tolstoy), although this connection is of a special nature. Unlike folklore in traditional culture, modern folklore theater reflects the growing interest of the modern urban population in the historical past of the country. The action-spectacle in such a theater is special form existence of the classical ethno-cultural heritage, is the result of research, reconstruction and is aimed at updating the forms of traditional culture in the socio-cultural conditions of our time.

The folk theater of the 18th-19th centuries, although it was not, strictly speaking, professional, nevertheless assumed a specific professionalization of the performers, the presence of a distance between the performance and the audience, however, not absolute, as in a drama or opera theater. The modern folklore theater is created, first of all, by specialists who often combine both performing and research skills, perform reconstructions based on archival or literary sources. Such a theater contemporary culture has acquired distinct educational functions, it introduces the rich traditions of the Russian people, opposes base mass culture, reminding a person in a modern highly dynamic urbanized society of the "eternal" calendar of traditional culture.

Reflecting the folk aesthetics of pleasure from the spectacle, the folklore theater-action is emphatically demonstrative, i.e. directed by the semantic action of some “transformers” for active perception by other “transformers”, creating the possibility of dialogue; traditional in its forms of performance, attributes and time of organization of performances dedicated to folk calendar holidays; always improvisational in detail, presenting a free interpretation of the actors, a situational game; wonderfully unusual, positive, life-affirming; festive in the creation of gaming reality, the sacrament of the birth of art "here and now."

Like folk art, permeated in all genres by the element of play, the folklore theater is communicative,

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representing the form and method of "some message", which, according to R. Barth, bears the signs of a myth. Theater-communication, open to creativity, theater-joy of ritually transforming reality of laughter. This is a theater event and "co-existence". Always associated with a “special time” - a calendar holiday, a fair, a game, it is subordinate to the tone and character (in accordance with ritual, ritual and aesthetic ideas) of the holiday, which establishes the general order, and the action is regulated.

Thus, the folklore theater-action combines traditions and innovations, preserving and developing the ethno-cultural heritage, concentrating the experience of interpenetration of cultures.

Typical means artistic expressiveness, which together make up the style of folklore theater, stem from the traditional form of organization and transmission of semantic content. Reviving the genres of traditional art, folklore theater-action is, to paraphrase L.M. Ivlev, myth in content, game in form.

According to B. Malinovsky, “the myth performs an irreplaceable function: it expresses, elevates and codifies beliefs; he defends and imposes moral principles; it guarantees the validity of the ritual ceremony and proposes the rules for practical life necessary for human civilization; it is by no means a fiction devoid of content, but, on the contrary, a living reality, to which a person constantly turns ”(quoted from). The mythology of folk consciousness in traditional art is indicated by: the embodiment of reality, realized heroic deeds; difference from everyday life; the presence of supernatural characters; depiction of events that occurred in legendary times; phenomena of the "wonderful" in this world, as a model of human behavior. In any society, a “living”, functioning myth is important, which, as M. Eliade wrote, “offers people examples to follow and thereby conveys the significance human life» .

To designate the stable, unchanging features of the folklore theater performance, we will use the concept of the ethos of culture, in the meaning given to it by R. Benedict, denoting the unique configuration of typical elements that makes up the unique face of each culture.

tours. The ethos of the folklore theater-action is manifested in the following features:

Single space when auditorium and the stage represent a single space that does not separate the actor from the audience;

Interactivity, which implies a constant dialogue with the viewer, actively involved in the action;

Functional convention of spatio-temporal parameters and attributes (suit, thing), meaning which increases to the meaning of the word;

The playful, ritual nature of the actions that immerse ideas about the destruction, rebirth and renewal of the world in a special comic atmosphere (travesty actors, ambivalent laughter, a cheerful attitude towards death, the unity of “up” and “down”);

Generalization of images that create a semantic plurality implicitly, “dottedly”, through a thing;

Unusual, sublimely exciting unreality and even paradoxicality of recognizable, real events in the plot, in the images and behavior of the characters.

The amusing action, which, as a characteristic feature of folk drama, was also noticed by A.S. Pushkin, belongs to the area of ​​important artistic means of the folklore theater of modern times. The same feature was pointed out by the figures of theatrical education at the beginning of the 20th century. “Experience has shown,” V. Filippov argued, “that in the Russian countryside, with a predominance of the peasant public in the theater, greatest success have those ideas that give an image not of an ordinary, everyday life, but of something out of the ordinary, which, for example, is distinguished by a heroic or tragic character, or which is very funny, which strikes or causes uncontrollable laughter.

These features are found in almost all folk performances (skits, farces, dramas), testify to the social status of "custom" and the mythological nature of the perception of the world by all participants in the game-transformation - both performers and listeners. We can say that the ethos of the folk theater-action is a cultural and semantic model that allows you to save the mythological basis of the communicative activity of all participants in the traditional "dialogue-game" and the mythological nature of the worldview.

The stability of internal properties is supported by the stability of external

The scene of the bride's farewell to her friends from the play "The Rite of the Russian Peasant Wedding".

Staged by V.N. Vsevolodsky-Gerngross, Experimental (Ethnographic) Theatre, 1928. Archive of St. Petersburg state museum theatrical and musical arts.

forms of traditional practices. Ritual and ceremonial practices, through which the practical relations of society with the surrounding world of nature and the world of the sacred, are carried out, are determined by the conditions for the existence of society and the system of reproduction of dispositions (attitudes, schemes of action and perception). Folk (folklore) theater preserves not only the stability and repeatability of the elements of the stage action, keeps the “memory of the genre”, but also the special corporeality of the game, which can be called the habitus of the action-spectacle, bearing in mind that this concept denotes the incorporation of social experience into the manner speaking, walking, gesticulating. The folk theater has a special manner of performance - sharp, clear movements, sweeping gestures, extremely loud dialogue, singing. “By its very nature, the folk theater does not tolerate an inconspicuous gesture, words spoken in a low voice ... here everything is heard and seen from afar.”

Habitus performs the function of "latent transmission of the meanings of culture", in the folk theater a special corporality performs specific communicative

functions that allow you to reproduce the game element, recode meanings, transfer the experience of traditional culture from artists to viewers, receive feedback from the viewer, which ensures mutual understanding and social unity. Theater-action can be considered not only as a purposeful translation of meaning, but also as a manifestation of the natural element of the game - the very form of the game, or more precisely, in the words of L.S. Vygotsky, the feeling of the form of the game is a “feeling of flow”, change, transformation.

We can define the style of folk theater-action as an inseparable unity of ethos (permeated with mythological syncretism of the rite and ritually transforming laughter) and habitus (special game and laughter corporality). So, theater-action is a theater of performances, but not experiences; this is an action dedicated to special calendar periods; is the art of collective improvisation based on a combination of "type scenes" and episodes that create associative series in the structure of a story. Such a theater is emphatically conditional in the use of artistic and visual means.

An important difference between the folk (folklore) theater and the ritual-play forms that preceded it is the consolidation of the spectator and actor's roles. A conditional indicator of this separation is a playground, an impromptu stage, a podium that separates the audience from the place where the performance is played. Thus, a special aesthetic space is created in which the action unfolds. However, this boundary, unlike other forms of modern theater, is mobile and surmountable.

Folk (folklore) theater in Russia has a number of features characteristic of folklore in general: collectivity; oral transmission of experience; variability, improvisation; orientation to the canon, as well as special pragmatism, effectiveness. But at the same time there are specific signs. Once upon a time, in the Russian folk theater, all roles were played by men, the participation of women in acting out performances was not allowed; dramaturgy and performance were an inseparable whole; theatrical props were conditional, household utensils were often used, giving them unusual functions; in such a theater there was no prompter. In a sense, the Russian folk theater is close

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The scene of praising the groom from the play "The Rite of the Russian Peasant Wedding". Staging by V.N. Vsevolodsky-Gerngross, Experimental Theatre, 1923. Central State Archive of Film and Photo Documents of St. Petersburg.

A scene from the Experimental Theater performance "The Rite of a Russian Peasant Wedding". Staging by V.N. Vsevolodsky-Gerngross. 1923, hall of the City Duma, Nevsky prospect, 33-35. Bulla's photography studio. Central State Archive of Film and Photo Documents of St. Petersburg.

the theater of antiquity, but it contrasts sharply with the ancient, until recently, widely represented in the Russian village, the tradition of disguise, in its forms of "travesty" instructing the guys to portray girls, and vice versa.

In modern culture, folklore theater-action performs the following social functions. This is integration or ensuring the connection of socio-cultural reality with the phenomena of the past; identification or awareness by the people of ethnic kinship in existing cultural traditions, strengthening the cultural identity of the people, their spirituality and historical memory. An important is the ideological function, which forms in the socio-cultural environment a set of ideas that contribute to the spiritual improvement of man and society, the revival of national cultural practices that contribute to the consolidation of types and forms of folk art in society as meaning-bearing for carriers of ethno-cultural values.

The folklore theater performs cognitive tasks, informs about

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dynamics, causes and consequences of historical processes. It is impossible not to name the communication function that promotes mutual understanding, communication, exchange of information, improvement of the forms of transmission of traditional ethno-cultural values. The educational mission of the folklore theater is to form a respectful attitude towards ancestors, historical past, folk culture, and traditions. Its aesthetic role contributes to the formation of a value attitude to the creative ethno-cultural experience of society.

Folklore theater is a special phenomenon that arose in Russian culture at the junction of ancient, primordial traditions and new foreign court entertainments. Incorporating much of the European professional theater and folk entertainment and game performances, folklore theater in a short time became a new art form in the culture of the New Age. The folklore theater has not exhausted its cultural resource. It continues its life, acquiring new functions and features.

1. Balashov D.M. On generic and specific systematization of folklore // Russian folklore. Issue. XVII. - M.; L., 1977. - S. 24-34.

2. Bart R. Mythologies / Per., entry. Art. and comment. S. N. Zenkina. - M.: Sabashnikov Publishing House, 2004. - 312 p.

3. Beskin Em. History of the Russian theater. Part 1. - M.-L.: Gosizdat, 1928. - 239 p.

4. Bourdieu P. Structure. Habit. Practice // Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology. Volume I. -

1998, No. 2. - Internet resource. Access mode: http://soc.pu.ru/puYicatyns/jssa/1998/2/4bourd.html

5. Boborykin P.D. People's Theatre. - St. Petersburg: Type. gas. "News", 1886. - 28 p.

6. Vsevolodsky V. Theater on the Mezen (Expedition of the State Institute of Art History) // Life of Art. - 1927, No. 44. - S. 6-7.

7. Vygotsky L.S. Psychology of art / Foreword. A.N. Leontiev, comment. L.S. Vygotsky, Vyach.Ya.

Ivanova. - M.: Art, 1986. - 572 p.

8. Evreinov N.N. The history of the Russian theater from ancient times to 1917. - NY: Publishing house im. Chekhov, 1955. - 411 p.

9. Ivleva L.M. The pre-theatre-game language of Russian folklore / Sat. theater expert research L. M. Ivle-

howl. - St. Petersburg: Dmitry Bulanin, 1998. - 194 p.

10. Lashchilin B. The revival of the folk theater on the Don // Brief reports of the Institute of Ethnography. -1950, No. 11. - S. 31-34.

11. Likhachev D.S. System literary genres Ancient Rus' // Slavic Literature. Reports of the Soviet delegation. V International Congress of Slavists (Sofia, September 1963). - M., 1962. - S. 45-70.

12. Nekrylova A.F. Dmitry Mikhailovich Balashov. A look at the folklore theater // Russian land: a magazine about Russian history and culture. - Internet resource. Access mode: http://www.rusland.spb.ru/sl_8_3a.htm

13. Putilov B.N. Folklore and folk culture. - St. Petersburg: Nauka, 1994. - 239 p.

14. Rolland R. People's Theater / per. from fr. I. Goldenberg. - St. Petersburg: Knowledge, 1910. - 149 p.

15. Filippov V. The tasks of the folk theater and its past in Russia. - M.: Publishing House of the People's Commissariat of Education, 1918. - 98 p.

16. Chernyavskaya Yu.V. Ethos and habitus as forms of organization and translation of the semantic contents of ethnic culture: to the problem of continuity and development // Vesngk Brestskaga ushversggeta. Ser. humangt. i Grammar Science. - 2008, No. 2. - S. 36-41.

17. Eliade M. Aspects of myth / Enter. Art. E. Stroganova. - M.: Academic Project, 2001. - 239 p.

1 The term V.E. Gusev

2 The term “ceremonial theater” belongs to N.N. Evreinov

SCOU SPO "Kurgan Regional College of Culture"

PCC "Socio-cultural activity"

COURSE WORK

Subject: "Folklore Theater"

Prepared

student of group 3 HT

Specialties of SKD and NXT

Vazhenina I.V.

checked

Teacher

Sarantseva Y.S.

Kurgan 2011

Introduction

1. Russian folk theater

2. Types of folk theater:

2.1. Buffoons as the founders of Russian folk art

2.2. Balaganny theater

2.3. Theater "Rayok"

2.4. Games of Mummers

2.5. Theater "Live Actor"

Conclusion

Bibliography

INTRODUCTION

Russian theater originated in the deepest antiquity. The basis for the appearance of its original elements was the production activity of our distant ancestors of the Slavs. A large role in the development of the theater in a complex system of folk dramatic art was played by numerous ceremonies, ritual actions and folk holidays.

Having passed the centuries-old path of independent development, the Russian folk theater had a huge impact on the professional theater. It can be said that without taking into account the experience of the folk theater, without relying on it as a solid foundation, the professional Russian theater would not have been able to rise to world heights in a short historical period of its existence. This alone makes one treat the Russian folk theater with great attention, 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 art primitive man occupied by the beast - the subject of hunting, on which all life depended in many respects. In the rituals before the start of the hunt or after its successful completion, there were dramatic elements, reproducing elements of hunting. 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 practices have been going on for centuries. Some of them in the form of round dances or children's games have survived to this day.

1. Russian folk theater

Russian folk drama and folk theatrical art in general are the most interesting and significant phenomenon of national culture. Dramatic games and performances at the beginning of the 20th century constituted an organic part of the festive folk life, be it village gatherings, religious schools, soldiers' and factory barracks or fair booths.

Folk drama is a natural product folklore tradition. It compressed the creative experience accumulated by dozens of generations of the widest sections 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, connoisseurs folk tradition, which was inherited from father to son, from grandfather to grandson, from generation to generation of rural youth of pre-conscription age. A peasant would come from the service or from the trades and bring to his native village his favorite play, learned by heart or written off in a notebook. Let him be in it at first just an extra - a warrior or a robber, but he knew everything by heart. And now a group of young people is already gathering and in a secluded place adopts a “trick”, teaches roles. And at Christmas time - "premiere".

The geography of the distribution of folk drama is extensive. Collectors of our days have found peculiar theatrical "centers" in the Yaroslavl and Gorky regions, Russian villages of Tataria, on Vyatka and Kama, in Siberia and the Urals.

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

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 extreme popularity in popular prints and books received fairy tales, borrowed from translated novels and stories about robbers - the Black Crow, Fadeya Woodpecker, Churkin. Huge editions were published cheap songbooks, including works by Pushkin, Lermontov, Zhukovsky, Batyushkov, Tsyganov, Koltsov.

At urban, and later rural fairs, carousels and booths were arranged, on the stage of which performances were played on fairy-tale and national historical themes, which gradually replaced the early translated plays. For decades, performances dating back to the dramaturgy of the early 19th century did not leave the mass 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 , "Two-wife" by A. A. Shakhovsky, later - plays about Stepan Razin by S. Lyubitsky and A. Navrotsky.

First of all, the timing of folk performances was traditional. Everywhere they arranged for Christmas and carnival. These two short theatrical "seasons" contained a very rich program. Ancient ritual actions, which at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries were already perceived as entertainment and, moreover, mischief, were performed by mummers.

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

Small satirical plays "Barin", "Imaginary Master", "Mavruh", "Pakhomushka" adjoin the Christmas and Shrovetide games of the mummers. They became a "bridge" from small dramatic forms to large ones. The popularity of the comic dialogues of the master and the headman, the master and the servant was so great that they were invariably included in many dramas.

So, the main characters express themselves in a solemn ceremonial speech, introduce themselves, give orders and orders. In moments of emotional upheaval, the characters of the drama utter heartfelt lyrical monologues (they are sometimes replaced by the performance of a song). in dialogues and crowd scenes everyday event speech sounds, in which relationships are clarified and conflicts are determined. Comic characters are characterized by playful, parodic speech. Actors playing the roles of an old man, a servant, a doctor-healer often resorted to improvisation based on traditional folklore methods of playing deafness, synonyms and homonyms.

A special role in the folk drama is played by songs performed by the heroes at critical moments for them or by the choir - a commentator on ongoing events. Songs at the beginning and end of the performance were obligatory. The song repertoire of folk dramas consists mainly of author's songs of the 18th-19th centuries popular in all sectors of society. These are the soldiers' songs "The White Russian Tsar Went", "Malbrook went on a campaign", "Praise, praise to you, hero", and the romances "I walked in the meadows in the evening", "I'm leaving for the desert", "What is clouded, the dawn is clear " and many others.

2. Types of folklore theaters

2.1 Buffoons as the founders of the Russian folk theater

They are in the bazaars, at princely feasts,

At the games they set the tone,

Playing the harp, bagpipes, horns,

People were entertained at the fairs.

But who among mortals does not know

As a song gives strength to a tired one,

How uplifting music is!

Careless tribe of merry vagrants

The formation of the Russian folk theater has long been and rightly associated with the activities of buffoons.

The word "buffoon" came to Rus' in the 11th century, along with the first translations of Greek texts into Old Slavonic, made in Bulgaria. It should be noted that by this time we already had quite a few words that were approximately equivalent to the new one. This is a "gamer", "slacker", "laugher".

All these words were used later, when the word "buffoon" came into full force.

A brisk little man in an intricate cap, in a caftan and morocco boots sings and dances, playing along on the harp. In the XIV century, a Novgorod monk-scribe depicted a buffoon - a folk musician, singer, dancer - in the XIV century. And he wrote: "Buzz much" - "play better." They danced, sang funny amusing songs, played the harp and domra, wooden spoons and tambourines, pipes, bagpipes and a violin-like whistle. The people loved buffoons, called them "merry fellows", told about them in fairy tales, put together proverbs, sayings: "A buffoon is glad about his domras", "Everyone will dance, but not like a buffoon", "A buffoon is not a comrade to the priest."

The clergy, princes and boyars did not favor buffoons. The buffoons amused the people. In addition, the "merry fellows" more than once found a funny, sharp word about priests, monks and boyars. Already in those days, buffoons began to be pursued. Free living was only in Veliky Novgorod and Novgorod land. In this free city they were loved and respected.

Over time, the art of buffoons became more complex and varied. In addition to buffoons who played, sang and danced, there were buffoons actors, acrobats, jugglers, buffoons with trained animals, a puppet theater appeared.

The more fun it was, the art of buffoons, the more they ridiculed the princes, clerks, boyars and priests, the stronger the persecution of the "merry fellows" became. Decrees were sent to towns, villages and villages - to drive buffoons, to beat them with batogs, not to allow the people to look at the "demonic games". The folk art of buffoons in a modified form lives a full life today: puppet theaters, a circus with its acrobats, jugglers and trained animals, variety concerts with their well-aimed ditties and songs, orchestras and ensembles of Russian folk instruments developed into separate large areas from the diverse cheerful art of buffoons.

Buffoons differed little from other residents. Among them were small landowners, artisans and even merchants. But the bulk of the settled buffoons belonged to the poorest segments of the population.

Knowing perfectly the traditions of festive games and rituals, saddle buffoons were indispensable participants in every ritual and holiday. It was the buffoon who was the person around whom the main events unfolded at the game. He organized a variety of festive events, including those that gradually turned into skits and then into folk theater performances.

If in the 11th-16th centuries it was mainly the church that fought against buffoons, then in the 17th century the state also actively joined the fight against them. In 1648, a formidable decree of the tsar appeared, prohibiting buffoon games throughout the country and ordering to beat the disobedient with batogs and exile them to "Ukrainian cities for disgrace." But such measures did not eradicate buffoonery.

From the end of the 17th century, Russia entered into new period its history. In all areas of life there are significant changes. They also touched on folk culture. Professional buffoons become obsolete, their art begins to change, takes on new forms. At the same time, the word "buffoon" disappears from the documents. The place of buffoon games is now occupied by performances of the folk theater - a new and higher form of folk dramatic art compared to buffoonery.

2.2 Balaganny theater

Balaganny theater - the so-called theater for the people. He was played in "booths" - temporary structures at festive and fairgrounds by professional actors for money. It has the same texts and the same origin as the folk theater, but unlike it, it has no significance, its content becomes folk form the existence of the text. Instead of mythological showmanship. With a few exceptions, phenomena mass culture(entertainment is a commodity). All the texts of the booth, to one degree or another, are the author's, without fail passed censorship. Partly penetrating back into the village, into the barracks and on the ships, sometimes they acquired a second folklore life (the very notebooks of folk performers that they did not use).

The booth theater appears during the period of Peter's reforms. Used as a conductor state ideology. Liquidated in 1918 along with popular literature and fisticuffs.

In the post-revolutionary years, there was an attempt to monopolize the spectacle and create a "red booth", from these attempts there were "propaganda teams" and modern parades and shows. Cinema, and later television, became another face of the many-sided booth. Many elements of the farce "gone" to the stage and to the circus, to the theater. In connection with what has been said, one may get the impression that Balagan is something necessarily base. Not at all. If literary basis Balagana is high - then Balagan is also high. So, the theaters of Moliere and Shakespeare were booths. The Shakespearean tradition, as you know, perished: in the 16th - 17th centuries, booths were banned everywhere in Europe. A century later, on other roots, the modern European theater grew up. So it is not enough to have high literature, we also need appropriate productions: it is difficult to stage Shakespeare by the same means as Chekhov.

The jokes of farce grandfathers (and then we should also include clownery, and entertainer, etc.), as well as trade cries, we would not attribute to folk theater. If this is a folklore theater, then it is completely special - we have before us a product of a fair, urban culture. Although there is a developed system of the actor's work with the audience, and sometimes there is also a dramatic text (but not from the dealers), there is still no folklore form of its existence.

2.3 Rayok Theater

Raek is Russian fun, raek is a theater, and the rayon, of course, is an artist, and the more talented he is, the more spectators will give him their piglet, which caused delight among the public.

“Look, look,” the villager said cheerfully and expressively, “here is the big city of Paris, you drive into it and you burn it. There is a large column in it, where Napoleon was placed; and in the twelfth year, our soldiers were in use, they settled down to go to Paris, and the French were agitated. Or all about the same Paris: “Look, look! Here is the great city of Paris; If you go there, you'll burn out right away.

Our eminent nobility goes there to wind money; he goes there with a sack full of gold, and from there he returns without boots and on foot!

"Trr! - shouts raeshnik. - Another thing! Look, look, here sits the Turkish Sultan Selim, and his beloved son is with him, both pipes are smoking and talking to each other!

A rayshnik could easily ridicule modern fashion: “And if you please, look, look, look and look at the Alexander Garden. There girls walk around in fur coats, in skirts and rags, in hats, green linings; farts are false, and heads are bald. A sharp word, said provocatively and without malice, of course, was forgiven, even this: “Here, look at both, a guy and his sweetheart are coming: they put on fashionable dresses and think that they are noble. The guy bought a lean frock coat for a ruble and shouts that it is new. And the sweetheart is excellent - a hefty woman, a miracle of beauty, a thickness of three miles, a nose half a pood and her eyes are simply a miracle: one looks at you, and the other at Arzamas. Amusing!” And it's really fun. The sayings of the Raeshniks became a kind of social satire, such as, for example, this one about St. Petersburg, where a lot of foreigners have always lived. “But the city of St. Petersburg,” the villager began to say, “he wiped the sides of the bars. Smart Germans and all sorts of foreigners live there; they eat Russian bread and look askance at us; line their pockets and scold us for deceit.”

2.4 Mummer games

Mummers are important characters of Christmas time. On holy evenings, gangs of disguised youth rush through the streets with noise, whistle, and uproar and arrange festive parties.

The mummers must dress up so that no one recognizes them. He must fool around, amuse those around him with his appearance. Faces are covered with masks. In the old days, rags were used for this, smearing the face with soot.

Many disguised themselves so that they were mistaken for "strangers": an old man, an old woman, a gypsy, a gentleman, a paramedic. Very often dressed up as a bear, horse, goat, bull, crane.

The disguise should be accompanied by games, fun, and it is desirable that the audience become participants in the actions of the mummers. Small satirical plays "Barin", "Imaginary Master", "Mavruh", "Pakhomushka" adjoin the Christmas and Shrovetide games of the mummers. They, obviously, were the "bridge" from small dramatic forms to large ones. The popularity of the comic dialogues of the master and the headman, the master and the servant was so great that they were invariably included in the performances of The Boat, and sometimes even Tsar Maximilian.

2.5Live Actor Theater

The next stage in the development of the folk theater is characterized by the appearance of performances of the theater of a live actor. The beginning of this, the highest stage, is usually attributed to the first decades of the eighteenth century. The most significant monument of this stage is the oral folk drama "Tsar Maximilian". It was played almost all over Russia. She existed in a working, peasant, soldier, raznochin environment.

In November or December, on the eve of Christmas and Christmas, future actors gathered to learn the text, determine the mise-en-scenes, and prepare the props. Usually the lead actor, who is the most experienced person in theatrical affairs, was in charge of everything. The roles were memorized from the voice, and since the texts, with rare exceptions, were not recorded in writing, a variety of changes could be made to them along the way.

The mise-en-scenes there were no longer fixed in any way and were recreated exclusively from memory. The props were the simplest: a chair pasted over with “gold” or “silver” paper served as a throne, a crown was made of cardboard, a sword for the executioner, a bast hung on a rope, depicted a priest’s censer. The costumes were no more difficult. Only for the performer of the role of the king it was necessary to get trousers with wide stripes and attach magnificent epaulettes to the shoulders. On the costumes of other participants great attention did not pay.

Russian folk drama and folk theatrical art in general are the most interesting and significant phenomenon of national culture.

Dramatic games and performances at the beginning of the 20th century were an integral part of the festive folk life, whether it was village gatherings, religious schools, soldiers' and factory barracks, or fair booths.

And everywhere the actors found many grateful spectators. Folk actors for the most part were not professionals, they were a special kind of amateurs, connoisseurs of the folk tradition, which was inherited from father to son, from grandfather to grandson, from generation to generation of rural youth of pre-conscription age. The same traditions existed in military units quartered in provincial Russian towns, in small factories, and even in prisons and jails.

The love of the people for theatrical spectacles and the power of the impact of performances were so great that the memory of a performance seen at least once was preserved for life. It is no coincidence that to this day one can record the vivid memories of the audience of folk performances more than half a century ago: descriptions of costumes, manners of playing, whole memorable scenes and dialogues that sounded in the performances of the song.

The combination of "high", tragic scenes with comic ones is present in all plots and texts of dramas, including "Tsar Maximilian". This combination has an important ideological and aesthetic meaning. Tragic events take place in the dramas - Tsar Maximilian executes the recalcitrant son Adolf, the ataman kills a knight, an officer in a duel; the executioner, the beautiful captive, commits suicide. The choir responds to these events, as in an ancient tragedy.

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

So, the main characters express themselves in a solemn ceremonial speech, introduce themselves, give orders and orders. In moments of emotional upheaval, the characters of the drama utter heartfelt lyrical monologues (they are sometimes replaced by the performance of a song).

In dialogues and mass scenes, everyday event speech sounds, in which relationships are clarified and conflicts are determined.

Comic characters are characterized by playful, parodic speech. Actors playing the roles of an old man, a servant, a doctor-healer often resorted to improvisation based on traditional folklore methods of playing deafness, synonyms and homonyms.

A special role in the folk drama is played by songs performed by the heroes at critical moments for them or by the choir - a commentator on ongoing events. The songs were a kind of emotional and psychological element of the performance. They were performed mostly in fragments, revealing the emotional meaning of the scene or the state of the character. Songs at the beginning and end of the performance were obligatory. The song repertoire of folk dramas consists mainly of author's songs of the 18th-19th centuries popular in all sectors of society. These are the soldiers' songs "The White Russian Tsar Went", "Malbrook went on a campaign", "Praise, praise to you, hero", and the romances "I walked in the meadows in the evening", "I'm leaving for the desert", "What is clouded, the dawn is clear " and many others.

Among the folk dramas there are plots known in a few records or even in single full options. Their texts (apart from testimonies, fragments) are absent both in the extensive pre-revolutionary archives and in the materials of Soviet-era expeditions that worked in the places where these plays were recorded.

Fair entertainment and festivities in cities on the occasion of major calendar holidays (Christmas, Shrovetide, Easter, Trinity, etc.) or events of national importance (crowning the kingdom, celebrations in honor of military victories, etc.) .P.).

The heyday of the festivities falls on the 18th-19th centuries, although certain types and genres of folk art, which constituted an indispensable accessory of the fair and city festive square, were created and actively existed long before the indicated centuries and continue, often in a transformed form, to exist to this day. Such is the puppet theater, bear fun, partly the jokes of merchants, many circus numbers. Other genres were born from the fairground and died out with the end of the festivities.

3. Modern tendencies folklore movement of Russia

Speaking about the folklore movement in Russia, we, following V. E. Gusev, understand “folklore” as “folk culture (in various volumes of its types), a socially conditioned and historically developing form of the creative activity of the people, “characterized by a system of specific features (collectivity of creative process as a dialectical unity of individual and mass creativity, traditionalism, non-fixed forms of transmission of works, variability, multi-element, multi-functionality) and is closely related to labor activity and life, the customs of the people.

Back in the 80s, when the folklore movement began in Russia, it managed to focus its attention on folk culture “in various volumes of its types”, and this was already its alternative character in relation to existing folk choirs.

Years have passed, and much has changed: folk choirs began to mimic, dressing in custom-made costumes and looking in the direction of a genuine folk song. And folklore groups - realized the important role of the stage in contemporary art and began to strive for excellence in this field. The picture has become more complex. Sometimes you can already hear that the folk choir in its own way participates in the folklore movement ...

Today in Russia there are two approaches to the development of traditional singing. Considering their vectors, one can speak of a kind of centrifugal and centripetal tendencies that determine the process of creative search.

The first is directed outward: from the authentic tradition to the individual, and in its essence, the author's creativity. At the same time, singers and musicians either follow the usual stereotypes of the existing concert and stage practice, or create their own original version using new creative techniques.

The second trend is protective, directed deep into the tradition - to the development of its "language" and laws, to the continuity of folk culture in its artistic forms and to the maximum achievement of mastery along this path, which requires considerable knowledge and understanding of the essence of the matter.

The first (i.e., centrifugal) tendency is most clearly manifested in the activities of collectives, in many cases generated by the state system of personnel training existing in Russia (its extreme expression is folk choirs, song and dance ensembles and their modern modifications).

Such groups master folklore material according to the laws written culture: they most often turn only to the song-musical side of the folk tradition and reproduce its samples, as a rule, from one of the most successful examples recorded in the notes or phonogram.

Vocal work on folk songs in such “folklore” groups is carried out within the framework of the existing school, which was created in the 20th century on the basis of the principles of academic singing, somewhat adapted to “Russian specifics”. Choreography, often separated from singing performance, also uses techniques developed famous choreographers in the professional scene.

Ideas have been established that folklore groups can only be a kind of “sounding museum”, preserving a certain “standard” of a traditional song, or a laboratory for studying the intonation being studied. Such groups proclaim the purity of the reproduction of this "standard" and the absence of any changes in the subsequent performance as the highest virtue of creativity.

In the Moscow "near-folklore" environment, one can hear the bewildered words "folklore is so elitist ..." Yes, if folklore is the life of "standards" and "masterpieces". And here one involuntarily recalls the words of the outstanding Russian folklorist E.V. Gippius, who wrote in his “Peasant Music of Zaonezhye”** in 1927: “A folk song is a phenomenon that is continuously and spontaneously moving and changing, almost unceasingly evolving. The fixation of every moment of this movement is a kind of instant photograph, and each fixed form cannot be considered as something crystallized and frozen.

In another coryphaeus of Russian folkloristics, P. G. Bogatyrev,** we find the idea that the life of a work of written tradition (whether it be literature or musical classics) is the result of a certain path: from the work to the performer. Folklore is the way from performer to performer.

Pupils and followers of the ideas of Gippius and Bogatyrev, Gusev and Putilov, Mekhnetsov and Kabanov are well aware that folklore is life itself, and there is a place in it for striving for perfection with a focus on top samples, and the masterful performance of a traditional song, and routine everyday work on comprehending and restoring the systemic links of traditional culture in the “various volume of its types”, where music is assigned, although important, but not always the main role.

Collectives of the first type, not only choirs, but also ensembles, have something in common - they live for the stage, which is a defining moment, and folklore samples are just works for performance on stage, and nothing more. There is a transfer of folklore from one system - its living existence - into a stage artistic and aesthetic system, and even frozen in its "greatness", which significantly impoverishes and curtails the idea of ​​traditional performance. Even when both vocals and movements in dance are oriented towards traditional performance, and even results that are very “similar to tradition” are achieved, they are not such due to the introduction of creative laws fundamentally alien to it.

The second trend (denoted above as centripetal), in our opinion, is the most promising for the modern cultural process. It is represented by those, for the most part, youth folklore groups in Russia, whose search is directed specifically to the oral way of existence and reproduction of folk tradition according to its inherent laws. Such groups do not limit themselves only to stage forms, but first of all give examples of the living existence of culture, pass on their experience to the younger generation, filling modern life with the most viable elements of traditional culture and those layers of folklore that are fundamentally “non-concert”, that is, they lose all meaning in unusual them situations. These are groups of ethno-cultural direction, aimed at maximum reliability in the development of the local style and the "language" of the tradition.

It is encouraging that several higher educational institutions Russia, such as the St. Petersburg Conservatory, the Vologda Pedagogical University, Voronezh Institute arts managed to move away from the stereotypes of personnel training that had developed in the Soviet era, putting forward the priorities of the traditional direction in curricula their universities. At the head of these programs are A. M. Mekhnetsov, G. P. Paradovskaya, G. Ya. Sysoeva - it was they who in 1989 participated in the creation of our Union.

In the last decades of the 20th century, experience gradually accumulated, mostly amateur groups, which later united into the Russian Folklore Union based on common creative aspirations. Now we can talk about this experience as worthy of reflection and generalization.

Where a folklore group relies on the knowledge of folklorists, ethnographers, historians, and also conducts its own collecting and research work, serious results are achieved. At present, the Board of the Russian Folklore Union has hundreds (!) of groups from different regions in the field of vision, for which, in joint creativity, carried out according to the laws of tradition, its process itself is more important than the result oriented to spectator stereotypes. (Recall that when the Union was created in 1989, it included only 14 groups).

The idea of ​​"inheriting the culture of one's ancestors", which was put forward by the leader and president of the Folklore Union A. M. Mekhnetsov in the 80s, turned out to be not only socially useful, but also very passionate. According to many, it was she who partly opened the "gateways" to a wide wave of youth interest in their root culture. She also demanded a certain courage from the scientist, because in the eyes of some fellow folklorists she sounded almost sedition.

It must be said that the activities of groups that, with all their creative practice, affirm the idea: “We are the successors of our culture, the traditions of our ancestors,” of course, do not reflect the whole variety of life forms of folklore in traditional society. In general, there is little room left for the everyday sound of a song in our modern urban life. Perhaps, only leisure forms (folk festivals, “evenings”), some separate significant events in family life that require designation of the particularity of the moment (for example, weddings, seeing off, meetings, etc.) or recreating a whole holiday demanded by a part of society ( for example, Christmas time, Maslenitsa or Trinity) actualize the need to express themselves in a song.

Participants in the folklore movement are well aware that they are leaving peasant labor on earth, and with it entire layers of folk culture, the village practically disappears ... The more important it is to preserve the language of culture, the way of thinking, (expressed, including in musical forms and genres), which even after centuries will allow our descendants to get lost in this world and say: "We are Russian people."

The amateur movement is in dire need of the help of professionals, but how can they get in the right amount - after all, only three universities graduate three dozen specialists of this profile per year - and this is all over Russia, where tens of thousands of specialists in folk culture are needed!

In the early 1990s, the Board of the Russian Folklore Union conducted a sociological study among the participants of folklore groups of ethnocultural direction.

This study showed that folklore group members prefer to engage in the traditions of their (or any one) region or region; The basis of its activity is collecting work, trips to villages to the bearers of folk culture of the older generation. At the same time, musical folklore is not the only area of ​​their expeditionary interests: the context of tradition is necessarily studied - rituals, customs, life, crafts, folk costume. Many work with children and teenagers.

It should be emphasized that the members of folklore groups, declaring their "dislike" for the stage, perceive it only as an inevitable form that has become established in modern urban life: but a folk song always needs its listener, and the ability to get in touch with him, affecting subtle and the complex strings of his soul, requires great skill, especially when performed on stage. And here it becomes clear that the stage and folklore are things that are very difficult to combine.

At the same time, the process of their search went far beyond the limits of performing arts. Many folk groups do not even call themselves ensembles. Among the self-names: "family folklore theater", "scientific and creative association", "free partnership", "historical and ethnographic club", "community", "youth folklore association", "laboratory", "folklore club", etc. The majority consider themselves either to everyday groups, but with the need to perform on stage, or to stage, but not alien signs of an informal group practicing everyday singing. None of the bands we are talking about here call themselves purely domestic or purely stage.

If we talk about the method of mastering the material in terms of the frequency of mention, then almost all participants in such groups name the live singing of the bearer of the tradition and the phonogram as a model. Next comes the development of the material at the suggestion of the leader and his own expeditionary and collecting work, in last place - musical collections and transcripts, which are very little involved in the work. Such is the external picture, generalized according to the questionnaires of the participants of folklore groups themselves.

Observing the life of folklore ensembles over the years, and based on the results of the study, one can see that mastering the language of culture is what fascinates these people, whether they realize it or not. In an effort to identify themselves with a group of authentic performers, an amateur folklore group begins to carry the features of this kind of groups. Among amateur ensembles, in the same way, there are groups that are open and closed, even closed, with one bright leader and several, with different types of relationships (authoritarian and democratic), and the personality of the leader does not always coincide with leadership in singing. Therefore, the folklore groups of this direction are so diverse.

Mastering the language of tradition involves multi-level tasks. Since a folk song is not perceived by folklore groups only as an aesthetic and stylistic phenomenon, communicative or group-forming factors come to the fore in the process of joint creativity, namely:

1. Identification of one's inner world with the life and manifestations of a particular tradition and with those authentic masters who are its bearers. The mechanism of “preliminary censorship of the group” is turned on in relation to their own performance (the expression of P. G. Bogatyrev), and it is one of the main factors in the work of the group.

2. In the process of developing a joint “language”, the so-called “ small group”, in which, apparently, the accumulated knowledge and skills have always been preserved and transferred. At the same time, each participant gets the opportunity of self-disclosure, finds his place inside a living organism, which is a small group (ensemble).

Since the continuity of traditions is proclaimed as the creative credo of these groups, all work, including vocal, turns into a process of constant personal search and mastery of tradition by each individual, combined with joint work in a group. The idea of ​​the continuity of tradition, as it were, “restarts” the creative process that gives rise to the song tradition within a given group. A necessary element of this work is personal contacts with folk performers and material recorded in sound recordings. The performer of the folk song in former times, and now is not only the custodian, but also the "renovator" of the tradition. In joint creativity, the collective experience merges with the content of each participant's own inner world.

Serious work on the development of traditions requires careful attitude to dialectal intonation and articulation, without which none of the folklore groups can do today. At the same time, it is obvious that mastering the ethno-dialect features of musical material occurs more easily and naturally where the members of the group are engaged in any one local tradition, and even better than their native region: fewer barriers have to be overcome. The head of the team only needs to help enter the system of sound production, and the presence of a folklorist-consultant allows to ensure textual authenticity and set the limits of variability. The combination of a folklorist and a choirmaster in one person - this, it would seem, is the ideal leader that such a team needs. But a few examples of this kind show that this is not always enough for the best creative disclosure of this kind of group: the very direction of the search is important, the song needs to find a place in our lives.

The search for modern non-stage forms of the existence of tradition, the preservation of its living essence, its free procedural nature, the flexible and diverse functioning of song genres in it in different performing groups - this is what a folklore ensemble should strive for. After all, songs are sung for joy, and it is the song as a cultural and historical phenomenon that can unite thousands and hundreds of thousands of people on this basis.

What was created in past eras acquires a new, relevant sound for us today. The past and future of culture are always present in our present. The old language takes on new life when a new sound of meaning arises, this is how continuity is realized. Folk groups Those who proclaimed the continuity of the culture of their ancestors as their task have a chance to get involved in a living creative process and achieve mastery along this path. This is the key to the self-preservation of traditional culture, its protection from deadly and alien influences brought in from outside, its ability to creatively process and assimilate everything that is viable. And in this sense, the participants of the youth folklore movement are creating the culture of today, in which both the experience of their ancestors and its future prosperity are laid down.

Conclusion

The significance of Russian folk theater was assessed only in Soviet times. The materials collected and studied so far testify to the continuity and sufficient intensity of the process of the formation of theatrical art in Russia, which followed its own, original path.

Russian folk theater is a unique phenomenon. This is without a doubt one of the brilliant examples of the world folk art. Already in the relatively early stages of its formation, he demonstrated ideological maturity, the ability to reflect the most acute and topical conflicts of his time. The best aspects of the folk theater were absorbed and developed by the Russian professional theater.

folklore theater buffoon drama

Bibliography

1. Aseev. B.N. "Theater at the turn of the nineteenth - twentieth centuries" - Moscow "Enlightenment", 1976

2. Belkin. A. A. "The origins of the Russian theater" - Moscow "Enlightenment", 1957

3. Vinogradov. Yu.M. "Maly Theater" - St. Petersburg "Bud" 1989

4. Gotthard. E.L. "People's Theaters" - St. Petersburg "Enlightenment" 2001

5. Lane. A.Z. "Theater of the XVIII century" - Moscow 1998

6. Exemplary. A.G. "The Theater of the Actor" - Yekaterinburg: " Blue bird» 1992

7. Prozorov. T.A. "Theater in Rus'" - Moscow 1998

8. Rostotsky. I.B. "Buffoon Art" - Moscow 2002

9. Khamutovsky. A.N. "History of the Drama Theater" - St. Petersburg "Drofa" 2001

10. Chadova. PC. Puppet Theatre" - Ekaterinburg: "Blue Bird" 1993

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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 the arts. culture of the people, the fundamental principle, giving rise to the entire subsequent history of prof. theater. lawsuit, is Nar. theater. creation.

Folklore theater is the traditional dramatic art of the people. The types of folk entertainment and play culture are diverse: rituals, round dances, dressing up, clowning, etc. In the history of folklore theater, it is customary to consider the pre-theatrical and majestic stages of folk dramatic creativity. Pre-theatrical forms include theatrical elements in calendar and family rituals. In the calendar rituals - the symbolic figures of Maslenitsa, Mermaid, Kupala, Yarila, Kostroma, etc., playing scenes with them, dressing up. A prominent role was played by agricultural magic, magical actions and songs designed to promote the well-being of the family. For example, for winter Christmas time, a plow was pulled through the village, "sowed" in the hut with grain, etc. With the loss of magical significance, the rite turned into fun. The wedding ceremony also represented; a theatrical game: the order of "roles", the sequence of "scenes", the transformation of the performers of songs and lamentations into the protagonist of the rite (the bride, her mother). A complex psychological game was a change in the internal state of the bride, who in the house of her parents had to cry and lament, and in the house of her husband 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 the participants in many scenes. They dressed up as an old man, an old woman, a man dressed in women's clothes, and a woman in men's clothes, dressed up in animals, especially often in a bear and a goat. The costume of the mummers, their masks, make-up, as well as the scenes they played were passed down from generation to generation. At Christmas time, Shrovetide, Easter, mummers performed humorous and satirical skits. Some of them later merged into folk dramas.

booth- a temporary wooden building for theater and circus performances, which has become widespread at fairs and festivities. Often also a temporary light building for trade at fairs, to accommodate workers in the summer. In a figurative sense - actions, phenomena similar to a farce performance (clownish, rude). Booths have been known since the 18th century.

nativity scene- folk puppet theater, which is a two-story wooden box, reminiscent of a stage. The crib theater entered Russia in the late 17th and early 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 a cave, where he was hidden from King Herod.

For Ukrainians, Belarusians and Russians, the idea was divided into two parts: religious and domestic. Over time, the religious part was reduced and acquired a local color, and the repertoire expanded and the nativity scene turned into a folk theater.

Unlike the "Petrushka theatre", the puppets are controlled from below

Nativity theater It was a large box, inside of which there was a stage, usually two-tiered. On the upper stage, the worship of the newborn baby Jesus was shown, on the lower stage - episodes with Herod, after whose death the everyday part of the performance followed. Wooden puppets were attached from below to a wire, with the help of which the crib-maker moved them along the slots in the floor. The main scenery on the stage is a nursery 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 den usually recited the text in different voices and led the puppets. The chorus boys sang Christmas carols. And if a musician was present, he accompanied the singing and dancing with music. The puppeteers and accompanying musicians and the choir went from house to house, or staged performances in places of public gathering - in the marketplaces.

In fact, a two-tiered box 1x1.5m, dolls moved on the tiers.

Petrushka Theater- The parsley screen consisted of three frames fastened with staples and covered with chintz. She was placed directly on the ground and hid the puppeteer. The hurdy-gurdy gathered the audience, and behind the screen the actor began to communicate with the audience through a beep (whistle). Later, with laughter and a 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 squeaker, speech was not always intelligible, and he repeated Petrushka's phrases, carried on a dialogue. The comedy with Petrushka was played out at fairs and in booths.

In Russia, only men "led" Petrushka. To make the voice louder and squeaky (this was necessary both for audibility at fair performances and for the special character of the character), they used a special beep inserted into the larynx. Petrushka's speech was supposed to be "piercing" and very fast.

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

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

The highest manifestation of folk theater is folk drama. The first folk dramas were created in the 16th-17th centuries. Their formation came from simple forms to more complex ones. The most famous and widespread folk dramas were "The Boat" and "Tsar Maximilian". Popular household satirical dramas ("Barin", "Imaginary master", "Mavrukh", "Pakhomushka", etc.) were also played, adjoining Christmas and Maslenitsa games. They are based on dramatic scenes that were played out by mummers.

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