Performances for children last no more than one hour, so that the kids easily perceive the whole performance, do not get tired and receive only the most joyful impressions. Therefore, both the smallest and older children need their own performances and even their own theaters. We talk about the most popular children's theater venues in Moscow.
8 popular children's theaters in Moscow
Interactive Baby Theater
Theater for the little ones! Truly interactive performances for kids from 8 months. IN the repertoire has stories and for older children- up to 5 years. Bright scenery, author's plots and music and of course, task games right on performance - all this is present on every performance of the BabyTheatre.
Chamber performances- no more than 15-20 children, free seating right in front of the stage on blankets and pillows - the atmosphere is almost homely. In during the performance, a professional free photo session takes place and Each child is given a small souvenir fairy tale motifs.
Address: Moscow, 2nd Vysheslavtsev lane, 17, building 2. (m. Maryina grove).
Moscow Children's Shadow Theater on Izmailovsky Boulevard
Shadow theater is an amazing phenomenon in art. It originated in China over 1700 years ago. The modern children's shadow theater in Moscow inherits the traditions of Chinese and Russian theater, the productions combine puppets and live acting.
The repertoire of the theater includes baby performances for kids from 1 year old (“Giselle” and “Paints”), older audiences (“The Black Hen” by Pogorelsky, “The Little Humpbacked Horse” by Ershov, “Thumbelina” by Andersen) and teenagers (production based on the series “Sherlock "). And here they also show performances-quests and conduct tours about the structure of the shadow theater.
Address: Izmailovsky boulevard 60/10, st. metro station "Pervomaiskaya"
On the territory of the Tagansky Children's Park - a truly wonderful place for children - there is a Fairytale Theater. His repertoire includes performances for children from 4 to 10 years old.
Most of the performances are based on author's and folk tales, where humanistic truths, centuries-old wisdom and universal values are presented in an entertaining manner. In productions, puppets are played, which are voiced and moved by actors.
This is a family theater, and therefore an ideal place for adults to spend time with children.
Address: st. Taganskaya 15a, st. Metro "Marksistskaya"
skazkateatr.ru
Children's Book Theater "Magic Lamp"
Another children's family theater, where a fairy tale becomes a frequent guest. The leaders see their mission as instilling love for the book, so the performances are staged based on the best works of Russian and world literature.
"Magic lamp" — puppet theater, one of most famous in Russia. You can visit it from toddlers from 3 years. In addition to performances, meetings are held within its walls writers and presentations of new children's books, exhibitions of artists and much more.
Address: st. Sushchevskaya, 25 p. 5.
This cozy puppet theater with a symbolic name and a modern hall was launched in 1991. The actors started out with a very small repertoire consisting mostly of folk tales.
Gradually, the theater gained an audience and popularity among the townspeople, the repertoire and the troupe expanded. Now he successfully puts on original fairy-tale performances, which receive prizes at competitions.
The hall is equipped with comfortable transforming chairs, and in the foyer there are soft chairs and decorations for showing a performance for the smallest spectators - "Scraps on nooks and crannies."
Address: st. Stromynka, 3.
teatr-zhar-ptitsa.ru
The history of the Russian puppet theater goes back to the beginning of the 20th century. The current theater carefully preserves them, but at the same time uses modern forms to stage classical children's works and embodies its own ideas.
The puppet theater inside looks extraordinarily beautiful: a decorated hall, paintings, a heavenly ceiling. And most importantly, the children are close to the stage, not at all like in a regular theater. Before the start of the performance, they are entertained by animators and life-size puppets to immerse them in a wonderful atmosphere.
The theater actively tours, participates in foreign festivals and has many awards in its field. I recommend visiting for children from 2 years old and adults, because this is a unique opportunity to touch a special ancient genre of puppetry.
Address: st. Abelmanovskaya 17a, st. metro station "Proletarskaya".
www.marionetki.ru
Little kids (and adults too) love animals! Therefore, the Animal Theater is a great place to go with a child. Both children and parents will enjoy the performance.
Trained animals perform on the stage of an unusual theater - real circus artists working on a par with people. Here, nature and man coexist, love and kindness, care and respect reign. All this is taught by the theater to the younger generation.
"Grandfather Durov's Corner" includes the Big and Small Stages, the Mouse Railway attraction and the theater museum.
Address: st. Durova 2, p. 1, Art. metro station "Dostoevskaya".
ugolokdurova.ru
Man tamed a cat 9 thousand years ago. But he began to train only in the last century - and this is how the Kuklachev Cat Theater appeared, which became famous throughout the country and the world.
Yuri Kuklachev from childhood dreamed of becoming a circus performer, studied, tried himself in different directions, invented his own genre and system of cat training. Today, his theater hosts many amazing productions featuring domestic cats and sometimes other animals. Almost 200 cats of different breeds live in the "fluffy apartments".
Will your child like this? I am sure yes, because cats live in almost every home, and these are the most popular pets. Therefore, do not deny yourself and children the pleasure of watching their tricks and live performance on stage.
Address: Kutuzov Avenue 25, art. Metro station "Studencheskaya"
newmartyros.ru
Children's performances in Moscow theaters
Children's performances are not only in individual theaters. You can also take your child to a colorful performance in an ordinary "adult" theater. A venue popular with the audience with a great history and a famous troupe is always good equipment and acoustics, professional actors, comfort and pleasure for the audience.
Most theaters in Moscow put on excellent children's performances for different ages. Many performances are relevant for adults as well. I will list the best of them:
Main photo: teatr-zhar-ptitsa.ru
"Trud" recommends performances that you can go to with your childFor the first time in the history of the Golden Mask theater award, children's performances staged by four students of Sergei Zhenovach at RAMT were nominated for it. Trud believes that, despite some positive changes, it is still difficult to find good children's productions in Moscow.
Until recently, the choice of parents who want to send their children to the theater, even in such a metropolis as Moscow, was small. The first thing that came to mind for moms and dads, as well as grandparents, was such dinosaurs of the children's repertoire as "The Blue Bird" at the Gorky Moscow Art Theater and "The Scarlet Flower" at the Pushkin Theater, to which they themselves were taken 30, 50 and more years ago. The Scarlet Flower has been running for 60 years, and in January the 4,000th performance of this fairy tale by Aksakov will be played, while The Blue Bird, based on Maeterlinck's play, celebrated its centenary in 2008. And yet, it is much more difficult to captivate a modern child with the adventures of Tiltil and Mitil in a fairy-tale forest or Nastenka in an enchanted palace: accustomed to inventive computer games, they have never seen anything like that.
Parents who want to teach their child to go to the theater from an early age can sometimes become desperate. Most of the children's performances in Moscow and beyond are dull archaic "tyuzyatina" or just outright hack-work. There are only a few performances that speak to children in the modern language.
"Trud" studied the Moscow poster and identified the best performances in which parents do not have to blush in front of their children.
1-4. Project "Young directors for children"
About what: the artistic director of the theater Aleksey Borodin called four young directors who were trained on the course of Sergei Zhenovach, and they staged modern, smart and joyful performances that were nominated for the Golden Mask as a single “package”. These are the performances “Like a Cat Walked Wherever He Wants” (pictured) based on a fairy tale by Kipling (director Sigrid Strem Reibo), “Fearless Master” based on a Russian folk tale (director Marfa Gorvits-Nazarova), “The Magic Ring” based on a fairy tale by Boris Shergin (director Alexander Khukhlin), "Almost for real" based on the fairy tale by Toon Tellegen (directed by Ekaterina Polovtseva). Adults will enjoy just as much as children.
For whom: For children from 7 years
5. "Alice Through the Looking Glass"
Where: "Workshop of Peter Fomenko"
About what: one of the most talented students of Pyotr Fomenko, director Ivan Popovsky created a spectacle of unprecedented beauty using the most advanced multimedia technologies. Cane puppets and luminous objects are used. Children watch with their mouths open, and leaving the hall, they say: “This is cooler than Avatar. There is a lot of music performed by the artists of the Elena Kamburova Theater.
For whom: For children from 7 years
6. "Purely English ghost"
Where: Russian Academic Youth Theater
About what: director Alexander Nazarov in 2005 staged the fairy tale "The Canterville Ghost" by Oscar Wilde. This is a real family show. The younger ones are fascinated by the friendship between little Virginia and the sad ghost, and parents find it amusing to see the human-like toys come to life.
For whom: For children from 7 years
Where: "School of the modern play"
About what: a folk-rock rap-pop fantasy staged in 2002 based on the best-selling book by Gregory Oster. “If you are invited to dinner, proudly hide under the sofa” - this and a dozen more bad tips from a popular poet for all occasions.
For whom: for children from 9 years old
8. R.-L. Stevenson "Treasure Island"
Where: Pushkin Theater
About what: Lots of music, fights and dancing. A large-scale spectacle, staged in 1996 by a young director Evgeny Pisarev, is intended for those who love adventure and dream of mastering the mysterious map of the treasure island.
For whom: for children from 9 years old
9. “The Incredible Adventures of T.S. and G.F.”
About what: Behind the mysterious initials in the title of the play, staged by Henrietta Yanovskaya, are Mark Twain characters Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. A spectacle with a lot of humor and exciting adventures.
For whom: for children from 9 years old
10. "Wolf and seven kids"
Where: Moscow Theater for Young Spectators
About what: a short story in which the carefree and cocky childhood of the main characters, the tenderness and warmth of their older relatives and a large cheerful company of their friends fit in. And also - the songs of Rybnikov and Entin, which can make any performance sold out.
For whom: For children from 5 years old
11. "Two Trees"
Where: Theater "Shadow"
About what: the performances of the theater "Shadow" are good for everyone, except that you need to sign up for them in advance, since they are designed for groups of five people. Invented by Ilya Epelbaum and Maya Krasnopolskaya, the Lilikan people are so small that they fit in a small box. To see a play about the romantic love of a beautiful princess and the king of gold mines, about an evil and treacherous yellow dwarf who lived in an orange tree, and a cruel desert fairy who separated the lovers, you need to surround the Lilikan Theater from all sides.
For whom: for children from 6 years old with adults
12. "Pinocchio"
Where: Praktika Theater
About what: Frenchman Joel Pomerat is one of the leaders of European stage direction, whose performances take part in the most prestigious festivals. Pinocchio is a smart, inventive and slightly gloomy fantasy based on the classic fairy tale by Carlo Collodi, staged by Joel Pomra this season at the invitation of Eduard Boyakov.
From October 28 to November 6, the third children's theater festival "MARSHAK" will be held in Voronezh. The program includes 20 of the brightest children's performances that will be of interest to adults as well..
King Matt
The best children's performances will be shown as part of the Marshak festival
Opening of the festival
Globus Theater (Novosibirsk)
Janusz Korczak
Live lecture
Director– Polina Struzhkova
The creators of the performance embodied the idea of the outstanding Polish teacher and writer Janusz Korczak that a child is a person who is responsible for the organization of his microworld. In one state, the king-father dies, and the little prince has to take the throne. He will have to fight with the rulers of neighboring countries, make decisions that are not childish, but the main thing is to find the answer to the question: how to make everyone around happy?
The performance resembles a fascinating lecture about freedom and disobedience, fun and responsibility. The professor, who tells the audience the story of Matt, constantly asks them questions, encouraging them to look for answers in their hearts.
The production participated in the Children's Weekend program of the Golden Mask festival in 2016.
dragon zoo
Photo: press service of the festival "Marshak"
Dieserud/Lindgren Theater Company (Norway)
Maria Triti Vennerod
Director— Christina Lindgren
Drama Theatre. A. Koltsova - Small stage (Revolution Avenue, 55)
Duration - 30 minutes without intermission
Spectators find themselves in a magical zoological garden inhabited by dragons. The stage is a fabulous island. Children together with their parents go on a journey, meeting outlandish plants on the way and hearing mysterious sounds. Finally, they discover the inhabitants of the island - three dragons... The creators of the play have studied these fantastic creatures well in order to introduce them to the kids. What myths are associated with dragons? How do they live? How are they moving? What sounds are made? This performance without words is intended for the smallest spectators.
Kashtanka
Photo: press service of the festival "Marshak"
Globus Theater (Novosibirsk)
Anton Chekhov
A fun story for kids and adults
Director– Yuri Kataev
Artistic director of the production– Nina Chusova
The main characters of the performance - the trained goose Ivan Ivanovich, the pig Khavronya Ivanovna, the cat Fyodor Timofeich and, of course, Kashtanka herself - are speechless. But the actors with their acting, facial expressions and gestures surprisingly accurately convey the very “human” emotions of these characters. And in the finale it seems as if the boy Fedyushka is no longer looking for a dog, but for his lost sister.
The story of friendship, devotion and the need to make difficult decisions is shown brightly and impressively in the performance: circus acts are played on the stage, soap bubbles are poured and confetti is poured.
Beware elves!
Photo: press service of the festival "Marshak"
Theater of Nations (Moscow)
Children's detective
Directors– Maria Litvinova, Vyacheslav Ignatov
This is an interactive performance with elements of shadow theater, created by the winners of the Golden Mask award Maria Litvinova and Vyacheslav Ignatov. The audience finds themselves in the very center of a detective story: two secret agents-elfologists invite them to take part in the investigation of the mysterious disappearance of the girl Lisa and her parents. Young detectives will have to catch invisible elves, take part in collecting evidence and even in a real investigative experiment.
Treasure Island
Photo: press service of the festival "Marshak"
Moscow Provincial Theater (Moscow)
Robert Louis Stevenson adventure play
Director– Alexey Serov
Voronezh Concert Hall (Teatralnaya St., 17)
Duration - 2 hours 20 minutes with one intermission
An exciting performance based on one of the greatest novels of European literature will introduce viewers to the world of pirates and sea adventures! The story about the boy Jim Hawkins and the legendary treasures of Flint has got new characters here and got an unexpected ending. On the stage there is a transforming ship that easily turns from the majestic Hispaniola into the Admiral Benbow tavern or a cave with gold. The Moscow Provincial Theater managed to create a large-scale show, which in terms of entertainment is not inferior to a big adventure movie. The performance is accompanied by audio commentary, which makes it possible for people with visual impairments to perceive it.
thick notebook
Photo: press service of the festival "Marshak"
Globus Theater (Novosibirsk)
Agota Christoph
Director– Alexey Kriklyvy
Chamber Theater (Karl Marx St., 55a)
Duration - 2 hours 50 minutes with one intermission
This performance is for high school students and their parents. It is about twin boys who grow up in a small Hungarian town during World War II. Left without adult supervision, Klaus and Lucas keep a diary in which they impartially describe all the events that happen to them, sometimes quite shocking. A 1986 novel by Swiss writer Agota Christophe became a bestseller. The director does not illustrate the events from the book and carefully leaves out the most ruthless details. The story of what happens to the lives of children who are victims of the war is played out in a white minimalist scenery.
Snow Maiden
Photo: press service of the festival "Marshak"
Puppet Theater "Stray Dog" (St. Petersburg)
Alla Sergeeva
Parable
Director– Alfiya Abdulina
Puppet theater "Jester" (Prospekt Revolyutsii, 50)
The performance will acquaint the audience with ancient rituals and holidays, tell about kindness and self-sacrifice, as well as the beauty and originality of Russian culture, which combines Christianity and paganism. It also raises an important topic: how difficult it is sometimes in life for people who are unlike others.
The staging is without words, the narration is based on visual images, original music and plastic. The well-known theatrical artist Yuri Kharikov created unusual patchwork puppets, and for puppeteers he came up with costumes-decorations: fantastic headdresses turn into tree crowns in the imagination of the audience, masks and sundresses with intricate ornaments - into Slavic deities.
The performance was nominated for the Russian National Theater Award "Golden Mask - 2017" in three categories.
The Tale of Tsar Saltan
Photo: press service of the festival "Marshak"
Theater-Theater (Perm)
Alexander Pushkin
Director– Irina Tkachenko
Chamber Theater (Karl Marx, 55a)
Duration - 1 hour 5 minutes without intermission
The performance returns the audience to the folk traditions of playing out fairy tales and fun festivities with songs and round dances. Already in the foyer of the theater, children find themselves in the center of the action, where they are invited to spin the fair wheel, look into the future with the help of fortune-telling or make a paper angel with their own hands.
And once in the auditorium, they go on an exciting journey with their favorite characters: Tsar Saltan, his son Gvidon and the beautiful Princess Swan. Melodious Pushkin's lines fall on folk melodies. Folklore motifs are also used in the design of the performance - ethnic costumes and scenery elements are made of natural materials.
The performance is a laureate of the Russian National Theater Award "Harlequin" in 4 nominations and a participant in the "Children's Weekend" program of the "Golden Mask" festival in 2017.
25 minutes before the start of the performance, the audience is invited to the lobby for an interlude.
Steppe Nocturne, or Between Dusk and Dawn
Photo: press service of the festival "Marshak"
Petropavlovsk Puppet Theater (Kazakhstan)
Director– Evgeny Ibragimov
Chamber Theater - Small Stage (Karl Marx, 55a)
Duration - 45 minutes without intermission
This is a fascinating journey into the history of the Kazakh people. In a small hall, the viewer follows a ray of light through the darkness step by step, like a silent guide, plunging into the events of centuries ago.
Images and symbols form legends about valor and freedom. This is a performance without words, built on gestures, facial expressions and enchanting music, in which you can hear the chirping of birds, the howl of wolves, the rustle of tumbleweeds, the clatter of horse hooves, the sound of blades and war cries. This melody of the steppe excites the viewer's imagination and makes time freeze ... between sunset and dawn.
The performance is played in a chamber setting for only sixteen spectators.
Peter Pan
Photo: press service of the festival "Marshak"
Theater named after Evgeny Vakhtangov (Moscow)
James Barry
Director– Alexander Koruchekov
Drama Theatre. A. Koltsova (Revolution Avenue, 55)
Duration - 2 hours with one intermission
The story of a boy who did not want to grow up is a landmark for world literature. For more than a hundred years, different generations of readers have enjoyed traveling through the land of fairies, Indians and pirates with Peter Pan and his friends. This is a lively and cheerful performance with colorful appliqué decorations. Paper sabers, masks, mermaid tails and the jungle create a playful atmosphere, appealing to the imagination of the audience and encouraging them to co-create. Having succumbed to the charm of the artists, even adults will believe in magic and become children for a couple of hours. "Peter Pan" - winner of the MK Theater Award in 2016. The performance is played by graduates of the Theater Institute. B. Shchukin (course of Alexander Koruchekov).
Chick
Photo: press service of the festival "Marshak"
Based on the fairy tale by Korney Chukovsky
Director– Ekaterina Lozhkina
This is the story of a kid who gets acquainted with a huge, yet unexplored world. He will have to learn how to walk, pronounce his first words, learn both the beautiful and dangerous aspects of life ... Different-sized puppets and mysterious shadows appear in the performance. Young viewers will be able to laugh heartily at the dance of worms, meet a huge black cat and play with the actors. The play "Chicken" is a laureate of the "Theatres of St. Petersburg for Children" festival and a participant in the "Children's Weekend" program of the "Golden Mask" festival in 2017.
Bunny and Goby
Puppet Theater "Jester" named after Valery Volkhovsky (Voronezh)
Agniya Barto
Staging by the creative team led by Svetlana Dremacheva
Puppet theater "Jester" - "Malyshkina" stage (Prospekt Revolyutsii, 50)
Duration - 35 minutes without intermission
The performance introduces the kids to the characters of the poems of the children's writer Agnia Barto. Mishka, Bull, Bunny and other characters come to life on the stage. The creators combined individual poems into a story - three friends show it to children with the help of two types of dolls. The main characters are fabric puppets made as if from children's undershirts and rompers, and colored stained-glass dolls that help the actors create a real cartoon on a special screen. The production tells the young audience, who are just starting to get acquainted with the theater, in an accessible and entertaining way, about simple, but at the same time very important things - kindness, fidelity, philanthropy, truth, justice.
There will probably be a tea party
Photo: press service of the festival "Marshak"
Theater Studio Karlsson Haus (St. Petersburg)
Based on Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass"
Director– Alexey Shishov
Drama Theatre. A. Koltsova - Small stage (Revolution Avenue, 55)
Duration - 1 hour 10 minutes without intermission
A visit to the performance turns for young viewers into an exciting trip to visit. They are met by the Governess and the March Hare - they seat everyone in front of a magic table in the form of a chessboard. Then other characters of the famous fairy tale by Lewis Carroll join the guests - the Mad Hatter and the Dormouse Mouse. Together they play Alice's adventures like a board game. The audience will save the heroine more than once, and most importantly, they will help her pass the exam and become a queen.
The performance is a laureate of the festival "Golden Mask - 2012" in the nomination "The best performance in the puppet theater".
Journey from A to Z
Theater Center Nikitinsky (Voronezh)
According to the cycle of poems by Samuil Marshak "From A to Z. A Merry Journey"
Director– Boris Alekseev
Theater Center Nikitinsky (St. Nikitinskaya, 1)
Three guys from different countries - a Japanese, an American and a Russian girl - go on a poetic journey around the world. In the big theatrical “campaign”, the little spectators, together with the characters, will get acquainted with the letters of the Russian alphabet, learn the names of countries and their capitals, and also learn what the flags of these states look like. This is an interactive performance with elements of dance and acrobatics. Each child becomes a full participant in the action: he will be able to solve riddles and learn greetings in different languages of the world.
Kolino essay
Photo: press service of the festival "Marshak"
Producer center "KontArt" (St. Petersburg)
Based on the book by Sergei Golyshev "My son is down"
Director– Yana Tumina
Theater Center Nikitinsky (St. Nikitinskaya, 1)
Duration - 55 minutes without intermission
On the stage, with the help of small puppets, subtle acting, video and music, the poetic world of the child comes to life. The performance is based on the poems of a boy with Down syndrome and facts from the life of his family. In one of his essays, six-year-old Kolya talks about a trip to the girl Varya, his best friend from kindergarten. Later, Colin's father finds out that his son never had such a girl in kindergarten. But this does not prevent you from going to her by train, "which does not get tired", through rains, landscapes and shadows. Nothing will stop the desire of the heart for love, which in the finale leads the hero and the audience to the magical planet "where the girl Varya lives." The performance is a laureate of the National Theater Awards "Golden Mask" (2017), "Harlequin" (2016) and the highest theater award of St. Petersburg "Golden Soffit" (2016).
A little prince
Photo: press service of the festival "Marshak"
Closing of the festival
Riga Russian Theater named after Mikhail Chekhov (Latvia)
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Director– Ruslan Kudashov
Drama Theatre. A. Koltsova (Revolution Avenue, 55)
Duration - 1 hour 5 minutes without intermission
This year, one of the main fairy tales of modern times turns 75 years old. We all remember quotes from The Little Prince by heart, this book prompted many to the first serious thoughts about their planet, about love and friendship, about childhood and growing up. French writer and professional pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupery not only wrote the story, but also drew pictures for it, so people all over the world know what the Little Prince, his beloved Rose and his friend Fox look like. Author's illustrations are also used in the play by Ruslan Kudashov, a well-known Russian director, laureate of the Golden Mask award. The performance is in Russian.
THEATER IN WHICH CHILDREN PLAY. Nephew
Photo: press service of the festival "Marshak"
Upsala Circus (St. Petersburg)
The performance is inspired by the paintings of the artist Alexander Voitsekhovsky
Director– Larisa Afanasyeva
Duration - 50 minutes without intermission
Aunt and Nephew travel through cities and seasons. Along the way, they meet "ordinary miracles", get to know different characters, get into troubles and easily get out of them ... The performance opens the world of a special child, played by a special artist: Nephew - a boy with Down syndrome. But looking at this amazing hero, the audience suddenly understands how easy it is to accept the happiness that surrounds each of us and open up to a vast and beautiful world. The production was inspired by the paintings of the artist Alexander Voitsekhovsky. Each of them tells a whole story, touching and warm, like favorite childhood memories. It was in this way - kind and bright - that the performance "Nephew" turned out. The production is performed by the artists of Upsala Circus, the first Russian circus for hooligans, which is engaged in the social adaptation of street children and teenagers.
Legend of the Dead Soldier
Photo: press service of the festival "Marshak"
School No. 686 "Class Center" by Sergey Kazarnovsky (Moscow)
Based on the play "Drums in the Night" by Bertolt Brecht
Heartbreak black comedy
Director– Oleg Dolin
Theater of the Young Spectator (Dzerzhinsky St., 10a)
Duration - 1 hour 10 minutes without intermission
This is a tragic cabaret with songs, dances and a real orchestra, based on an early play by the German playwright and theater reformer Bertolt Brecht. The young man, who went missing in the war, has long been considered dead by his relatives. But in spite of everything, he returns to his hometown - and ends up at the engagement of his bride ... The young artists turned out to be a spectacular horror story about the "living dead". This is a portrait of a world that has not changed at all in a hundred years. The play makes you remember the most important things - love and betrayal, the crowd and loneliness, war and peace. The performance is played by students of the famous theater teacher Sergei Kazarnovsky, who have already taken part in the MARSHAK festival more than once.
Seagull named Jonathan Livingston
Photo: press service of the festival "Marshak"
Children's studio of creative development (Kazan)
Fantasy based on the story-parable of Richard Bach
Directors– Nailya Fatkullina, Rustam Fatkullin
Theater of the Young Spectator (Dzerzhinsky St., 10a)
Duration - 40 minutes without intermission
This is a plastic performance performance with acrobatic stunts on a metal structure. The premiere will take place at the MARSHAK festival. Children tell a story close to them in spirit about a teenage boy who tries to hide from life's problems in a computer reality. One day he finds a game whose plot is remarkably similar to his life. The hero plunges into the virtual world, creating his computer "I" the way he wants to be, and, passing the game, discovers more and more life truths. The performance debunks the stereotype that computer games are always the culprits of all troubles. In 2015, the studio took part in the MARSHAK festival called "Children's Studio for the Creative Development of Konstantin Khabensky."
SKY over sky
Studio "Teatralnaya, 17" (Voronezh)
theatrical, psychological and philosophical quotes
Director– Alexander Novikov
Voronezh Concert Hall - Small Stage (Teatralnaya st., 17)
Duration - 1 hour without intermission
This is a subtle and ironic performance-mood with original plasticity. It is inspired by the works of prominent artists: artists Rene Magritte and Francisco Goya, writers Franz Kafka and Hermann Hesse, dancer and choreographer Pina Bausch, theater director Philippe Genty... "SKY over Sky" is an unusual place where geniuses are born. They are able to live in a higher reality, in which contradictions are removed and which makes possible the “magical” perception of reality, that is, the theater. A sketch of the play "SKY over the Sky" was shown in 2017 at the All-Russian festival "Plumage" in Sochi. The premiere of the finished performance will take place at the MARSHAK festival. In previous years, the studio took part in the MARSHAK festival under the name Konstantin Khabensky's Children's Creative Development Studio.
Taaaddaaam! A real theater critic and mother of three children, Svetlana Berdichevskaya, is now writing for us! It's so cool! Svetlana, on duty, the call of her heart and family circumstances, has watched many different children's performances and now tells us about the most unusual, interesting and touching: “Who can argue with the statement that children's theater is the most necessary and wonderful thing in the world!? Right! Not worth it! But who said that a children's performance cannot be equally interesting and relevant for adults?! Doubt? Not worth it again! The times when parents sat in the foyer during a children's performance or peacefully snored in a dark hall, looking forward to the end of the performance, are long gone! Family viewing is what many theaters are now striving for. The 2013-2014 theater season is rapidly coming to an end. Of course, it's too early to sum up, but it's simply necessary to talk about several children's premieres that you just need to see before the end of the season with the whole family!
1. "School of Clowns" is a new (third in a row) stage venue of the Hermitage Theater, which is located instead of the Parisian Life club. Chamber hall, black walls. They are decorated with giant portraits of legendary clowns: Chaplin, Yengibarov, Nikulin, brothers Shirman, Popov, Polunin. The heroes of Zoshchenko's stories fall into this wonderful company. The new show is called: "Lelya and Minka at the Clown School". These are five stories from the well-known cycle: "Christmas Tree", "Grandma's Gift", "Galoshes and Ice Cream", "Don't Lie", "Great Travelers". No props, no props. It's too much. What is there? A sea of fantasy and maximum involvement in what is happening on stage. Here, for example, spectators become guests at the festive Christmas tree and treat themselves to sweets; but they turn into Minka's classmates, prompting him an unlearned poem; but they are happy to toss the globe like a ball.
But the main thing in the performance, of course, is Zoshchenko himself: his unique, unique language and intonations: both sad and funny, and about each of us: about children and about the so-called adults. And also an amazing acting trio: quiet, as if always surprised and a little scared Minka (Evgeny Kulakov); loud, eccentric Lelya-yula (Irina Bogdanova) and the Clown (Yuri Amigo), who, as befits a real Clown, tries on different masks. He - and the New Year Tree - lush, joyful and absolutely alive. Oh, how upset this Christmas tree is when delicious decorations are so shamelessly torn from it! He is both a grouchy, grandmother, and a terribly harmful school teacher, and even a neighbor boy Styopa who is in love with Lelka.
The theater recommends the production to young viewers from 12 years old, but I am quite sure that this is an overestimated limit. I boldly give the performance a category 7+ . The duration is only one and a half hours. But there is an intermission and therefore there is an opportunity to get into a wonderful theatrical buffet, which is located exactly in the room where the main hall of the Parisian Life used to be. The atmosphere is a pleasant city cafe: wooden tables, cozy floor lamps. The menu is modest, budget, but without formal chocolates and chips. There are four types of very tasty cakes in the assortment, each of which will cost you only 150 rubles.
2. "Mom-cat" in the theater is declared just like a performance for the whole family. To make laugh, touch, push to talk about something important, and most importantly, probably, to surprise parents and children at the same time is a difficult task. It's all about the choice of material. Actually, the author of the story “Mother Cat, or the Story of a Cat Who Taught a Seagull to Fly” himself, the Chilean writer Luis Sepulveda, honestly explained that he wrote “for those who are young, from 8 to 88”. In the story about a black port cat, which so unexpectedly for himself and others becomes a mother for an orphaned seagull, the problems of adult and child life are closely intertwined: ecology (mother seagull dies after falling into an oil slick), friendship, and parental duty. The stage version of this story turned out to be incredibly bright and loud. Acting energy - over the edge. Original cartoon design, music, which in the performance is also a way of life for the characters.
Here is a black cat - a clear fan of Reggae, and insidious rats - metalheads. Large-scale transforming scenery - the port as it is: an old barge, numerous boxes, masts and even a coastal restaurant. Spectators seem to be watching what is happening through a giant porthole, which will open in the finale and turn into a sky with fluffy clouds. As for age, the theater recommends the performance to children from 6 years. I completely agree. But if suddenly you have younger children (from 4 years old), then it is strictly forbidden to leave them at home! The whole family to the theater!
3. Youth Theater (RAMT)- this is that rare and happy case when all the performances that the theater addresses to children are also watched with pleasure by parents. But the recent premiere of "Ogre" is a special topic. This performance is not just invented in the family viewing format. It is, indeed, permeated with meanings for parents and their grown-up children. "Ogre" designed just for the "difficult age" - 12+ . Today it is difficult to convince a teenager to make a choice in favor of the theater. Serious competitors - foreign and gadgets. But it’s also not easy to find a performance in the Moscow theater playbill that will “hook”, make you think, surprise and keep you in strong emotional tension throughout the entire action. RAMT released just such a premiere.
The play is based on the play of the same name by contemporary Canadian playwright Suzanne Lebo. A mother and son live far away from people in the forest. He is of enormous stature and responds to the strange domestic nickname - Ogre. She is a lost in love for her only child, intimidated by the world, but a proud woman with a mysterious past. The boy turns six years old, and with great desire he goes to school in the nearest village. Open, kind and hardworking, he suddenly understands unusual things about himself: the red color is new to him, and the word “father” means absolutely nothing. Then a series of strange, partly terrible events take place that force the mother to confess to the child that he is the son of an ogre. A brave boy wants to renounce his origin and decides to face three trials, after which he may become a man. It is in such a plot that the very meanings addressed to today's teenagers and their parents are hidden. Here and overprotection of the child - fears that devour adults; and the struggle with oneself, with one's passions and desires in suddenly grown-up children. The performance is played on the small stage of the theater: everything is close and to the point of tears. Almost always dark and a little scary. Here the dead forest is long metal poles; the eyes of the wolf are two red spotlights. But she is wearing a blue sweater, and he has huge blue shoes. Do you know why? Because the eyes of their husband and father were blue...
4. If you have not heard anything about "Creative Association 9", you can only envy! You still have ahead: both performances and impressions. Just at the last premiere of this theater, I overheard a conversation between two mothers: “Did you come too?” - "Yes of course! We have already reviewed everything with them several times, we were really looking forward to the new performance. We are hooked on them! And I'm sure the same will happen to you. Once having met these young, talented, creative people who are in love with their work without looking back, you will forever remain their loyal fans. You are, of course, both adults and children. In a kind of manifesto of "Creative Association 9" on their website, there are important lines that they are engaged exclusively in "children's performances for adults or vice versa." The last premiere of the theater has a romantic title: "The Ballad of the Little Tugboat". This is the name of the poem of the same name by Joseph Brodsky, which, by the way, became the first publication of the poet in the Soviet press in 1962:
It's me.
My name is Antey.
However, I am not an antique hero.
I am a tug.
I work in this port.
I work here.
It suits me.
The lights go out in the hall, or rather, Petersburg twilight is approaching. A long fence across the entire stage, on top of which is a panorama of the northern capital - St. Isaac's Cathedral, the Admiralty ... The contours of buildings, as if in a shadow theater. The little Tug-dreamer has been working honestly and hard in the port all his life, but in his thoughts he is transferred to the most different parts of the planet. That is why behind him, as if instead of a hiking backpack, there is an experienced shabby globe. "I'm floating in the clouds in beautiful places ...". Brodsky wrote this poem for children, but, of course, he thought in terms of adult categories. It is pain and fear, despair and hope. Adults consider this message. The children will laugh at the amusing transformations of the Tug into the captain; and then into a stoker, and then into a cook, into a machinist and even into sailors. But both will be stunned by the poetry of genius. Someone for the first time, and someone for the umpteenth time. By the way, the performance also features lines from Kharms, Stevenson and Sasha Cherny. Just an incredible company, don't you agree?! The duration is ideal - 50 minutes without intermission. Age from 7 years old.
5. New musical performance Peter and Fevronia" in "Practice" it is also declared as a family one. But everything is in order. The Praktika Theater should definitely not start with a hanger, but with one, which here is actually an independent cafe and is famous among theatergoers for its excellent cuisine and reasonable prices. Spacious and bright cafe. The interior is white brick and wood. There are even shelves with books for general use - good literature for better digestion. The menu is varied: soups, salads, main courses (150-200 rubles) and amazing pastries: carrot, apple, chocolate pies, pies with cabbage, meat, but especially good with spinach and apples (60 rubles), pies, muffins, cakes. Any dessert will cost you only 100 to 150 rubles. We highly recommend trying the "chocolate sausage".
Despite the fact that the performance is also aimed at a children's audience ( 10+ ), it goes in the evening (beginning at 19.00). This gives a trip to the theater with a child some special significance. The story of the Murom miracle workers Peter and Fevronia (the patrons of marriage) is told by young actors easily and with good irony. And this despite the fact that the text of the life of the saints was preserved by the authors of the play practically the same as it was created by the Russian writer of the 16th century Yermolai-Erasmus. But! The location is the school. Princes Peter, Pavel, Fevroniya, boyars and many others are pupils and pupils. The magic sword is a pointer, and the battle with the tempter serpent is just a school fight at recess. Such metamorphoses somewhat do not interfere with the perception of serious things that the heroes of the play talk about: about love and fidelity, self-interest and betrayal, faith and higher providence.
To be continued…
It's great that in our life - realistic, selfish and increasingly virtual - there is a place for romanticism. And it does not matter that only in the theater. The staging of one of the best books in the genre of "cloak and sword" by the French classic Theophile Gauthier is a great success. Most likely, a modern teenager, at best, has an idea of \u200b\u200bthis direction in art from the film about the Three Musketeers. Roman Gauthier is not so popular - and it's a shame! After all, it is he who represents the pearl of the adventure-romantic style.
There is everything here: intrigue, bandits, fights, disguises, kidnappings, villains and lovers. Agree that such a set is able to attract even a skeptical viewer in a difficult transitional age. But the main character in the performance of the Workshop is still the theater: the theater according to Shakespeare, which, as you know, is the whole world, and the people in it are actors.
Sometimes you have to not be afraid to “leave the room”, go on a journey and find yourself by trying on a different role. It is precisely this act that the protagonist, the young, poor Baron de Signonac, commits, having gone on a journey with a troupe of itinerant artists. In the wake of his beloved - a theater actress - he becomes a mask: Captain Fracasse.
I went to the performance with only one fear: I was embarrassed by its duration. "Captain Fracasse" starts at seven in the evening, and ends closer to eleven. Worried not about myself, but about the children. It turned out - in vain! They looked great and, according to their own impressions, they did not get bored for a single minute. The performance is incredibly spectacular, theatricality is raised to the third degree in it: magnificent, sprawling costumes, which, on the one hand, refer to the era of Louis XIII, and on the other, of course, echo the masks of the Venice Carnival - the immortal commedia Del'arte. The main "feature" of the scenery, which helps to catch, to catch the main motive of perpetual motion, the path of a wandering theater troupe (and of all life), is three travolators on the stage. Remember? There are such moving stepless paths that allow you to speed up the movement of pedestrians. The heroes of the play move along them. Very sharp and precise.
The roles are all bright, characteristic. The main villain, the rival of the baron, is especially beautiful. You will die laughing. In Gauthier's novel, after being on the verge of death, he suddenly (according to all the laws of the genre) realizes his atrocities and becomes a noble hero. In the performance, he seems to be a little touched by the mind and does terribly funny things.
The play "Ruslan and Lyudmila" was invented in an ironic, caustic style. After all, the poem itself was originally conceived with elements of a parody (on Zhukovsky's ballad "The Twelve Sleeping Maidens"). Pushkin deliberately ironically belittled the noble images of Zhukovsky, inserted humorous, grotesque details into the narrative. In the performance, the image of Pushkin is a joker, hooligan, mocking, but very sensual.
Here the fearless warriors and Ruslan saddle mops and brooms instead of horses, put battered buckets on their heads and fight with toy swords. Well-fed Farlaf with a big red mustache terribly resembles either Barmaley or Gerard Depardieu in the role of Obelix. Chernomor's beard looks more like a long New Year's garland, and the "cherished ring" for Lyudmila is kept in a kinder surprise.
The performance is played on a small stage in the new building of the Workshop, which, as you know, has a secret. The audience in the hall opens up the perspective of the lower theatrical foyer with its three-dimensional geometric architecture: steps, a balcony, columns, openings, ceilings. In addition to the architecture of the foyer, a tree-column with a chain - “green oak” and knots-steps, as well as a wooden inclined platform that serves as a kind of shelter grows on the stage. And it's all! The rest is a play of the imagination. If this is Ruslan's meeting with the old Finn, then you just need to listen, and a light echo and the sound of dripping water will take you to the deaf cave of the old man. If these are the possessions of Chernomor with beautiful waterfalls and gardens, then these are flowing fabrics and real oranges scattered all over the stage. And if this is the principality of Vladimir, then this is an ordinary long feast table, which, if desired, is divided into two halves (the promised “half of the kingdom of great-grandfathers”).
It's not like it's serious here. This is a kind of comic book on a classic theme, which will definitely appeal to a capricious teenager: he will get acquainted with the immortal plot, learn the school literature curriculum, and enjoy it.
The Cannibal is based on the play of the same name by contemporary Canadian playwright Suzanne LeBeau. The plot is not inferior to a thriller: here is a strange mystery, and increasing tension, and an unexpected denouement. A mother and son live far away from people in the forest. He is of enormous stature at 6 years old, and responds to an unusual, domestic nickname - the Ogre. She is a lost in love for her only child, intimidated by an aggressive world, but a proud woman with a mysterious past.
In such a story, meanings are hidden, addressed to today's younger generation and their parents. Here and overprotection of the child - fears that devour adults; and the struggle with passions and desires in suddenly grown-up children. The performance is played on the small stage of the theater: everything is very close (the action unfolds at arm's length) and very truthfully, in places to a coma in the throat, to tears. Almost always dark and a little scary.
The performance was based on the play "At the Ark at Eight" by the famous German playwright, director and actor Ulrich Hub. Hub wrote it in 2006 after a German publishing house invited several theaters to raise the issue of religion in children's performances. Agree that the topic is very delicate, not easy for the theater, but it seems to me that it is certainly important and necessary for a conversation with a teenager. And this is the rare case when the author managed to successfully combine the pathos appropriate here with the ease of narration and good irony.
The plot is simple: God was angry with people and animals for their rigidity, ingratitude, unbelief and arranges a global flood. As you know, only "creatures in pairs" can be saved in Noah's ark. But there are three penguins. One of them (by the will of friends) has to sail on the ark as a "hare". How to learn to sacrifice yourself for the sake of another? How to see and be able to admit your mistakes? How to forgive your neighbor and not grumble at God? Obvious answers are born to these "unbearable" questions simply, and most importantly - with subtle humor and love in an hour and a half. The penguins in the performance are three funny unfortunate musicians.
No beaks, tails and other nonsense. Penguins are people too. They quarrel, reconcile, fear, rejoice, grieve, sing and play a lot: either on a giant balalaika, or on a dull harmonica, or on drums. By the way, for dads and moms in the play there are "adult" greetings from the director of the play: from time to time the penguins begin to speak in phrases of Chekhov's characters or Brodsky's poems. Very funny and surprisingly accurate.
My children always enjoy listening to stories from my childhood. I think all kids love it. The performance at the A-Ya Theater is living pictures from the past: funny to tears, desperately sad, familiar to the point of aching pain in the solar plexus area, and all, without exception, musical. This is a production that is able to give adults a piece of irretrievably gone, uncomplicated happiness, and for grown-up children to slightly open the cherished door to such a strange Soviet childhood of parents, grandparents.
The performance is based on the memories of real people whose childhood was in the 40-80s of the last century. There is no chronology - everything is mixed up. Here is the war with the evacuation, and stories about pioneers with hooligans, and life in a communal apartment. Musical records, coveted bicycles, the first TV, black bread with toothpaste instead of cakes ... You listen to every sign of the time, figure out when the cake could cost 25 rubles and slowly whisper in your son’s ear that this wonderful actor is burr on purpose: he is Volodya Ulyanov.
All the actors involved in the performance easily transform into musicians: saxophone, electric guitars, drums. Music is a barometer of time: Khil, Zykina, Tsoi, Butusov.
Every memory is unique. And it is not just played, it is lived: here and now. With great love, without pathos and pseudo-nostalgia for the past. And you have no idea how many questions are born in the mind of a teenager after watching the performance. Isn't this the most beautiful thing: to talk heart to heart after what they saw together in the theater?
Another work from the school curriculum on literature, which for some reason is customary to watch behind the scenes at the Maly Theater. Without belittling the merits of this production, I would like to recommend The Undergrowth in Chikhachevka (as theater fans affectionately call this theater.) Fonvizin's play was successfully turned into a vaudeville opperta. The music was written by the famous composer Andrey Zhurbin, the author of more than a dozen operas, ballets and composing hundreds of musical hits for the stage and cinema (what are the songs from the movie "Squadron of Flying Hussars" worth).
And "Undergrowth" is no exception: not only true connoisseurs of musical theater will be imbued with music in the performance, but even those who will encounter this genre for the first time. However, everything here is on top: both original costumes and beautiful voices of artists. There is also a small deviation from the classical plot, which becomes the spring of the whole action: in the performance, one of the main characters is Empress Catherine II herself. It was under her reign that the premiere of Fonvizin's comedy took place in the theater. Her image creates a historical context, expands the boundaries of the play, which, of course, only benefits the modern teenager. Two in one: both a lesson of literature and a lesson of history.
Stories about Sherlock Holmes seem to be created in order to be embodied in the shadow theater. Where, if not here, a unique atmosphere of mystery is created: there is no more precise place for detective stories.
We already wrote that the theater has conceived an interesting project: a theatrical series based on the famous stories of Conan Doyle about Sherlock Holmes. The first two performances were based on the stories "The Hound of the Baskervilles" and "The Sussex Vampire". And here's the next episode! This time - one of the most popular plots about the English detective: "Motley Ribbon". We watched all the episodes and after each one the children just exhaled: “Wow!”
Each performance is an amazingly harmonious synthesis of dramatic, puppet and shadow theatre: all techniques are combined and intertwined. Behind the screen, in complete darkness, the shadows of exotic animals appear - a baboon and a cheetah, walking around the estate of the cruel Roylott; but graceful cane puppets of twin sisters appear on the stage, and glove puppets suddenly appear on the hands of the actors - funny miniature copies of the famous detective and his assistant.
The duo of two dramatic actors playing the roles of Holmes and Watson (and this is in a fierce competition with the cinema, where iconic images of Conan Doyle were created at different times), is certainly a success of the production. Sherlock is young, impulsive and ironic. Watson is funny, clumsy, but terribly charming. The main feature in their communication is (to put it in a language understandable to today's teenagers) kind trolling of each other. And in general, the whole production is sustained in essence in this vein. What is Gypsy Girl worth with a live violin performed by Watson in Russian-English: one, one, and even one (remember, gypsies lived on the Roylott estate?). You definitely won't be bored.
***
Svetlana Berdichevskaya
