Petrushka Theater

Petrushka Theater

This hero was called Petrushka, Pyotr Ivanovich Uksusov, Vanka Ratatuy. He became the main character of the Russian folk puppet theater. The parsley comedy was very popular and extremely widespread since late XVIII century. Petrushechniks performed at fairs, festivities, showing their uncomplicated comedy several times a day. The Petrushka Theater itself was simple. The most common was the "walking" Petrushka. The "theater" consisted of a folding light screen, a set of puppets placed in a box, a hurdy-gurdy (or violin), as well as the puppeteer himself and his assistant musician. In any place and at any time, moving from city to city, they put up their "theater" in the open air on the street. And here he is, a little lively man with a long nose, jumps to the edge of the screen and begins to speak in a sharp, shrill voice. And for this, the puppeteer-comedian had to put a small device on the tongue, consisting of two bone plates, inside of which a narrow strip of linen ribbon was strengthened.

The extraordinary love of the people for their puppet hero was explained in different ways: some believed that the reason for this was the topicality and satirical orientation of the parsley comedy; others believed that the simplicity, comprehensibility and accessibility of the theater to any age and class made it so popular.

The performance at the Petrushka Theater consisted of separate scenes, but in each of them the participation of the main character, Petrushka, was obligatory. The main scenes of the traditional comedy about Petrushka were the following: Petrushka's exit, the scene with the bride, buying a horse and testing it, Petrushka's treatment, training him for military service (sometimes a scene with a quarter, master) and the final scene.

At first, laughter or a song was heard from behind the screen, and Petrushka immediately appeared on the screen. He bowed and congratulated the audience on the holiday. Thus the show began. He was dressed in a red shirt, plush trousers tucked into smart boots, and wore a cap on his head. Often, Petrushka was also endowed with a hump, or even two. “I am Petrushka, Petrushka, a cheerful little boy! I drink wine without measure, I am always cheerful and sing ... ”- this is how Petrushka began his comedy. With good puppeteers, Petrushka entered into negotiations and explanations with the public - this was one of the liveliest episodes of the performance. Then adventures began with Petrushka himself. He informed the public about his marriage, painted the dignity of his bride and her dowry. At his call, a large, rouged girl appeared, who, moreover, turned out to be snub-nosed or "lame in one eye." Petrushka demanded music. The organ grinder or musician would start playing, and he would dance with his bride. Often the scene ended with the hero's rampage, and he beat his bride. What followed was the horse buying scene. A gypsy immediately appeared and offered him a horse, which "is not a horse, but a miracle, it runs - it trembles, but if it falls, it will not get up." Petrushka bargained with the gypsy, then left for the money, and when he returned, he paid the gypsy with blows of a stick. Then he got on the horse and immediately fell. Petrushka began to moan loudly from the blow, he called for the doctor. The doctor, appearing, began his monologue, in which there were such traditional words: “I am a doctor, a baker, doctor and pharmacist from the Kuznetsk bridge. People are being led to me on their feet, but they are taking them away from me on the drogs…” This was followed by a scene beloved by the audience, when Petrushka could not explain to the doctor where he was hurting. The doctor was angry, and Petrushka scolded the doctor for not being able to determine what should be treated. In the end, Petrushka also beat the doctor. Then the scene of Petrushka's training in the "soldier's article" could follow - he comically carried out all the commands, and his speech consisted of continuous mimicry. Petrushka and here beats the corporal teaching him. Sometimes the corporal was replaced by a quarterly, an officer or a gentleman. Naturally, he beat them all, this invincible favorite of the audience. But in the final episode, Petrushka pays for what he did: hell, but more often a dog or brownie takes him behind a screen, down. Such symbolic death Petrushka was perceived as the formal end of the performance, as the hero came to life again and again found himself on the screen. All the victories of Petrushka were due to his character - never discouraged, cocky, cheerful. The audience did not perceive the finale of the comedy as tragic. So, Petrushka ended his adventures in the paws of a dog. This introduced additional comedy and belief in the impossibility of a "real death" of the audience's favorite. Petrushka's fright in front of a small mongrel looked ridiculous and absurd after impressive victories over the quarter, the master and all other enemies. The disappearance of Petrushka was perceived without regret. For everyone knew that he would jump out again with a club, and again he would beat everyone right and left.

The peculiarity of the Petrushka theater was that the audience did not enjoy getting to know the new work, but from how they played the long-known comedy. All attention was focused on the shades of the game, on the movements of Petrushka, on the dexterity and skill of the parsley.

There were always two heroes on the screen: Petrushka and someone else. And the reason is simple: the parsley maker could only control two dolls at the same time, holding each of them in his hand. And the introduction of additional characters in the scene, of course, required more puppeteers.

The musician also played an important role in the Petrushka Theater. He not only accompanied the action with music, but also participated in the dialogue - he was Petrushka's interlocutor. The composition of the parsley comedy could also include pantomime scenes not related to the action of the comedy. Thus, the Petrushka Theater is known, where pantomime was shown with the participation of "dolls representing different nationalities". They all sang and danced, while Petrushka at that time sat on the edge of the screen and sang "Along the pavement street ...". In other performances, there was a dance of two araps. But, despite all the false numbers and pantomimes. Petrushka remained the only main character in this peculiar theater. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky in his "Diary of a Writer" for January 1876 says this about the presentation of Petrushka in the St. Petersburg club of artists: "Children and their fathers stood in a solid crowd and watched the immortal folk comedy, and really, it was almost the most fun on the whole holiday. Tell me, why is Petrushka so funny, why do you certainly have fun, looking at him, everyone has fun, both children and old people?

In others European cultures there was also a hero of the puppet theater who had many related traits with Petrushka. The character of the Czech theater was called Kašparek (late 18th century). Kashparek is a good-natured, cheerful Czech peasant, a joker and a joker. His image was very popular in the puppet theater. Elements political satire prevailed in the theater of Kasparek during the struggle of the Czechs with Austrian rule, and during the First World War, political performances with the participation of Kasparek were especially famous. Theater of Kasparek and his main character are still preserved in performances for children.

The comic character of Austrian and German puppet shows was called Kasperle (or Kasperle). In the Kashperle theater, also born at the end of the 18th century, the main character was given special characteristics in different areas. Sometimes he was a peasant who resorted to various tricks in order to live. In other cases, he was a rogue and a rogue who made his way to high positions. In the 20th century, the name "Kashperle Theater" was assigned to the theater of hand puppets (parsley).

For almost a hundred years - a whole century - this unique theater existed. Parsley, Kashperle, Kashparek were favorites common people. Started with them professional theater dolls.

I. Stravinsky ballet "Petrushka"

The ballet "Petrushka", the music for which was written by the young composer I. Stravinsky, became the highlight of the "Russian Seasons" in Paris in 1911. At that time, no one could have thought that Petrushka, with his inherent clumsy plasticity and sad face, would become a symbol of the Russian ballet avant-garde. But the brilliant creative triumvirate of composer I. Stravinsky, choreographer M. Fokin and artist A. Benois created a masterpiece that became one of the symbols of Russian culture. The riot of colors, expressiveness, national flavor, manifested both in music and in costumes, scenery, choreography, led the audience into complete admiration and set the fashion for everything Russian in Europe.

Characters	Description
	funny puppet theater
Ballerina	the doll that Petrushka is in love with
arap	doll, object of interest Ballerinas
Magician	puppet master
Organ grinder	Street musician

• In ballet, a street dancer whirls under old song"Wooden Leg" Her unpretentious motive Stravinsky heard in one of the streets of Nice from an organ grinder. Subsequently, the author of the song appeared - a certain Spencer, and the court ordered the composer to pay him the amount of the fee.
• At the first rehearsal of the orchestra in Paris, the musicians began to laugh out loud, the music of "Petrushka" seemed so funny to them. Conductor P. Monto needed all his gift of persuasion to explain to his colleagues that Stravinsky's music should not be taken as a joke.
• The role of Petrushka has become a key one in the life and work of such dancers as V. Nizhinsky, V. Vasiliev, M. Tsivin, S. Vikharev, R. Nureyev and others.
• It is believed that it Diaghilev revealed to the world the talent of Stravinsky. When he first heard the young composer, he did not even have a higher musical education.
• Mikhail Fokin considered the best performer Ballerina dolls Tamara Karsavina. She, in turn, loved this role very much and danced it until the end of her ballet career.
• In 1993, a platinum coin dedicated to Stravinsky was issued. It features a relief image of the composer against the background of a scene from the ballet Petrushka.
• Contemporaries unmistakably guessed in the characters of "Petrushka" the real participants in the "Russian Seasons". The image of the Magician was directly associated with Sergeev Diaghilev, who disposed of his artists, as a puppeteer controls puppets. Nijinsky was compared to Petrushka, seeing in him an artist who, by the power of his art, rose above the crowd.
• In 1947, Stravinsky created a second edition of Petrushka for a smaller number of musicians. Instead of a "quadruple" composition of the orchestra, the score was remade for a "triple" composition, and the music for "Petrushka" began to exist in two versions - as ballet and as orchestral.
• Based on the ballet "Petrushka" in 1993, the Russian cartoon "Christmas Fantasy" was created.
• Stravinsky skillfully wove the motives of famous Russians into the music of the ballet. folk songs“In the evening in the rainy autumn”, “Wonderful month”, “Along the Piterskaya”, “Oh, you canopy, my canopy”, “It’s not ice cracking, it’s not a mosquito squeaking”, “But the snow is melting”.
• Music from the ballet "Petrushka" sounds in the films "Charming Prankster", "Kiss of the Vampire", "Our Lady of Turkey".

Literary and artistic research project:

folklore - Petrushka Folk Theater

Moscow 2008

FOREWORD
The Petrushka Folk Miniature Theater is a peculiar phenomenon of Slavic folklore. The forms of existence of the miniature theater are diverse: some are very ancient, others are new and latest. The subject of this study is the need for an urgent close study of Russian folklore - the Petrushka Folk Theater in miniature, given the enormous damage done to Russian folklore in general and the Petrushka miniature theater in particular, during the era of the Bolshevik dictatorship. Therefore, it is necessary to speed up the collection and study of ethnographic materials that the people's memory has still managed to preserve. In addition, after the collapse of the USSR and the formation of the countries of the Commonwealth of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the priority of the international communist setting abruptly changed to national folk traditions. The process of the spiritual revival of Russia began, and the Russian national culture throughout the Russian Diaspora. It is known that Russia is not the whole of Russia, that all over the world Russian communities zealously preserve the ancient traditions of common Russian culture and folklore, including the Petrushka theater. In this regard, it is necessary to expand the area of ​​​​collecting the pearls of the miniature theater - throughout the depth and breadth of the Russian Diaspora.
Petrushka Theater on turning point Russian history in the present period, at the turn of the millennium, is especially important in moral education younger generation in a protracted crisis. Only moral guidelines crystallized by thousands of years of oral tradition folk art, are able to become a reliable foundation of the National Russian culture, on which countless generations of Russian people were brought up.
The rudiments of a miniature puppet theater are found in almost all genres of folk art, and this is manifested in the oral existence of works and in their performance. Among the people, it was often possible to meet talented singers, storytellers, storytellers. They told stories and sang with great skill, accompanying their performance with expressive gestures and facial expressions, bright intonations, conveying the features of scenes and episodes on behalf of their heroes. Storytellers often seemed to reincarnate in the images of their characters, playing out certain scenes. And in this their oral performance folk art, already contained elements of the folk theater. The most significant development of the elements of the folk theater was received by folk calendar and family rituals; this is especially evident in the depiction of the cycles of the seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter).
A significant role in the Petrushka Theater was given to the musical style of Russian songs and instrumental tunes. Feelings and experiences in music are transmitted through the interaction of various means. musical expressiveness: truly folk choruses, tongue twisters and recitatives - all this played a significant role in the transfer of one or another sensual-emotional experience: joy, sadness, suffering, contemplation, etc. The systematization of musical and ethnographic examples was one of the most important components of this study of the Petrushka miniature folk theater. A variety of printed sources were involved in the musical folklore centers of Russia. Great importance was attached to folklore and ethnographic expeditions to various regions, the southern, central, northern and western parts of the regions of Russia, where, due to special historical conditions, the original Slavic roots Russian population.
Theatrical rites in Rus' have long been an action accompanied by singing or prose text according to the established tradition, using masks and special costumes. On the basis of ceremonies, disguise and games, the theater itself arose, which was distinguished by the fact that traditional texts were performed with significant improvisation. The actors, adhering to the main action and the verbal text, adapted them to the circumstances, to the time and place of performance, as well as to the requests of the audience. I would especially like to point out children's folklore, which is very conservative, and thanks to this, it keeps significant layers of the miniature theater of the distant past period of Rus'.
Among the Slavs, the folk theater had such forms as a puppet theater (especially the Petrushka miniature theater), a booth, a paradise, game scenes, and the theater itself with actors. In the puppet theater, the plays were performed by puppets, which were "driven" by puppeteers. The puppets could be put on the fingers of the "puppeteer" or they were set in motion through cuts made on the floor of an artificially created stage, made in the form of a tall box.
Slavic puppet theaters are associated with religious rites (nativity scene, shopka, betleyka) or were purely entertaining in nature, not associated with rituals. The Russian theater of Petrushka designates not only the hero of the performance, but also the theater itself, which is called the Petrushka Theater, after the name of the hero. If the nativity scene arose under the influence of the church, absorbing the centuries-old folklore traditions of the ancient pagan Rus', then the Petrushka miniature theater is a purely folk art, both in form and in content and ideological orientation. In the Nativity scene main task was to represent the birth of Christ or the play "Herod". However, often in the nativity scene there was something in common with the fairground puppet theater. This combination of the secular and the spiritual in a puppet show was especially clearly shown in the Polish Koplyanik Theater or in the Czech Kashparek Theater, in which gentry, gypsies, Jews performed and a Cossack or soldier entered into an argument and a fight with them. Peasants appeared who, in their songs and dances, ridiculed stupid gentlemen, and, at the same time, lazy and drunken serfs. At the end a wanderer appeared folk singer, who sang songs and asked the audience to reward the participants of the performance, as much as they could.
In the Petrushka puppet theater, the main theme was the action in the squares, in the yards and at fairs. During the holidays, the performance of Petrushka was a favorite folk spectacle, often accompanied by a hurdy-gurdy, and Petrushka himself was their most beloved hero, brave and witty, who defeated everyone: the police, priests, Satan himself and even death. And among the people there was a firm belief that it was Petrushka, in his rude, naive image of the working people, who was able to overcome and conquer everything and everyone, and he himself would remain immortal. Petrushka has a rough but vivid image of the working people, with a hump on his back from overwork. Petrushka's clothes are simple but bright: his shirt is usually red, and on his head is a cap with a tassel. The puppeteer puts the Petrushka doll on one hand, and on the other hand he puts on the dolls of other various characters in turn: the master, the priest, the gypsy, the policeman, Satan, the bride, death and other dolls. The puppeteer leads the verbal text on behalf of Petrushka. Other heroes of the performance are usually voiced by another performer of the performance, who plays the hurdy-gurdy. Petrushka's voice is unusual, he is very sharp and loud so that everyone can hear him, even those who do not want to listen to him. For this purpose, the puppeteer uses a special beeper, which he keeps constantly in his mouth.
In the theater of miniature, scenes with vivid comedy are played out. “Often, Petrushka bought a spoiled horse from a gypsy, on which he was going to go to woo a rich bride. But the unfortunate horse fell along the road, while Petrushka hurt himself painfully and called the pharmacist, but the doctor turned out to be a scammer, took money, but his medicine did not help. Here, at the wrong time, an officer appeared who decided to take Petrushka into a soldier ... In the end, Petrushka gets tired of this, and he beats with his stick both the gypsy, and the pharmacist and the officer ... ".
During the holidays, fun fairs small wooden buildings with a light roof, called booths, were built. These were original theaters that had a primitive stage and auditorium. From the balcony of the booth (booth barkers, grandfathers-raeshniks) with cries and jokes, jokes, they invited the audience to their unsurpassed farce. Often the actors in the performances improvised texts that were also of an acutely satirical nature: parodies of church services and rituals. For example, in the play "Pakhomushka", the action of the wedding takes place around a stump, which has a deck through the stump. Often, the heroes of the play were the rebellious peasants (in the play “The Boat”), in which the heroes were robbers floating “Down the mother along the Volga” and along the way dealt with the hated landowners, burning their estates.
Dramatic scenes were often saturated with folk anecdotes and fairy tales, absorbing diverse folk songs and literary poems. The Petrushka People's Miniature Theater was of great social importance as an expression of people's hopes. At the same time, it was and remains a wonderful folk spectacle that has a huge emotional impact on wide circle public.
In our time, the role of the Petrushka miniature theater is growing rapidly, especially with the advent of unlimited possibilities of the Internet. The science of folklore has come a long way of development and has rushed in our days to unprecedented heights. Detailed descriptions and systematization of a significant variety of plots and types of characters in folklore works, especially fairy tales, have already been made. Particular interest in the Petrushka miniature theater has been shown recently. New works are being created for the performances of Petrushka, which reflects modern life multipolar world.
Despite the fact that during historical development peoples’ common cultural heritage has been and is undergoing changes, however, until now, the commonality of motives, types of heroes and individual means of expression in folklore Slavic peoples clearly traceable. This is explained by the fact that societies in their cultural development pass similar stages. It is noteworthy that the development of miniature puppet theaters in various peoples have many common features. So, for example, the Japanese puppet theater has many similarities with our Slavic wandering miniature puppet theaters.
The puppet theater is a living theater in miniature, sometimes even more powerful and frank, as we will see below. The world of antiquity was not only familiar with the theater of miniature puppets, but also knew its price. Among the Greeks, puppets kept up with the live theater and played the comedies of Aristophanes. Later, during the Roman rule, the puppet theater, like the live one, falls into decay. In Rome, preference is given to dumb puppets: mimic performances and ballet appear on the stage in the imperial era. Thus, in the ancient world, dolls from the original image of a deity, from an object of worship, passed into the category of fun, sometimes very immodest. We will see the same in Christian Europe.
Initially, the puppets, as their very name indicates: "les marions", "les mariottes", "les marionnettes", were images of the Virgin in the famous Christmas drama; people didn't dare to speak out actors in the mysteries, leaving statues to act, at first motionless, later artificially set in motion. When the mystery got further development, the puppets still left the performance of the Christmas drama, which still exists in the den. Gradually, a satirical element entered the serious atmosphere of medieval mysteries, and soon, along with sacred stories and their heroes, clownish farces appear on the stage of puppets. Jugglers and buffoons put their funny, sometimes cynical jokes into the mouths of wooden actors and carried the puppet theater all over Europe. The image of a puppet table, preserved in a German manuscript of the 12th century, represents two crudely made puppets set in motion by threads stretched crosswise to two people; they depicted now fighting warriors, now debaters and poured witticisms and puns.
About the puppet theater, as about the usual fun of the people, he talks already at the beginning present century Prince I. M. Dolgoruky. Here is how he describes in his diary the impressions of the puppet show he saw at the Nizhny Novgorod fair: “The mob hurries to their spectacles: several puppet comedies, bears on a leash, camels, monkeys and buffoons are brought for it. Of all these fun, I happened to go to one puppet comedy. There is nothing to describe: everyone has seen what it is; for me there is nothing funnier than the one who presents, and those who watch. The horn squeaks on the violin; the landlord, releasing the dolls, conducts a conversation for them, filled with all sorts of nonsense. The puppets, meanwhile, click their foreheads, and the audience laughs and is very happy. It always seemed strange to me that a monk is represented at such games and made a laughing stock of him. There is no puppet comedy without a cassock.”
“The idea of ​​paradise was based on the “paradise action” about Adam and Eve, where the comic role is played by the devil and partly by the progenitors of the human race themselves. Gradually becoming more complicated comic scenes, like a nativity scene, and the "paradise action" itself disappeared, and only pictures of a purely secular content remained from it. The device of the raik is very simple: it is a small box with two magnifying glasses in front; its dimensions change, as does the number of glasses. Inside it, a long strip is rewound from one shaft to another, glued together from popular prints with images of different cities, great people and historical events. The pictures are placed in a special tower above the box and lowered gradually on laces, replacing one view with another. The audience looks at the glasses, and the scribe moves the pictures and tells a saying for each new number:
- Here is the city of Vienna, where he lives beautiful Elena;
- Here is Warsaw, where the grandmother is rough;
- And here, gentlemen, the city of Berlin, the gentleman lives here, he has three hairs on his head, he sings in thirty-three voices!
- And here is the city of Paris, as you enter, you will die; here our Russian nobility goes to wind money: they leave with a bag of gold, and return with a wand on foot!
- And here, gentlemen, the city of Rome, the Pope of Rome lives here, raking paw!
In conclusion, a clown, or even two, dance, ringing bells to amuse the audience. As can be seen from the examples given, the text of the paradise representations is taken from popular prints: the same style, the same witticisms and naive antics. It is possible that these texts are the remains of buffoon games and performances and are the product of the interaction of the puppet theater and popular prints, which have preserved the remnants of buffoon farces. “Now the paradise does not at all remind of its religious origin and is a common and beloved type of folk comedy, merging in the nature of the paintings presented with the famous “Petrushka”.
The well-known "Petrushka", which has come down to us, having lived for two centuries, has hardly changed; he took on the features of a Russian buffoon and in this form dispersed throughout Russia.

The device of the modern to us wandering puppet theater is extremely uncomplicated. A sheet of krashenina is hung on two sticks, and because of this sheet the puppeteer shows his puppets and performs his performances, in which the old guslar, horn player or piper is replaced by a hoarse hurdy-gurdy, playing mainly Russian songs, to which the puppets dance. For the most part, now the puppets are shown because of the screens, which, when placed, form a tetrahedron, inside of which there is a box, where, according to the figurative description of Ornest Zechnowitzer, “the “indicator” of the puppets is located. The dolls protrude from behind the screen not on wires, as in a nativity scene, but are made in a completely different way: the dolls do not have a body, but only one head made of wood or cardboard, to which a dress is sewn; instead of hands - empty sleeves with a tiny hand at the end, also made of wood. The puppeteer sticks his index finger into the doll's empty head, and the thumb and thumb into the sleeves. middle fingers; he usually puts a puppet on each hand and thus acts with two puppets at the same time. A crowd of spectators gather around the screens. The hurdy-gurdy plays a song, Petrushka's squealing and his hoarse voice singing along to the hurdy-gurdy are heard from behind the screens. He burrs and whistles loudly with the help of a "beep" in the puppeteer's mouth. Suddenly, Petrushka jumps out from behind the screens and greets the audience: “Hello, gentlemen! I came here from Gostiny Dvor to be hired as a cook - to fry hazel grouses, to rummage through my pockets! .. "

Petrushka enters into a conversation with the organ grinder, who is his constant interlocutor, and asks him to play a dance and dances alone, and sometimes with his wife, who bears the name of Malanya, then Marfushi, or Pelageya, or even Akulina Ivanovna. She calls him to get some coffee, but he pulls her upstairs and, akimbo, dances Russian with her, and then drives her away. A gypsy appears and sells him a horse. Parsley examines her, pulling her ears, her tail. The horse kicks him in the nose and in the belly. These "kicks" of Gypsy Mor's right horse often make up a rather ridiculous part of the play for the audience. Parsley bargains with the gypsy for a long time and, in the end, buys a horse from him, and the gypsy leaves. Petrushka sits on his purchase and boldly prancing on it, singing: “Like along Piterskaya, along Tverskaya Yamskaya” ... The horse starts kicking, hits Petrushka front and back, finally throws him off and runs away. Petrushka falls, loudly banging his wooden face on the ground; he groans, groans, plaintively laments about the premature death good fellow and call the doctor. “A doctor comes, a pharmacist from under the Stone Bridge”, it is recommended to the public that he was in Italy, and was further away, and begins to ask Petrushka: “Where, what and how does it hurt you?”
- What same you doctor! - Petrushka is indignant, - you yourself should know: where, what and how it hurts! ..
The doctor begins to feel Petrushka, poking his finger and asking: "Does it hurt here?"... Petrushka replies: "Higher!.. Lower!.. even a little lower!" The Doctor gives him back. But on the side of Petrushka there is an advantage: he constantly has a stick in his hands, and he drives away the unlucky doctor with it.
The matchmaker brings Petrushka the bride Marfushka or Pigasya, sometimes she herself comes to him, and he begins to examine her, as he examined the horse at the auction with a gypsy. Parsley peeks everywhere, adding strong sentences and evoking incessant laughter from the audience. Marfushka liked him very much, and he is unable to wait longer for the wedding, which is why he begins to beg her: “Sacrifice yourself, Marfushka!” But she “dresses up” and “fordybachit”, but finally agrees ... ".
In his description of the performance of the Petrushka miniature theater, Rovinsky D.A. reports that in the interval between the actions of the play, dances of two arapok are usually presented, and sometimes a whole interlude about a lady who was stung by a snake (meaning Eve); the game of two jesters with balls and a stick is immediately shown. Unfortunately, the details of these and other adventures of Petrushka have been lost and are waiting for their discoverers, since it is clear that many pearls of folk art have been lost. For example, the plays of the Petrushka Theater are known, for which even the name vaudeville is too honorable, but, meanwhile, it has all the signs of opera, ballet and drama. As in an opera, in it a folk hurdy-gurdy serves as an orchestra, and the role opera singer for the general public, not without success, performs operatic tenor, soloist - Petrushka; like in a ballet, there are dances of Petrushka and Marfushka (or Pegasus) in it. The classic trinity is also sustained in a miniature theater: the unity of time (1 hour), the unity of place (a screen - the scenery has not changed for centuries) and the unity of action (a flea market).
Petrushka was formed from the fusion of elements of Russian folk buffoonery with the features of the German Hanswurst. Its prototype was the same Polichinel - the Italian Pulcinella, which is the ancestor of all European buffoons. However, despite the obvious Italian origin of the Russian "Petrushka", even recently a very original opinion was expressed in the literature about its eastern origin. Chinese "Petrushki" is almost the same as our Russian Petrushki. The local wandering artists of the theater of miniatures stopped in front of the balconies of houses and demonstrated their puppet shows. Often the performers of this miniature puppet show are twice Chinese - an elderly and a boy of about 15, the assistant of the first. They carry two boxes on their backs. At the stops, they lower the boxes from their backs to the ground, arrange four-sided screens covered with chintz, and a minute later, our old acquaintance Jester Petrushka, only dressed as a Chinese, appeared on the upper edge of these screens. The adventures of the Chinese Petrushka are completely identical to our Russian brother Petrushka. The same tragicomic, infinitely varied stories take place with Petrushka's military drill, with his answer before the police judge. Then the dressed-up, red-cheeked Bride appears on the stage, and all the scenes between her and Petrushka, again, everything is the same as ours; even Petrushka's manners of speaking and emitting comic cries with the help of a special lip device "beeper", which the comedian puts in his mouth, remain completely identical with Petrushka's manners.
The origins of Petrushka's miniature theater.

During excavations in Egypt, in the vicinity of Antinous, in 1904 a puppet theater was found, the oldest puppet theater known to us, dated back to the 16th century BC.

In his book “The History of the Folk Puppet Theater” (Gosizdat, 1927), Orest Tsekhnovitser notes that the puppet theater disappears in Egypt for many centuries, and it appears already in India. The first mention of mechanical wooden puppets in India dates back to the period of the 11th century BC. At this time, the puppets had already moved from the temple to the theatrical stage, where they were set in motion by the threads (sutras) of the puppeteer. There were no texts for puppet shows, there was only short script with verses. Improvisation was dominant. The absence of a text explains why we have almost no original puppet play until the 19th century. AD, and even then these records were preserved only thanks to private amateurs and connoisseurs of the miniature puppet theater.
In the most ancient puppet performances of India, there is a distant "ancestor" of the favorite of our people Petrushka, bearing the name - Vidushaka. He is depicted as a hunchbacked dwarf brahmin, who excites gaiety in everyone with his behavior, appearance comic figure, dress, speech and boundless love for the weaker sex. Such is the image of Vidushak-Petrushka, as his contemporaries drew. All similarities between Vidushak and Petrushka are preserved; our merry fellow will not lose his belly, crooked nose, hump and love for women during the nearly three thousand years of his existence.
In India, Vidushaka was portrayed as stupid, but behind this stupidity lurked cunning. He is a mocker and a rude person, he is pugnacious and always beats everyone with his stick. He himself is beaten and even goes to jail, but he never disappears. Vidushaka was portrayed as a Brahmin, and in his person the people ridiculed their priests - their hypocrisy, arrogance, passion for women, for wine and delicacies. However, he does not speak Sanskrit (the language of the upper class), but in native language, in the Prakrit dialect ordinary people. However, in those days, only Brahmin priests were allowed to speak Sanskrit, and it was forbidden for commoners, up to the use death penalty, because it was believed that for ordinary people to speak the language of the Gods was blasphemy and blasphemy. Vidushaka is not parted from his stick, which in the future will be the constant companion of our Petrushka (Russian club) in all his trials.
Our puppet folk hero Petrushka goes through the same paths in almost all parts of the world, and endures the same trials of fate, and this similarity in the history of the development of the puppet theater is not accidental. And the current explanation of the origin Indo-European language and the epic from the single ancestral home of the ancient Aryans is not enough to explain the all-encompassing similarity of the hero of the puppet theater of miniatures. Apparently, the result of the economic communication of individual peoples with each other played a decisive role here. It should be borne in mind that the puppet theater in some places was created thanks to the same prerequisites - natural connections, and therefore was formed independently in its main features.
When studying the oriental puppet theater, one should keep in mind the ways of trade relations connecting individual countries, but it is also necessary to take into account the elements of the original development of individual states. Unfortunately, the fragmentary data that currently exists do not allow us to establish the truth of the question of interest to us with a sufficient degree of persuasiveness, and we are content only with the fact that we have the opportunity to highlight only the main points that influenced the creation of the puppet theater selected countries, including in Rus'.
The puppet theater is still very popular in all countries of the East. In India today, the puppet theater of marionettes is a favorite show for both adults and children. This theater has retained its ancient basic techniques. Just like many centuries before our era, the people are convened to perform a puppet theater with the same ancient national instruments. Ancient dolls depicting mythical characters and folk types in real life terms. Particularly common in modern India and in almost all countries of the East, the puppet theater of shadows, popular from ancient times and especially perfected in Turkey and China. But its origins are also lost in the mists of time.
Together with Hindu merchant ships and settlers from the Ganges valley, the Sinhalese race of southern India settled in Ceylon in 543 BC. With the penetration of the culture of India to Ceylon, the Singhalese also transferred the Vidushaka puppet theater there. In the future, a trace of the transfer to other national soils of the folk art of India is noticeable, through settlers and sea trade routes (including the miniature theater of puppets and shadows was transferred). Puppets for a miniature shadow theater were made from buffalo skin. The content of the shadow theater performances consists of ancient Hindu sagas - tales of gods and heroes.
Through sea and land (through the northwestern borders) trade relations, India has long been in contact with Persia. The Persian puppet hero - Kankal Pahlyavan - is also similar to Vidushak. He is an ugly joker, endowed with a squeaky voice and possesses such amorousness and passion that for the sake of women, wielding his unchanging club, he enters into battle with the devil himself.
The origins of Chinese puppetry also come from religious ceremonies. Even in ancient times, dolls took the most effective part in representations of religious content. Many Chinese legends tell about the origin and history of the puppet theater, which existed in China for centuries on a par with the shadow theater. The chronicles of Le Tzu date their occurrence to the time of the tenth century BC. Chinese skilled craftsmen made dolls from straw and wood, which were varnished. According to legend, these dolls could even dance and sing. Miniature puppet theaters in ancient China took part in public life countries and, along with performances at imperial palaces served to amuse the people.
Along with puppets and shadow theater for centuries in China, there was also "Petrushka" ( main character by the name of Kwo), who again reminds us of Vidushak with his character. The Chinese doll Quo also makes fun of unpopular ministers and courtiers, and his baton also walks along their fat backs. Device Chinese theater"Parsley" is the same as in most European countries. With China and Japan's long-standing close economic and cultural affinity, Chinese puppetry has influenced Japanese puppetry. Japanese puppet theaters have two main types: "Ningyo-tsukai", in which puppets are introduced by people, and "Ito-tsukai" - a kind of our puppets.
Of particular interest is the Turkish puppet hero Karagyoz (Kara - black, gyoz - Eye; Karagyoz - Black-eyed). The image of this doll shows the influence of both East and West (Hellenistic beginnings). Such a reunion of the images of "Petrushka" gives it great brightness and originality. The image of the Hindu doll Vidushak could have influenced the image of the Karagyoz doll. Both in Turkey and in almost all other countries of Asia and Europe, the gypsies were the distributors of elements of the Hindu puppet theater. In all countries of Asia and Europe, puppeteers have long been gypsies who brought their ideas there after the exodus from India during the era of unrest and invasions in the 10th century. The creation of the Turkish puppet theater, in addition, was influenced by the Byzantine and Greek mime, the origins of which were also the ancient puppet theater of miniatures in Egypt and India. Hence the exceptional resemblance of Karagöz to the Italian Pulcinello.
In the East, bordering on Russia - in Turkestan, "Petrushka" is presented in its usual form and with all the attributes inherent in it. The Eastern puppet theater of Turkestan was of great importance in the political life of the country, for it was the only platform for expressing public opinion. The puppet theater fought for political emancipation and was persecuted by the authorities. Subsequently, the folk puppet theater played the same role in Europe.
These are basically the milestones and main moments in the history of the national puppet miniature theater "Petrushki" all over the world. Everywhere the puppet theater went through almost the same stages of development: from the church to the street, the square, to the very thick of the population. The puppet theater was the only true creation of the people and was the expression of the spirit of the struggle of all times and peoples for their liberation from the oppressors. And in our difficult time at the turn of the millennium, the role of the Petrushki Theater is constantly growing and our task is to help its revival in every possible way.
Recently, Russia has seen a rapid growth in productions children's theater Petrushka dolls, collected in the cities and villages of Russia, which is still preserved by the people's memory. Along with this, new works of contemporary fairy tale authors are being created for performances in the Petrushka Miniature Theater (Appendices 1-3), as well as for performances in the miniature theater rayok (Appendix 4), shadow theater (Appendices 5- 7), mirror theater (Appendices 8-9), miniature puppet theater (Appendices 11-14) - the division into "Appendices" is conditional.

Petrushka doll is shown from behind a screen at three-quarters of her height. She, as it were, walks on an imaginary floor, located behind the screen, somewhat below its upper edge. In order to show the puppet's gait, the actor either moves behind the screen with small steps, or shakes the hand on which the puppet is put on. Achieving a believable gait in dolls is not an easy task, you need to seriously work on this.

When the doll speaks, it moves; when it is silent, it is motionless. Otherwise, the viewer will not understand which of the puppets is talking. A silent, motionless doll does not mean a dead doll. The actor must find her either a pose that would be expressive enough even when the doll is stationary, or movements and gestures that express an exact reaction to the partner’s words and fall on pauses in the words of the latter. Basic Laws acting skills in the puppet theater are the same as in the drama theater. The peculiarity of the puppet theater lies in the fact that here the actor conveys to the viewer all the ideological and emotional content of his role through inanimate object- dolls, and therefore he must always see his doll, not for a moment weakening his attention to her, feel her physical tasks, control her entire line of behavior. In addition, the puppeteer must always see where the puppet's eyes are directed, make sure that she walks straight, and not sideways, so that she does not fall too far behind the screen and does not crawl out higher than expected. The parsley doll control technique is simple. For reed and mechanical dolls, it is much more difficult. But no matter what doll the actor works with, he needs to regularly train with it so that during rehearsals he can think about the correctness of his acting tasks, about the expressiveness of the doll’s behavior, and not about how to do it technically. Inactive, purely conversational puppet theater scenes sound especially bad. But if the reed puppet, thanks to its characteristic broad gesture, can still maintain a rather long dialogue and even utter a monologue, then the parsley puppet must certainly play its role as a continuous chain. physical actions. It is pointless to train with a parsley doll without specific physical tasks.
Currently, projects are being successfully implemented to introduce the Petrushka miniature theater and the shadow theater on the Internet. Russian puppet theater miniature Petrushka, rayok, shadow theater and mirror theater acquire new life not only in Russia, but also abroad.

Like scientist bears, puppets were once part of the buffoon repertoire. Folk puppeteers, leading a wandering lifestyle, played out their merry performances wherever people gathered. In the 19th century, Petrushka (Peter Ivanovich Uksusov, aka Vanka Ratatouy) became the main character of the Russian folk puppet theater throughout the country. A dense crowd of spectators invariably gathered around this character.

Most often met traveling theater Petrushki: a puppeteer with his assistant musician and the necessary equipment (a folding screen, a set of dolls, musical instruments) moved from fair to fair, earning bread and travel. Another type of this entertainment was represented by city organ grinders, who walked mainly only along the streets of their city and its environs. Besides, puppet show with Petrushka it often went in booths as one of the numbers of the mixed program.

The puppeteers usually mastered their skills so well that the audience had the illusion that Petrushka was really a living person, and not a doll. In general, Petrushka managed to win truly popular love, but the reasons for the popularity of this character are very different: from the “plainness” of scenes with his participation to their satirical, topical component.

The content of performances with Petrushka varied depending on the place and time they were held, however, there were scenes and techniques common to all performances, since the comedy about Petrushka was usually transmitted from performer to performer only orally. The Petrushka Theater in the middle of the 19th century included obligatory scenes (the main part of the comedy), and a number of secondary ones, the number, content and order of which were determined by the puppeteer himself at his discretion, depending on his abilities, talent, local tradition etc. The main scenes with Petrushka were as follows: Petrushka's exit, the scene with the bride, the purchase of a horse, Petrushka's treatment, his training as a soldier, and the finale. The appearance of Petrushka usually began with his unexpected appearance from behind a screen. Petrushka's outfit consisted of a red shirt, plush pants tucked into boots, and a red cap. His distinguishing features were a hump and a long nose.

Jumping out in front of the audience, Petrushka introduced himself (“I am Petrushka, Petrushka, a cheerful little boy! I drink wine without measure, I am always cheerful and sing ...”). Before starting the performance itself, this character had lively conversations with the audience on any topic; sometimes, in order to create the appearance of a relaxed conversation, the puppeteers hired special “pushed” who from the crowd had a free conversation with parsley. Then Petrushka's adventures began, which started with his intention to marry. His puppet bride appeared, in the face of which various characteristic features of her time were often comically played out, for example, urban customs and manners, a village girl's ignorance of urban fashion, and a guy flaunting his metropolitan habits.

After the marriage story, there usually came a scene where our hero buys a horse, which turned out to be not at all as good as the gypsy seller painted it. The stubborn horse throws Petrushka down and beats him with a hoof, he begins to moan loudly and call for the doctor, and then one of the constant heroes of Petrushka's comedy appears - a doctor who can say to himself like this: “People are brought to me on their feet, but from me they are being driven on drogs. ". This is followed by a funny episode, beloved by the public, of searching for a sore spot and a squabble between Petrushka and a doctor, as a result of which he, on the very “doctor-pharmacist”, demonstrates exactly where the horse hit him.

Almost any performance with the participation of Petrushka included scenes of training the "soldier's article", during which he comically performed combat commands and rifle techniques. A comical effect was also achieved when the hero allegedly did not hear the commands given to him (for example, to the corporal’s command “Keep it straight!”, He asked again: “What is it? Matryona Petrovna?”). Well, at the very end of the performance, according to tradition, Petrushka falls into the "underworld", that is, some character (hell, dog, ram) drags him down, behind the screen, but only so that our hero will "resurrect" again at the beginning of the next performance .

At the same time, the degree of social sharpness of Petrushka's comedy varied depending on the place and time of the performance; for this, a skilled puppeteer could sharpen any moments of the performance and smooth out others during the performance. For example, if a comedy was staged for a single company, then Petrushka's jokes became more obscene and the plot concerned mainly his relationship with his bride; if the performance was in front of peasants or the urban poor, then the scene of interrogation and reprisal of Petrushka over a policeman became very relevant. Thus, Petrushka could express popular protest, but the puppeteer did not always have such an opportunity, and some scenes were waiting in the wings in front of a narrow circle of spectators.

The Petrushka Theater could not exist without a good musician who performed three main functions: he accompanied the action by playing on some musical instrument; temporarily participated in the puppet action, talking with Petrushka; acted as an intermediary between the public and the puppets.

Puppet comedy with the participation of comic heroes has its roots in Italy and France, and the performances of foreign puppeteers influenced the Petrushka theater, but in Russia Petrushka became a popular favorite, incorporating Russian folklore features.

Performances with the participation of Petrushka were always perceived as a holiday and gathered a large number of people around them, however, by the beginning of the 20th century, this entertainment gradually faded away and Petrushka ceased to be the main character of the fair, he was replaced by other folk amusements. Only after 1917 was Petrushka briefly able to gain fame.

(The article was prepared based on materials: A. Nekrylov "Russian folk city holidays, entertainment and spectacles. The end of the 18th - beginning of the 20th century")

On the illustration "Petrushka", 1882. Solomatkin Leonid Ivanovich (1837-1883)

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This hero was called Petrushka, Pyotr Ivanovich Uksusov, Vanka Ratatuy. He became the main character of the Russian folk puppet theater. The parsley comedy has been very popular and extremely widespread since the end of the 18th century. Petrushechniks performed at fairs, festivities, showing their uncomplicated comedy several times a day. The Petrushka Theater itself was simple. The most common was the "walking" Petrushka.

The "theater" consisted of a folding light screen, a set of puppets placed in a box, a hurdy-gurdy (or violin), as well as the puppeteer himself and his assistant musician. In any place and at any time, moving from city to city, they put up their "theater" in the open air on the street. And here he is, a little lively man with a long nose, jumps to the edge of the screen and begins to speak in a sharp, shrill voice. And for this, the puppeteer-comedian had to put a small device on the tongue, consisting of two bone plates, inside of which a narrow strip of linen ribbon was strengthened.

The extraordinary love of the people for their puppet hero was explained in different ways: some believed that the reason for this was the topicality and satirical orientation of the parsley comedy; others believed that the simplicity, comprehensibility and accessibility of the theater to any age and class made it so popular.

The performance at the Petrushka Theater consisted of separate scenes, but in each of them the participation of the main character, Petrushka, was obligatory. The main scenes of the traditional comedy about Petrushka were the following: Petrushka's exit, the scene with the bride, buying a horse and testing it, Petrushka's treatment, training him for military service (sometimes the scene with the quarter, master) and the final scene. At first, laughter or a song was heard from behind the screen, and Petrushka immediately appeared on the screen. He bowed and congratulated the audience on the holiday. Thus the show began. He was dressed in a red shirt, plush trousers tucked into smart boots, and wore a cap on his head. Often, Petrushka was also endowed with a hump, or even two.

The peculiarity of the Petrushka theater was that the audience did not enjoy getting to know the new work, but from how they played the long-known comedy. All attention was focused on the shades of the game, on the movements of Petrushka, on the dexterity and skill of the parsley. There were always two heroes on the screen: Petrushka and someone else. And the reason is simple: the parsley maker could only control two dolls at the same time, holding each of them in his hand. And the introduction of additional characters in the scene, of course, required more puppeteers. The musician also played an important role in the Petrushka Theater. He not only accompanied the action with music, but also participated in the dialogue - he was Petrushka's interlocutor. The composition of the parsley comedy could also include pantomime scenes not related to the action of the comedy. Thus, the Petrushka Theater is known, where pantomime was shown with the participation of "puppets representing different nationalities." They all sang and danced, while Petrushka at that time sat on the edge of the screen and sang "Along Pavement Street ...". In other performances, there was a dance of two araps. But, despite all the intercalations and pantomimes, Petrushka remained the only main character in this peculiar theater. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky in his “Diary of a Writer” for January 1876 says this about the performance of Petrushka in the St. Petersburg club of artists: “Children and their fathers stood in a solid crowd and watched the immortal folk comedy, and really, it was almost the most fun on the whole holiday. Tell me, why is Petrushka so funny, why do you certainly have fun, looking at him, everyone has fun, both children and old people?