Travel to Kiev. Puppet theater is a place worth visiting

It's no secret that many adults dream of returning to childhood. But you do not need to invent a time machine for this. It's enough to come to Kiev with your children. The puppet theater, located on the right bank of the Dnieper, resembles a fairytale city, in which heroes of favorite children's fairy tales come to life.

History of the theater

The Kiev Academic Puppet Theater is the oldest in Ukraine, because it was founded nearly a century ago - in the distant 1927. The idea to create a theater that would be interesting for a small spectator, appeared in the People's Artist of Ukraine Alexander Solomarsky and actress Irina Deeva. At that time the theater was created at the Kiev Theater for Children. I. Frank. The idea of the national artist was supported by the actors F. Andrievskaya, M. Kozlovsky, O. Mikhailov, I. Zaliznyak, A. Vishnevskaya, T. Vasnetsova, G. Soroka, J. Zhovinsky. They became the first actors working in the theater.

The first season was opened by such performances for young spectators as "Ancient parsley" (this is a traditional puppet comedy, whose literary treatment was done by M. Kozlovsky) and "Musicians" (authorship of L. Glibov, in the staging of P. Shcherbinsky).

The newly created theater began its work in the premises on Khreshchatyk, which used to be occupied by the theater "Rothe Fane". However, ten years later he was moved to Yaroslavov Val, to the building of the current House of actors. There, the theater continued to work for another twenty years, until he was given the building of the Choral Synagogue. Only in 1997 the synagogue was returned to the Jewish community, and the Kiev Puppet Theater was left without a room for eight years. Despite this, the actors did not stop working. Representations were given on rented scenic stages, in schools and kindergartens. Therefore, all this time the audience did not forget their idols.

Contemporary Theater

A new stage in the history of the puppet theater began in 2005, when the construction of the current premises was completed. Work on it lasted exactly a year under the guidance of architect Vitaly Yudin. The new building, located on the European Square, has become one of those places that Kiev can boast of. The puppet theater looks like a fairy-tale palace, with all the attributes necessary for it - spiers and columns. Three-story building accommodates two halls - for 300 and 110 spectators. In addition, the museum houses the Museum of Antique Dolls, in which puppets of all times and nations are gathered.

Journey to the fairy tale begins for children in the courtyard of the theater. It is decorated in an appropriate fairytale style. There you can see funny figures of fairy-tale characters, interesting flower beds and fountains, stairs, located near the Water Museum. According to the head of the theater, it's enough for children to come to Kiev to visit Cinderella or the Sleeping Beauty.

Puppet theater: poster for children

90% of the repertoire of the puppet theater are classical productions. Among them are folk tales ("Kolobok", "Repka", "Chicken Ryaba") and Western classical works for children (Peter Pan, The Magic Lamp of Aladdin, Cinderella). The fairy tales of the famous children's writer G. Andersen ("The Little Mermaid", "The Steadfast Tin Soldier", "The Ugly Duckling") are very popular.

Until now, theater actors adhered to classics in drama, artistic embodiment and music. According to the artistic director of the theater, modern art genres negatively affect the consciousness of a small child and do not do any good. Therefore, the theater creates such performances that would remind the smallest spectators of the real world around them. After all, when the curtain rises, the child should be interested, not scared.

As the actors themselves say, it's hardest to play for a children's audience. Their interest is genuine. And if during the performance the child does not pay attention to what is happening on the stage, this can be called a complete failure of the production.

Repertoire for adults

Once a year, a children's puppet theater in Kiev gathers older audiences. An ancient tradition here is to produce a new puppet show for adults every year. This work is very different from the production of a children's play, because the actors have to "return" to the adult genre. For adults, comedies or serious melodramas are prepared. The greatest success among such productions is: "For two hares" (based on the play of Staritsky) and "Forest Song" (based on the work of Lesya Ukrainka), "The Devil's Mill" and "Divine Comedy" (staged by I. Shtok), "Decameron".

Dolls

The main thing that no puppet theater can do without is actually the puppets themselves. Was not an exception and one that glorified Kiev. The puppet theater boasts two thousand dolls, and new "actors" are being created for new plays.

But still the main dolls can be safely called veterans of the scene. Most of them have been preserved since the first performances. Undoubtedly, from time to time they are restored, but the honorary age of the puppets makes the play more interesting.

New dolls are also made in the theater. In order to realize only one doll, you have to spend more than a month. The process of its production includes the creation of a gypsum form and mechanics, image and clothing. All this is a manual work, which finally ends only in the hands of the actors. They put character and soul in puppets. More than thirty such dolls can take part in new performances.

Actors of the theater

After visiting the theater, it seems that the most talented actors-puppeteers were gathered by Kiev. Puppet theater has 24 highly professional actor-puppeteer of the highest and first categories, as well as leading stage masters. Among them you can name V. Rusana, V. Malinsky, A. Ross, S. Churkin and L. Yasinovskaya, who convey their experience of talented youth.

Since 1990, the theater organizes international festivals, in which teams from European, Asian countries and America take part. Since 1995, the theater is part of the International Organization of Puppet Theaters UNIMA.