History of the creation of the team. First performances

The Litsedei Theater (St. Petersburg) works in a special genre that combines clowning, pantomime, tragic farce and variety shows. The theater is known to a wide audience thanks to Vyacheslav Polunin and such numbers as “Blue-Blue-Blue-Canary...”, “Nizya” and “Asisyai!”.

About the theater

The Licedei Theater (St. Petersburg) began its creative journey in 1969. It was then that A. Skvortsov, V. Polunin, A. Makeev and N. Terentyev met in the pantomime studio under the direction of Eduard Rozinsky at the Lensovet Palace of Culture.

The name “Litsedei” was invented. The repertoire included the following performances: “Tek-Shen”, “Crazy”, “Petrushka”, “Small Olympics”, “Asisyai-review” and others. The artists have repeatedly become laureates of various festivals in Russia and abroad, participated in the filming of films, and performed on television.

In 1991, "Litsedey" (theater) closed, but the brand remained. In 2009 it was opened again. At the theater there is a school-studio “Litsedei-Lyceum”. Actors are trained here in the genres of pantomime and clownery. Enrollment of students occurs once every three years.

Repertoire

"Litsedey" (theater) offers spectators the following performances:

• "Semyanyuki".
• "Northern Tale".
• "New Khokhmachi".
• "Fly and saw."
• "Twelfth Night".
• "Stupid evening."
• "Aya-ay revue."
• "Space Show"
• "Children's ride."
• "Doctor Pirogoff."
• "Hercules".

And others.

"Fly and saw"

One of the most popular performances that the Lycedey Theater regularly performs is called “Fly and Saw.” This is a show by a world-famous clown with a unique talent, Leonid Leikin. In the last 12 years of his creative activity, he worked at the legendary Cirque Du Soleil. More recently, he returned to his homeland and now delights the domestic audience at the Lycedey Theater.

The show "Fly and Saw" is collected from Leonid's best numbers. Together with him, other actors of the Litsedei Theater also take part in it. The Russian audience has never seen most of these unique performances.

During the performance, Leonid Leikin talks with the audience, tells them about the life of the theater, his creative path and the history of the creation of his most famous numbers. Talks about his friends and colleagues. In front of the audience, he creates his own image - applies makeup, puts on a wig, puts on a costume and demonstrates the transformation from a storyteller to a clown.

Spectators had better hurry to see this performance, as it will not grace the theater’s repertoire for long; soon Leonid will take it on tour.

Artists

"Litsedey" is a theater that is a small but very talented group. These are the artists:

• Anvar Libabov.
• Yuri Muzychenko.
• Robert Gorodetsky.
• Anna Nikitina.
• Leonid Leikin.
• Alexander Kolobov.
• "World Champions" (vocal group).
• "Young actors" (students of B. Uvarov).

And others.

"World Champions"

In 2000, a vocal ensemble called “World Champions” appeared at the Licedei Theater. It includes five talented girls. As part of the children's choir of radio and television, they traveled all over the world. They have a huge number of prizes and diplomas. They have earned the right to be called world champions.

The girls work in the style of musical collage, mix. Vocalists sing and do not need musical instrumental accompaniment. Their vocal arrangements are very beautiful and talented. Their repertoire includes Mozart, Bach, Beatles songs, etc. Folk Russian, Japanese, Irish, Negro, Jewish, etc. works. They sing blues, rock, chorales, bossa novas, jazz and much more.

At their performances they don’t just sing, but turn their concerts into performances, into humorous acts.

Clowns are, by definition, people without faces, people-masks. They amuse the audience in the intervals between serious numbers - that’s their whole role. The history of mankind knows thousands of thousands of clowns - faceless, with painted smiles from ear to ear. Wipe your smile and there is no clown. No one will ever know or remember. But there are a few that the whole world knows. These are geniuses carrying their gesture, their message to people who easily understand them from the first gesture. Every brilliant clown has a name that people give him. Why did Asisyai fall in love so much? Why have we all been repeating after him for a decade now: “Luboff! Detective!!!"? And you can’t confuse him with anyone! And his gift is one of the rarest and most valuable. This gift is love. And tenderness. That kind of tenderness that brings tears to your eyes, washing your eyes. After these tears, the world seems different - cozy and warm. And the heart is ready to sympathize and love. On the birthday of the country's main clown, we recall the most remarkable facts of Polunin's biography.

Start. Actors

Students - Amateur performances - Army - Theater "Litsedei" - Blue Canary and "Asisyay-review" - Who is who in "Litsedei" - Furor and tours - Let everyone go their own way

They, the great Soviet clowns and mimes, can be counted on the fingers of one hand: Karandash, Oleg Popov, Yuri Nikulin, Leonid Engibarov. One of this series, of course, is Slava Polunin. At the turn of the era, when the smell of great changes in the country was already in the air, he did something that no one had done before: he combined the art of pantomime and clownery with the traditions of Russian folklore, the experience of ancient buffoon artists with the modern theatrical avant-garde. And he created the “Litsedei” theater. Their popularity was truly enchanting, their recognition was widespread and constant.

“Litsedei” is a nation, a republic, an island. And this is community. From the age of twelve I performed solo: at home, at school, in an amateur group. And when in 1967 I graduated from the tenth grade and moved from the city of Novosil, Oryol region, to Leningrad, I began to look for someone I could learn from. I found a room in the Lensovet Palace of Culture with a sign “Pantomime Studio”. There is no one in it. Not a single student. I stayed. A year later, Sasha Skvortsov appeared, with whom we immediately began rehearsing together. Two years later Kolya Terentyev came. At this moment, director Eduard Rozinsky appeared for a while, who assembled our miniatures into the play “Short stories about funny and serious things.” We called what we were doing expressive idiocy, scientifically - eccentric pantomime. Our productivity was enormous, we did number after issue.

The Polunin-Skvortsov duo developed for thirteen years and worked for their own pleasure. We did not go into the professional system on principle: it was an amateur activity. I decided that until I found my idea, style, image, aesthetics, I would not join any professional organizations.

At the end of the 1960s, a pantomime boom broke out in Leningrad; about fifteen studios spontaneously arose in the city, but there were not enough teachers. At that time, pantomime carried the idea of ​​fantastic freedom and a new culture. Back then, they grabbed everyone by the tongue and didn’t allow their personality to express itself. But here the man doesn’t say a word and you can’t grab him by the tongue. Therefore, in pantomime people could open up sincerely, which was difficult in verbal genres. I led four clubs - in student clubs at the Polytechnic Institute, Military Mech, and at the House of Culture for the Deaf. While conducting classes, I taught myself. But then I decided not to squander it, to keep one studio for myself, and give the rest to friends: Kolya Terentyev, Sasha Skvortsov. It all started with this group of comrades. Skvortsov and I fantasized powerfully, and everyone else was immediately drawn into the process. The first miniature, which we made in our small studio and showed there, in the Lensovet Palace of Culture, marked the birth of the troupe. I usually give the date April 1, 1968. We had a lot of performances, up to forty a month. In the winter we worked in Leningrad, and in the summer we went to the far corners of the country - for example, to Altai, to the Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. They received invitations through the House of Amateur Arts, in the department of student propaganda teams, joined some propaganda team and joyfully set off to travel for the whole summer.

I came up with the name of the theater when I was serving in the army - it took place near Riga from 1976 to 1978. There were a lot of options for what to call yourself. But once, in a letter to one of the girls, I wrote the word “Actors” for the first time. Then I began to think about the concept of the future theater: I wanted to found it immediately upon my return. While I was preparing, I had a whole series of army pantomimes. For example, I showed “A Soldier’s Dream”: I jumped up, ran, tearing off my collar and boots, throwing it all to the devil. Someone senior in rank saw this sketch and gave the order to urgently take me to army headquarters, after which I was transferred to Minsk and made head of the club. Everything was wonderful, a whole team of dancers, actors and musicians was formed. But the general arrived and said: “Disband! Disperse to distant garrisons!” And I found myself on an island in the Baltic states. However, I always got to where I needed to be. They immediately asked: “Who is the artist?” - "I!" - “Who is the musician?” - "I!" In addition, I educated myself. During night shifts there is a lot of free time, read - I don’t want to. I made myself a list of a hundred books that needed to be studied, mostly classics, Russian and French: “Red and Black”, “Walks of a Lonely Dreamer”. Of the hundred books, thirty became favorites and are now in my library. This, of course, is Gogol, Rousseau, Montaigne’s Essays, from which I wrote down all the best in a special notebook. It’s a pity that Kharms and Bulgakov were not yet available. When I was demobilized in 1978, we moved to the professional stage, but did not perform, but asked to give us a year to rehearse. In addition to me, the pantomime ensemble “Litsedei” included Sasha Skvortsov and Kolya Terentyev, and when we played performances, we invited Felix Agadzhanyan and Galya Andreeva. During the year we staged several performances: “Actors”, “Small Olympics” and “Dreamers”. The latter was also invented while serving in the army. There was a kindergarten under my office window. It was the fantasies of children, their running and playing, their behavior and communication with each other that inspired me. Imitating children's games, using pantomime, we told each other stories, in the course of which we turned into brave sailors or pilots.

We were in great demand, we received a prize from Arkady Raikin at the pop artist competition, but we still tried to participate less in group concerts, preferring to promote our performance in order to develop further. By 1980, it became more difficult for me to work with Sasha Skvortsov. I tried to move towards poetic pantomime and philosophical clowning, but Sanya is a great humorist, and he was not interested in this. I suggested: “Let’s take a break, and then we’ll see whether we should continue doing something together or not.” Then I decided to move to the Youth Palace and announced recruitment to my studio. And in 1982 he organized the first All-Russian pantomime festival, which brought together eight hundred people from all over the country. A new wave came: Anton Adasinsky, Anvar Libabov, Yuri Deliev came to me to enroll. At one of the amateur festivals I found Vitya Solovyov, and after some competition I invited Seryozha Shashelev, a deaf-mute. Soon we no longer needed intercoms during the performance: we gestured to each other from behind the scenes. Sign language is divided into signed and alphabetic. I banned the alphabetic language so that the artists would think in images, and the entire troupe mastered the symbolic language.

In the meantime, some of the artists in my studio worked in Lenconcert, but the studio remained the main one for all of us. During this period, we made a wonderful program “Show 01” with satirical writers, in which my team participated: Valera Keft, Vitya Solovyov, Galya Voitsekhovskaya, Kolya Terentyev, Anya Orlova. The situation in Lenconcert was sometimes difficult. For example, we once showed a number at the arts council that was not accepted. They told us: “Well, what is this? Sing to a soundtrack. You don't do acrobatic tricks. You don’t know how to play the harmonica.” Then I offered this number to television, and it was immediately shown in “Blue Light”. It was the pantomime Blue Canaries.

Top row: in a white suit - Viktor Solovyov, in a checkered jacket - Valery Keft.
Center: in a striped T-shirt - Sergey Shashelev, in a hat - Robert Gorodetsky
below them, in a bow tie, is Galina Voitsekhovskaya.
Left branch: Nikolai Terentyev, Anna Orlova standing, Galina Andreeva sitting.
Right branch: closer to the trunk - Vyacheslav Polunin, Olga Kochneva is sitting,
in the center - Anvar Libabov, far right - Elena Ushakova.

The Blue Canary number - “Blue Canaries” - was seen by the public in 1983. Here is how it was. Two years earlier, for the first time in Russia, I staged an entire two-hour clownery performance, “Loonies,” with characters, scenery, and drama. It was a huge success. And just then Robert Gorodetsky, with whom we had been friends for a long time, began to drop by our studio. One evening, he pulled out a picture from his briefcase that depicted three singing clowns and gave me music to listen to, which I immediately recognized as a melody that was one of the first recorded on my first tape recorder in my life. “Robik,” I told him, “you’re performing tonight.” Robik's eyebrows flew to the skies in surprise. He carried this picture with him for many years and proposed his idea everywhere. And only here a miracle happened: the idea found fertile soil. The concept of poetic clownery that I created and the actors trained in our theater were able to perfectly realize this dream. In 1983, I created the first self-sustaining theater in Russia. Skeptics told me: “Why are you dragging all this bunch of people? You and Sasha were such a great couple! Why do you need all these children? Only later, when the troupe began to develop powerfully, everyone realized that “Litsedei” was a real theater. The young guys just needed time to develop.

I really liked the concept of The Beatles. Each character in the classic cast of “Litsedeev” (1985–1991) represented his own philosophy and had his own audience. Anvar Libabov is an alternative artist, an outsider. This was how Khvost (Alexey Khvostenko) was in life, who only poured himself into what was interesting to him. Anwar was arrested at every step; he could not calmly walk through the city: the police would certainly stop him several times and check his documents. Antosha Adasinsky is an extreme sportsman! Stubborn, powerful. There was literally danger emanating from him, he was constantly pushing his own, something else: another idea, another philosophy, another culture. He was a favorite of revolutionaries, nihilists who knew what they wanted and were sure that everyone was doing the wrong thing. From the very beginning I created the character of Valera Kefta for romantically inclined girls. I named him Dandelion: curly white hair, gentle and tremulous. In a word, Fanfan-Tulip. But soon Valera revealed his essence - a guy from Ligovka, where he lived and grew up. Gradually he broke the original character, buried it and began to move towards anarchy. True, then Keft’s worldview was adjusted when he, being an excellent artist, entered the Serov Art School. New colors appeared: while remaining a guy from Ligovka, he began to draw his character, came up with interesting solutions, and came up with endless gags. Valera himself was an artistic phenomenon, people of the appropriate type “stuck” to him: musicians, artists and generally various “creatives”. The image of Leni Leikin is Cola Breugnon (the hero of Romain Rolland - editor's note) or even Gargantua (the hero of Rabelais' story - editor's note). Lenya is a delight in life! It’s like four people live in it at the same time! As soon as he gets into the company, he immediately needs to be the center of attention, to cheer up this sour life so that it rings, sings, and screams. Sparks from the eyes! As soon as the energy subsides, he becomes uninterested. The idea for the number “Nizya” came to my mind, and I invited Lenya Leikin to play it with me. He took his first steps on stage, but even then his charm, imagination and joy were able to illuminate everything around him. Robert Gorodetsky's character is silent, silent, and then he will reveal it! And this phrase remains in the memory for months, so accurately he pronounces it, so ironically. Robert has a very subtle view of things, he analyzes everything. He sits quietly in the corner, unnoticed but charming. At the same time, a crowd always follows him. Kolya Terentyev worked in a cabaret pair with Robert Gorodetsky. He has eight generations of St. Petersburg intellectuals in his family, and his uncle was a conductor at the Mariinsky Theater. Kolya himself loves opera very much, sings arias from morning to night, knows the entire repertoire of great singers by heart, and his cabinets are filled from top to bottom with unique records. Kolya was also the champion of Leningrad in fencing. Here you go - a clown and an athlete at the same time! This couple - two white clowns - solemnly carried wisdom, not paying much attention to all the fluttering of the shantrapa that surrounded them. And if we talk about whites and redheads, then our palette was richer than usual. What the early Casters did was a new commedia dell'arte with new principles for creating a group of grotesque characters.

And when the public came to the theater, differentiation took place: each viewer followed his favorite and his manifestations in the general performance. The task was to create a single community from these disparate characters, warm, lively, like a family. This was the main idea: to prove that people can feel good together and, because they need each other, something very important arises. This really rarely happens, only when people have a sufficient degree of tolerance and even wisdom to accept their loved ones, relatives or friends as they are, and find a common language with them.

My clown Asisyai was born along with the short story “Telephones” in 1981. The audience liked it so much that based on this short story I made the play “Loons” - about four clowns living under one roof. Terentyev, Keft, Shashelev and I were involved in it. With this team we have produced several successful performances. And I thought that a small hall for a hundred people was already too small for us - we should try to work for a larger audience, come up with a production for a hall for a thousand people.

Then, in 1985, the “Asisyai-review” was made. For Anechka Orlova, I put balls here, pillows here, and dressed her in a yellow suit. Vitya Solovyov appeared with string bags in the play “Night on Bald Mountain.” His character began to be called Mother Motherland, because grandmothers with nets were walking all over the USSR at that time. That’s why this image took root. Just like the character of Anya, she is the quintessence of the most popular female type, a kind of beautiful barmaid. The first time “Asisyai Revue” was shown in Kazan, at the Youth Palace, on New Year’s Day. We didn't think we could handle the big stage, but the success was extraordinary. Then we went with this performance to the Festival of Youth and Students, and there was already a riot there. Then we went around Russia and visited everything possible. And in 1988, international tours began, including a two-month trip across America. My youth became powerful, everyone promoted their own idea. And around 1989, I felt that everyone wanted something different. They were all bright individuals, I didn’t teach them, but provoked them to creativity and corrected them. They actively accepted this principle, and everyone wanted to prove themselves. I introduced butoh dance to Adasinsky, and Anton set off on his own, captivated by this idea. As soon as I realized that I would not be able to realize my ideas, it became clear that there was no point in carrying the huge burden of running a theater and not doing what you wanted. The best way out in this situation was for everyone to try to find their own way. As a result, Anton Adasinsky created his own theater, Valera Keft and Serezha Shashelev went to Cirque du Soleil, where they work to this day, Kolya Terentyev stayed with me, and Lenya Leikin, Vitya Solovyov, Anya Orlova and Anvar Libabov are still together. Sometimes Robert Gorodetsky joins them. In my opinion, it is not true that they call themselves “Actors”. If they were called “St. Petersburg Lyceums”, “New Lyceums” or Leonid Leikin Theater, it would be more correct. But the name should definitely be changed, because the public is still confused.

One great man said: “A woman is considered beautiful if her legs and hair are long, her chest and heels are high, and her waist and Hands thin." If you add crazy energy and incredible charisma to this list, you will get an accurate portrait of Bledans - an unsurpassed actress of Russian cinema.

Evelina Bledans - biography

The popular artist was born in Yalta on April 5, 1969 in an interethnic family, but always considered herself Russian. Her surname has more than once been subject to various kinds of doubts, although the woman has never hidden the fact that she is real. But the celebrity’s name could be completely different.

All photos 11

Initially, the parents wanted to name the girl Nastya, but the fate of her name was determined by the midwife who delivered her mother. When she first saw the child, she said that the girl looked like Evelina, and in the end they left him.

The future TV personality spent her childhood in her hometown, where she had the opportunity to attend several music sections at the House of Pioneers.

Also, Evelina Bledans did not miss a single concert where she could recite patriotic poems.

The girl wanted to become a famous actress from an early age, so after graduating from school she went to Leningrad to fulfill her dream.

The applicant instantly won over the examination committee of the Institute of Theatre, Music and Cinema. Thanks to just one phrase - “Bledans... Evelina Visvaldovna...” - she acquired a “fan” in the person of Igor Vladimirov. The head of the commission even joked that he would enroll her “automatically,” because a person with such a surname simply cannot be a bad artist. However, the actress entered the theater university on her own. Throughout her training, the teachers could not get enough of her talent and unsurpassed charisma. Already in the early 90s, she, as the best student of the faculty, had the opportunity to undergo an internship at the world-famous Theater Center named after. Eugene O'Neill.

The actress's return to her homeland practically coincided with the distribution of graduates to work. And no matter how Evelina dreamed of getting to Lenkom with Mark Zakharov, fate was completely different. Together with a small group of classmates, the girl was forced to move to Odessa. There, a young team of actors managed to organize the popular cabaret show “Sweet Life”, thanks to which Evelina instantly became a local celebrity.

The current screen star got into “Masks of the Show” completely by accident, through a crowd scene. But she made such an impression on Georgy Deliev that in the next episode of the entertainment program, a more prominent role was found for Evelina Bledans. The actress did not even notice how she became a sex symbol of the entire post-Soviet space, and the image of a sexy nurse in “Masks” became not only her calling card, but also did not leave the majority of the male population indifferent. However, even this fact could not influence her decision to leave the popular project, to which she devoted about ten years of her life.

Over the next year, Evelina tried to find herself: she took part in beauty contests and tried all sorts of castings. A new round of her career began in Moscow, where she successfully started in the musical “Metro”, and later continued working in the play “Danae”.

Around the same time, the artist began acting in films. Her most successful role of that time was the owner of a brothel in the serial film “Cursed Paradise.” Also, the domestic celebrity can boast of an award at the Cannes Film Festival, which she received thanks to her filming in a Starway commercial.

At the end of 2008, the TV personality pleased her fans with her participation in the popular reality show “The Last Hero - 6”, where she was rightfully known as the brightest and most positive participant. But she didn’t have a chance to live on the island for long; her insidious rivals expelled her from the “tribe” almost at the very beginning of the project.

Upon returning home, the actress began to work even more fruitfully. Now, in addition to films, she could also be seen as a TV presenter. Although before this, Evelina had already tried herself in this role, and it is worth noting that many could envy the ratings of those programs. In 2009, it became the calling card of the popular TV show “Everything Our Way,” which aired on the STS channel and had a musical and humorous direction. After which the artist remained in the position of presenter for several more years, since at that time she was especially in demand in this area.

At the moment, the domestic star appears more in films, and also does dubbing for foreign films.

Evelina Bledans - personal life

Such a talented and incredibly beautiful woman has always had a lot of fans. But, despite this, the actress has never been seen in any intimate scandals. Until recently, she completely hid her family from all kinds of discussions, only recently she lifted the veil of her personal life.

By the age of 46, the public favorite had been married three times. Her first husband was the director and presenter of “Pun” Yuri Stytskovsky. Their union lasted about seven years in total, of which the couple lived in a legal marriage for only six months.

The second husband's name was Dmitry. Apart from the fact that he was an Israeli businessman, nothing else is known. The young couple got married at the end of 1993, and in the summer of 1994, Evelina Visvaldovna gave birth to her first child, who was named Nikolai. After the divorce, the boy remained to live with his father and had no contact with his mother for a long time. Now he is 21 years old, he lives in Israel and is currently serving in the Israeli army.

The TV personality walked down the aisle for the third time in 2010. Her new chosen one was the capital's director and producer Alexander Semin. A year later, the couple had a son, whom his loving parents named Semyon. The artist was informed that the boy would be born with Down syndrome at the beginning of her pregnancy, but despite this, she decided to keep the child. Now their son is almost four years old. He already has experience filming advertisements for diapers, and he also has “his own” blog on Twitter. Recently the boy went to kindergarten, where he had already made his first friends.

Evelina Bledans and Alexander Semin are trying in every possible way to help parents who are raising children with the same diagnosis as their son.

They love their Semyon madly and call him a sunbeam, and in the near future they dream of giving him a sister.

Professionally, the actress is also in perfect order. Despite all life's difficulties, she continues to shine on the screen, which undoubtedly pleases her fans.

In 1968 at the Palace of Culture. Lensovet Vyacheslav Polunin created a pantomime studio, from which the Clown Mime Theater “Litsedei” eventually grew.

The creative core of the team was formed easily and naturally. The organization of classes in rhythm and plasticity, gymnastics and acrobatics, a ballet class with leading specialist teachers, numerous performances in front of any audience with a variety of eccentric numbers, elements of slapstick, parody, absurdity, eagerly accepted by the audience, strengthened the desire of young people to look for their unbeaten path.

After serving in the army, Polunin completed his studies at Leningrad State Institute of Cinematography, having received qualifications as a director of mass celebrations and theatrical performances, which will largely determine the vector of development of the creative biography of the group.

Alexander Skvortsov (in the studio since 1968), Nikolay Terentyev (since 1968), Felix Agadzhanyan (since 1976), Galina Andreeva (since 1977), Valery Keft (since 1978), Anna Orlova (since 1978 g.), Sergey Shashelev (since 1979), Victor Solovyov (since 1979), Anvar Libabov (since 1980), Anton Adasinsky (since 1982), Leonid Leikin (since 1983), Robert Gorodetsky ( since 1983). Coming from different fields of activity, immersed headlong in the complex “mechanism” of collective creativity, the “merging” of different human worlds, they received a new laboratory experience of the pantomime theater studio, clearing their path to simplicity and naturalness, in the desire to awaken in people the joy of being in a world colored by fantasies and dreams, games of imagination.

The motto of the Italian commedia dell'arte is "Anima allegra" ("Joyful soul"), chosen by the Actors at the beginning of their journey, only a confirmation of their irrepressible joyful content, a constructive guideline in the direct act of artistic creativity, the need for effective self-realization in an inextricable relationship with the viewer. They will actively transform the joy of creative communication with each other: “you and your partner” into the joy of creative communication with the viewer: “you and the viewer.” The subject of practical research is the space between the person on stage and the person in the auditorium, which determines the content of their further activities.

In 1974 the first performance was released, in 1975 - the performance of the Litsedei, which gave the name to the group. Since 1981 the theater has operated on the stage of the Youth Palace in Leningrad. During its existence, five performances were created: Dreamers, Crazy People, From the Life of Insects, Asisyai Review and Catastrophe, fifteen programs were released. The viewer was offered an eccentric and poetic-tragicomic pantomime. The “actors” broke theatrical taboos. For the first time, they came out to the viewer not in their usual appearance under light makeup and in an ordinary suit, like in life, only a slightly exaggerated, baggy jacket, boots that didn’t fit, but in bright clown makeup. The aesthetics of Polunin’s clownery became the revival of carnival as a celebration of life, as a protest against drab everyday life. Poluninsky miniatures received recognition, and their author received various prizes, including second place at the All-Union Variety Artists Competition.

If the play “Fantasers” became an expression of the creative credo of the Litsedeyev in understanding theatrical art as a direct, living act of play, commensurate with a childish, open, uncontrolled attitude towards the world, then in the play “Loons” (1982) there are already different games.

The clown masks of the famous Frattellini trio become the heroes of a philosophical clowning about a lost dream, about an unbridled thirst for joy, about aged eccentric clowns who remained “out of the game”, written off by life and sent to the attic as unnecessary, like outdated things that were once so necessary to people.