When did theater appear in the world? What is theater

Theatrical art in the modern world is one of the most widespread branches of culture. There are a huge number of theater buildings built all over the world, in which productions are performed every day. With the development of innovative technologies, many people began to forget about the true values of art. First of all, theater gives a person the opportunity to improve and develop.

Theater in ancient times

Theatrical art is one of the oldest. Its origins go far from primitive society. It arose from agricultural and hunting games of a mysterious and magical nature. Primitive society believed that if, before starting a certain work, a scene was played out depicting a favorable completion of the process, the result would be positive. They also imitated animals, their habits and appearance. Ancient people believed that this could influence the outcome of the hunt, and they often held dances while wearing animal skins. And it was in these actions that the first elements of theater began to appear. Somewhat later, masks began to be used as the main attributes of the priest-actor entering the image.

Theater in Ancient Egypt

Theater in Egypt began its development from the very beginning of the Ancient World. This was towards the end of the third millennium BC. Every year, small theatrical performances of a dramatic and religious nature were staged at the temples.

Theater in Ancient Greece

In Ancient Greece, theaters were mainly built in the open air and were designed for tens of thousands of spectators. The audience sat on high stone benches facing a wide circular stage located in the center, it was called an “orchestra”. The cult of the great god of fertility Dionysus played a major role in the development of Greek theater. The repertoire consisted of three tragedies and comedies. The actors were only men, who sometimes played women. In comedy, they had to make the audience laugh, for this they used homemade masks, which depicted flattened noses, protruding lips and bulging eyes. The masks were made from dry wood and then from cloth, after which they were covered with plaster and painted with a variety of paints. The masks allowed spectators seated away from the ancient stage to see facial expressions corresponding to the action. The wide open mouth carved into the mask allowed the actors to increase the volume of their voices; one could even say that it served as a mouthpiece.

In Greece, folk theater performances, which the ancient Greeks called mimes, were very popular. A mime was considered a small scene of an everyday or satirical nature, in which mythological heroes, brave warriors or simple market thieves were portrayed by actors. Women could also perform in mimes; masks were not used during the performance.

Theater in Ancient Rome

In ancient Rome, theater was primarily for entertaining crowds of spectators. And actors were considered one of the lower classes of the population; few Roman actors achieved respect in the theatrical art. Most often, freedmen and slaves became actors. In the Roman theater, as in the Greek, seats for spectators were located depending on the main circle. In addition to tragedies and comedies, Roman actors played antonyms, pyrrhicians, mimes and attelans. Attendance at the theater was free for both women and men, but not for slaves. To attract spectators and surprise them with luxury, the organizers of the games decorated the hall with gold, sprinkled the most fragrant liquids in it and strewn the floor with flowers.

Theater in Italy

In the Italian theater of the Renaissance, the performances were very different; they were more cheerful, full of humor and satire. The theatrical performance was staged on specially made wooden stages, around which a huge crowd of spectators always gathered. Ancient theaters began to concentrate in large cultural and industrial cities. It was the theatrical art of antiquity that revolutionized the theater as a whole and divided theater into varieties. Since those very times, no fundamental changes and revolutionary innovations have been observed to this day.

Theater in the 17th-18th century

The theatrical art of the 17th and 18th centuries was increasingly filled with romanticism, fantasy and imagination. During these years, theater was most often created by troupes, which included united traveling actors and musicians. In the 1580s, it was visited by commoners, but starting in 1610, the wealthier and more elegant residents of France began to become interested in this art. Later, the theater was considered as a moral cultural institution; it was most often visited by aristocrats. The French theater mainly performed costume plays, comedies and ballet. The scenery took on a more similar appearance to the real situation. The theatrical art of the 17th and 18th centuries became the basis for the development of all future world art. Many theaters from those times have survived to this day.

In England

English theatrical art of the 18th century played a significant role in the history and development of the entire European theater. It became the founder of Enlightenment dramaturgy. Also in those days, a new dramatic genre appeared, which was called bourgeois drama, or, as the audience called it, bourgeois tragedy. For the first time, it was in England that performances of bourgeois drama arose; later they penetrated into Germany, Italy and France.

Transition from Renaissance to Enlightenment

The transition from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment was very turbulent, long and quite painful for both actors and spectators. The Renaissance Theater gradually died from year to year, but such a miracle of human thought as musical and theatrical art did not succeed in dying just like that. The last and one of the strongest blows was dealt to him by the Puritan Revolution. England, which just recently was full of life and joy, bright and colorful, suddenly became pious, dressed in dark clothes and overly pious. There was no place for theater in such a gray life. They were all closed, and a little later the buildings were burned. In 1688, the long-awaited revolution took place in England, after which the transition from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment occurred.

Returning to power, the Stuarts completely restored the theaters, but now they were significantly different from those of the previous era. In the 18th century, musical and theatrical art blossomed with a lush bouquet of new genres. Ballad opera, pantomime and rehearsal are beginning to enjoy enormous popularity. From that moment on, the English theater was more concerned about profits than problems. In 1737, the English government approved an act of control over theatrical life, and from that moment on, all written plays were subject to strict censorship.

Theater in Ancient Rus'

In the territories that were once Kievan Rus, theatrical art appeared in the 17th century. It began with school and court performances. The first theatrical art studios were founded at fraternal schools and the courts of wealthy people. Plays were written by teachers and students. They mainly used both everyday legends and gospel stories. The emergence of the court theater was caused by the great interest of the court nobility in art and Western culture. The nobles liked the performances of the students produced by the first theatrical art studio so much that they could watch them more than 10 times. Initially, the court theater did not have a permanent location; all costumes, decorations and scenery were moved from one place to another. Over time, closer to the 18th century, theatrical performances began to be distinguished by great pomp and were accompanied by dancing and playing musical instruments.

In the 19th century, Russian theater was first divided into musical troupes, drama groups, and they were also divided into opera and ballet groups. It was during these years that one of the first dramatic stages opened, which in the future would be called the Maly Theater. Although a division occurred between the troupes, they remained inseparable for a long time. Soon, institutions such as the Academy of Theater Arts began to appear, and not the poor, but rather wealthy and educated people became actors. Over time, the number of theaters began to grow rapidly; they were managed by the emperor's theater office. As for the actors and workers, they began to refer to all theaters, and not specifically to any troupe. In the 20th century there was an improvement in art in a form that we can see to this day.

One of the brightest representatives that developed at that time was the Bolshoi Theater.

Role in the modern world

The theater occupies a vital place in the modern art world, and therefore it is intended for a wide audience and attracts more and more new spectators every day. Very often in modern theaters there are plays dedicated to the works of famous classics, this allows you to gain new knowledge and become better acquainted with history. Today there are many academies and schools where you can become an actor.

But, in addition to the large academy, where future actors are trained, there are also small institutions, for example, a theater arts studio, which can be attended by any talented person who wants to prove himself and learn all the intricacies of acting. Some modern theaters amaze us with their beauty and plasticity of architectural forms.

The word “theater” is known to everyone, even the smallest children. Who among us did not love going to a puppet theater, where faceless toys suddenly came to life in the skillful hands of a puppeteer and turned into magical living creatures... Having grown up, when choosing between theater and cinema, we often prefer the latter. But only in the theater can one feel the living force emanating from the actors, only the theater can captivate the viewer with its splendor.

How did he appear?
The first theater appeared in Athens, in 497 BC. Its appearance was associated with competitions of singers, poets and actors in honor of the holiday of the god Dionysus. There were no special amenities provided for the spectators, but this did not bother them, and they sat on the hill to watch the competition. Wooden stages were made for the actors, which, however, were later replaced by a more comfortable arena.

The competition participants showed their performances on a stage surrounded by a low wall, thanks to which it was possible to hide unnecessary props and decorations. There was also a tent for the speakers where they could change clothes. Since the holiday was dedicated to Dionysus, it is not surprising that in the center of the site there was an altar to the god, and all the action unfolded around it.

A little later, the ancient Greek theater changed. Spectators were finally able to take “real” seats - seats were built for them from marble (for guests of honor) and stone (for simpler spectators). Among the spectator seats there were resonating vessels that provided sound amplification.

In Rome, the first stone theater appeared only in 55 BC. Before this, actors and spectators were content with only temporary wooden buildings.

The performances of past years bore little resemblance to what we understand by a performance today. There could only be one actor on stage, changing masks and playing several roles at once. The need for masks was due to the large size of the theaters, which could accommodate ten or even seventeen thousand people. It was almost impossible to discern the actor’s facial features from a long distance, and masks easily solved this problem. The actors of Ancient Greece were respected people; only a free man could become an actor, unlike his Roman “colleagues”. Roman actors came from among slaves or freedmen.

In ancient Greek theaters, performances were based on myths, interpreted in their own way by actors and play authors. The Roman theater almost completely adopted plots from Greek drama, processing them for Roman audiences.

The heyday of ancient Greek drama dates back to the fifth century BC. These were the times of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. The Greek Livius Andronicus made a great contribution to the development of the Roman theater, teaching Greek and Latin to the sons of the Roman nobility. Also famous is Gnaeus Naevius, who achieved fame thanks to his comedies. Representatives of the next generations of Roman playwrights were Titus Maccius Plautus, Publius Terence, and then Horace and Seneca.

Moscow State University

them. M.V. Lomonosov

Faculty of Journalism

Essay on aesthetics

THEATER AS AN ART FORM

Completed:

5th year student

group 506

Sannikov Oleg

Introduction

1. The essence of theater

2. Theater arts

2.1 Stage image

2.2 Actor in the theater

3. Theater in the 20th century

4. "Children's" theater

Conclusion

No one in the world has established, or will ever establish, the exact year of birth of the theater.

No one in the whole world has said, and will not say, on which piece of the calendar its original date should be indicated.

The lifetime of the theater is measured by a measure unprecedented in historical terms - the lifetime of the human race itself.

The day of the emergence of the theater is hidden behind the mountain range of long-gone centuries and millennia, in the depths of the most ancient, most distant era of human history. That era when a person, who first took into his hands the tools of primitive labor, became a man.

Introducing himself to work brought him poetic insight: a person began to find within himself a poet, the aesthetic ability of poetic perception of the world.

In those distant centuries, the newly emerging poetry did not have powerful wings; it had not yet been touched by the powerful breath of free flight. Until a certain time, until a certain time, its purpose was reduced only to the subordinate accompaniment of rites and rituals that were established in the life of the primitive community. And when the time had come for her to mature, to become an independent poetic existence, poetry broke free, breaking the shackles of its former inseparability from everyday life. And then the time came for the fate of poetry to converge with the fate of the theater.

In the golden age of humanity's childhood, the first poets of the earth - the great Greek tragedians Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, like good geniuses of poetry, bent over the cradle of the theater. They brought him to life. And they turned him to serving people, to glorifying the spiritual power of man, his indomitable strength, and the moral energy of heroism. Behind them, their mighty predecessors, rose Euripides, the most tragic poet of the ancient world. Renouncing the predetermination of mythological plots, he forged the real characters of people living with intense passions, intense feelings, thoughts, and experiences.

Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides laid - according to history - a great beginning to a great work. Century after century - at all times, in all eras lived by countless human generations, theater has invariably, inextricably accompanied the movement of human history.

Theatrical creativity, as is known, is collective creativity. This is the unconditional strength of the theater, the source of its internal energy. At the same time, this is his weakness. Experts, for example, claim that a modern car contains more than 10 thousand different parts. All it takes is one part in the engine to break, and the car, even if it is a Mercedes, will stand and not move.

In the theater there are much more such “details”, which means there is much more risk that the theater can often stand still, stand motionless, without any signs of life.

The theater has always lived, delighting audiences with its unique art, helping to affirm the ideals of goodness and justice, and giving hope in the most difficult hours, of which, unfortunately, there have been too many in our history.

What kind of changes took place on earth - era followed era, one socio-economic formation replaced another, states, countries, empires, monarchies arose and disappeared, Atlantis disappeared in the depths of the ocean, the angry Vesuvius flooded the unfortunate Pompeii with hot lava, the sands for many centuries They brought the Troy glorified by Homer to the Hissarlik Hill, but nothing ever interrupted the eternal existence of the theater.

The most ancient creation of man, to this day it retains an unchanging attractive force, indestructible vitality, that miraculous elixir of youth, the secret of which was never discovered by the alchemists of the Middle Ages. In all previous eras, no matter how many of them there are, there has always been an eternal need for theater in man. That need that once arose at the ancient Dionysian festivals of the Rhea grape in honor of the mythical deity of earthly fertility

Tens of thousands of spectators - almost the entire population of city-republics - traveled to theatrical performances in Ancient Greece. To this day, majestic amphitheaters, dilapidated by time, built in times infinitely distant from us, serve as reminders of this.

In ancient times, more than twenty centuries ago, the Greek comedian Aristophanes reflected on the innermost essence of the force that so imperiously draws a person to the theater. Why do people love theater, why do they value its masters so much?.. They love and appreciate, answered the first comedian of humanity, for truthful speeches, for good advice and for making the citizens of their native land smarter and better.

In Aristophanes' words, which have not faded over the long series of past centuries, the highest aesthetic, moral, spiritual, social purpose of the theater is recognized. Its purpose is to be a school of life for people.

The school of life is the oldest, most amazing and emotional, the most festive, inspiring, great school like no other - that’s what theater is.

Theatrical art is one of the most complex, most effective and most ancient arts. Moreover, it is heterogeneous, synthetic. The components of theatrical art include architecture, painting and sculpture (scenery), and music (it sounds not only in musical, but also often in dramatic performances), and choreography (again, not only in ballet, but also in drama ), and literature (the text on which a dramatic performance is based), and the art of acting, etc. Among all of the above, the art of acting is the main thing that determines the theater. The famous Soviet director A. Tairov wrote, “... in the history of the theater there were long periods when it existed without plays, when it did without any scenery, but there was not a single moment when the theater was without an actor.”

The actor in the theater is the main artist who creates what is called the stage image. More precisely, an actor in the theater is simultaneously an artist-creator, the material of creativity, and its result - an image. The art of an actor allows us to see with our own eyes not only the image in its final expression, but also the very process of its creation and formation. The actor creates an image from himself, and at the same time creates it in the presence of the viewer, before his eyes. This is perhaps the main specificity of the stage, theatrical image - and here is the source of the special and unique artistic pleasure that it gives to the viewer. The spectator in the theater, more than anywhere else in the arts, directly participates in the miracle of creation.

The art of theater, unlike other arts, is a living art. It arises only at the hour of meeting with the viewer. It is based on an indispensable emotional, spiritual contact between the stage and the audience. There is no such contact, which means there is no performance that lives according to its own aesthetic laws.

It is a great torment for an actor to perform in front of an empty hall, without a single spectator. This state is equivalent for him to being in a space closed from the whole world. At the hour of the performance, the actor’s soul is directed towards the spectator, just as the spectator’s soul is directed towards the actor. The art of theater lives, breathes, excites and captivates the viewer in those happy moments when, through the invisible wires of high-voltage transmissions, there is an active exchange of two spiritual energies, mutually directed towards each other - from actor to viewer, from viewer to actor.

When reading a book, standing in front of a painting, the reader and viewer do not see the writer, the painter. And only in the theater does a person meet eye to eye with the creative artist, meet him at the moment of creativity. He guesses the emergence and movement of his heart, and lives with it all the vicissitudes of the events that took place on the stage.

A reader alone, alone with a treasured book, can experience exciting, happy moments. And the theater does not leave its audience alone. In the theater, everything is based on active emotional interaction between those who create a work of art on stage that evening and those for whom it is created.

The viewer comes to a theatrical performance not as an outside observer. He cannot help but express his attitude to what is happening on stage. An explosion of approving applause, cheerful laughter, tense, unbroken silence, a sigh of relief, silent indignation - the audience's participation in the process of stage action is manifested in a rich variety. A festive atmosphere arises in the theater when such complicity and empathy reach the highest intensity...

This is what his living art means. Art in which the beating of the human heart is heard, the subtlest movements of the soul and mind, which contains the whole world of human feelings and thoughts, hopes, dreams, desires, is sensitively captured.

Of course, when we think and talk about an actor, we understand how important not just an actor is for the theater, but an acting ensemble, unity, and creative interaction of actors. “Real theater,” Chaliapin wrote, “is not only individual creativity, but also collective action, requiring complete harmony of all parts.”

Theater is a doubly collective art. The viewer perceives a theatrical production and stage action not alone, but collectively, “feeling the elbow of a neighbor,” which greatly enhances the impression and artistic infectiousness of what is happening on stage. At the same time, the impression itself comes not from one individual actor, but from a group of actors. Both on stage and in the auditorium, on both sides of the ramp, they live, feel and act - not individual individuals, but people, a society of people connected with each other for a time by common attention, purpose, common action.

To a large extent, this is what determines the enormous social and educational role of the theater. Art that is created and perceived together becomes a school in the true sense of the word. “The theater,” wrote the famous Spanish poet García Lorca, “is a school of tears and laughter, a free platform from which people can denounce outdated or false morality and explain, using living examples, the eternal laws of the human heart and human feeling.”

A person turns to the theater as a reflection of his conscience, his soul - he recognizes himself, his time and his life in the theater. The theater opens up amazing opportunities for spiritual and moral self-knowledge.

And even though theater, by its aesthetic nature, is a conventional art, like other arts, what appears on stage before the viewer is not the real reality itself, but only its artistic reflection. But there is so much truth in that reflection that it is perceived in all its unconditionality, as the most authentic, true life. The viewer recognizes the ultimate reality of the existence of stage characters. The great Goethe wrote: “What could be more nature than Shakespeare’s people!”

In the theater, in a lively community of people gathered for a stage performance, everything is possible: laughter and tears, grief and joy, undisguised indignation and wild delight, sadness and happiness, irony and mistrust, contempt and sympathy, guarded silence and loud approval - in a word , all the riches of emotional manifestations and shocks of the human soul.

2.1 Stage image

The stage image - here only the image created by the art of cinema can be compared with it - is perceived by us as the most authentic of all images existing in art. The most authentic, despite its obvious conventionality. How can this be explained? Why is the image created by an actor so reliable and affects us so vividly? First of all, because it is as adequate as possible to its material. In the theater, the image of a person is created by a person. We do not need special efforts, much work of imagination, to imagine a human character in a human actor. Of course, in the actor we see not himself, but another person, perhaps even from a different era, but still a person. What is assumed in the image is inherent in the actor himself.

We can mention Moskvin, who perfectly played the role of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich in the performance of the Moscow Art Theater. The great actor played this role in such a way that for the audience he was no longer Ivan Mikhailovich Moskvin, but the genuine, living Fyodor Ioannovich. When Moskvin-Fyodor said, throwing himself on Irina’s neck: “Arinushka! My dear! Perhaps you blame me for not holding him back now?.. What can I do, since I was not born to be a sovereign! ", for whom the "Monomakh's hat" turned out to be too heavy. It was almost impossible to imagine Fyodor Ioannovich not the way Moskvin created him. But the amazing feeling of the truthfulness of the artistic image is explained not only by Moskvin’s unique acting skills, but also by the very nature of theatrical art - by the fact that the image of a person on stage is created by a person.

The maximum authenticity of the stage image is also associated with another important property of theatrical art - a special sense of time. Each type of art has a specific artistic time. In sculpture it is “zero”, which means the absence of time boundaries, a setting for eternity. In epic or lyric poetry, this is usually the past tense. In dramatic art - the present tense. When we read Homer’s “Iliad” or even the most modern story - say, F. Abramov or V. Belov - we perceive all the events described there as already past. When we watch a theatrical performance - whether a tragedy, drama or comedy - everything that happens on stage happens for us in the present. Events on stage take place simultaneously with their perception by the viewer. Psychologically, this leads to the fact that in the theater we feel not just spectators, but also, as it were, participants in the action. This makes the theatrical action especially convincing and impressive.

Meanwhile, the desire to become an active participant in events in the atmosphere of the theater is no longer so rare and distinguishes not only children. The story of a madman who, mistaking art for life itself, cut up Repin’s canvas “Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan” is quite unique. There is no doubt that the illusion of credibility and authenticity in painting, sculpture or poetry is less than in theatrical art. Less, in particular, because only theater lives in the present time, and from a psychological point of view it is the most reliable and genuine.

It is no coincidence that the concepts of “truth” and “falsehood” as evaluative ones are applied to theater much more often than, for example, to painting or sculpture, not to mention architecture and music. It is more natural to call for direct truthfulness in art - and in relation to the theater such calls are heard all the time - it is more natural when such almost immediate truthfulness is already contained in the very nature of this art and the artistic image it creates.

2.2 Actor in the theater

Theatrical art is both truthful and conventional. True - despite its conventionality. As, indeed, any art. Types of art differ from each other in both the degree of truthfulness and the degree of conventionality, but without the very combination of truthfulness and conventionality, no art can exist.

What is unique about the work of a theater actor? Much in an actor’s performance in the theater not only brings him closer to the truth of life, but also takes him away from it. For example, the theater loves the expression of feelings “loud” and “talkative”. “The theater is not a living room,” wrote the great realist actor B.K. Coquelin, to whose statements I have already referred more than once. - One and a half thousand spectators gathered in the auditorium cannot be addressed as two or three comrades with whom you are sitting by the fireplace. If you don't raise your voice, no one will hear the words; If you don’t pronounce them clearly, you won’t be understood.”

Meanwhile, in reality, human emotions can be deeply hidden. Grief can be expressed in subtle trembling of the lips, movement of the facial muscles, etc. The actor knows this very well, but in his stage life he must take into account not only the psychological and everyday truth, but also the conditions of the stage, the perception capabilities of the audience. It is precisely in order for the character’s words and feelings to reach them that the actor must somewhat exaggerate the degree and form of their expression. This is required by the specifics of theatrical art.

For a theater actor, communication with the audience creates an important creative impulse. During the performance, invisible strong threads are stretched between them, through which invisible waves of sympathy and antipathy, sympathy, understanding, and delight are amazingly transmitted. This internally controls the actor’s performance and helps him create.

“The theater, whatever its structure,” says Alexey Batalov, “is always a date, always the warmth of live communication. The soul of the theater appears only during the performance itself... An actor truly connected with the audience sometimes accomplishes the almost incredible. Like a Polynesian on a board, he moves only thanks to these living waves coming from the hall.”

Unlike literature, painting, and sculpture, the viewer who comes to the theater becomes not a creator of what has already been created, but a direct participant in creativity. He is actively involved in the theater's lively and exciting process of creating a stage work - a performance. After all, the performance begins to live only from the very moment when the theater curtain opens in front of the viewer and ceases to exist when the curtain closes when the auditorium is empty and the theater lights go out.

A good performance remains in the theater repertoire for a long time. But every time, with every new meeting with the viewer, he re-emerges, is born anew. And then, as expected, he will be gone: the actors will go home, the scenery will be removed from the stage, the props and props will be taken away, and on the empty stage there will be nothing left of the performance that just so excited and touched the viewer.

But no matter how much time passed after that time, the day indicated on the theater poster did not arise, just as it had arisen more than once before. Between the stage and the auditorium, the fire of the relationship between soul and thought will again flare up. And the intensity of this emotional, spiritual exchange will certainly affect both the actor’s performance and the entire atmosphere of the auditorium.

In the following days, weeks and months everything will happen again and again. But a constantly repeated performance will not be the same. Each time, depending on the current internal state of the audience, on the current mental state of the actors and on many other reasons and circumstances that can increase or decrease the emotional tone of creativity, it will be different in some way.

The same performance can be performed with a surprisingly warm, excited perception of the audience, with the festive inspiration of the actors, and the improvisational brilliance of their skill. And it can pass sadly, with unexpected audience indifference, without any uplift, as if someone had replaced the actors who only yesterday performed with such enthusiasm in the same performance, in the same roles.

2.3 Opera is part of theatrical art

In its most general form, opera can be defined as a theatrical performance in which people sing rather than speak. Singing and song form an indispensable part of this art. Here the song appears in different forms: it is an aria - a song - a monologue, a confession song; duet - dialogue song; recitative - imitation of spoken forms in music, etc. A special place in opera is occupied by choral singing, in which not an individual, but a mass image is revealed - the image of a people or some large group of people. In some operas, choral forms play a leading role. This is typical for musical folk dramas. As an example, we can cite Mussorgsky’s brilliant opera-dramas “Boris Godunov” and “Khovanshchina”.

Of course, opera is not only a song. This is also the music that exists in opera and outside of direct connection with the song. And the acting of the actor-singer. And elements of fine art - in the scenery, in the props. Opera is a synthetic art. But at the same time, as in any form and genre of art, it has its own leading principle. Such a beginning in the art of opera is music, song. First of all, it makes opera a unique art of spiritually sublime truth.

Due to the special nature of its imagery, opera conveys predominantly the extra-everyday, poetic side of life. Goncharov's "An Ordinary Story" or Chekhov's "A Boring Story", with all the depth of their content, could hardly serve as a good plot basis for an opera performance. An opera libretto can be a sad, tragic or heroic story, but not an “ordinary” or “boring” one. The entire opera is based on singing. But as it is said, “a girl can sing about lost love, but a miser can’t sing about lost money.” You can’t sing about any topic. There are forbidden areas here and they cannot be ignored, since they are determined by the internal laws of art itself.

Closer to opera than other arts is ballet. Ballet is a combination of music and choreography (dance, pantomime). One can say about him that he is “doubly musical.” The element of sounding and, no less, visible music dominates here. Dance in ballet is such “visible music”. Only outwardly he appears to be mute. Essentially, the basis of the dance is music, filling it from the inside.

This musical fullness and at the same time the “inexpressibility” of the choreographic image results in the fact that the content of the ballet cannot be directly “retelled” and cannot be sufficiently fully and accurately expressed through verbal explanations. The ballet image has a multi-valued, generalized symbolic character. Reducing the essence of the ballet image to everyday meaning not only does not explain it, but also largely destroys it. In this case, the same thing happens as with all kinds of presentations of the content of symphonic works.

Ballet, like opera, does not allow a too grounded plot. Of course, there can be no categorical prohibitions in art. But absolute freedom is also impossible. It is possible, for example, to translate even Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” into the language of ballet. Rodion Shchedrin and Maya Plisetskaya proved that it is possible. However, this translation is by no means adequate - it is intentionally selective. Understanding the problems of Tolstoy's social novel based on Shchedrin's ballet is not just difficult, but impossible. Ballet doesn't pretend to do that. “Anna Karenina” by Shchedrin is a song of beautiful and tragic love. This is a ballet based not even on Tolstoy’s novel, but on Tolstoy’s plot. The same can be said about Minkus's Don Quixote, Gliere's The Bronze Horseman, etc. The very selection of plot material in such ballets shows what ballet art can and cannot do. It cannot be too everyday, nor too edifying, nor momentarily topical.

An important problem of our time cannot be solved in a straightforward manner in ballet. Its very artistic nature does not allow this. K. S. Stanislavsky, as an obvious curiosity, gave the example of staging a ballet on the topical topic of fighting malaria: “Malaria was rampant in the city, and it was necessary to popularize means to combat it. For this purpose, a ballet was staged in which a traveler inadvertently fell asleep in the marsh reeds, depicted by beautiful half-naked women swinging. Bitten by a nimble mosquito, the traveler dances like a fever. But the doctor comes, gives quinine or another remedy, and in front of everyone, the patient’s dance becomes calm.”

This production dates back to the first years of the revolution, when art especially intensively sought to “intervene in life,” to be extremely active, and to overcome traditions. Unfortunately, similar examples (although not so anecdotal) occurred in the history of ballet in later years.

The famous ballet critic Krasovskaya spoke with bitter irony about the ballet N. Chervinsky - A. Andreev “Native Fields” (1953). The heroine of this ballet expresses through dance her call to her groom to come to his native collective farm to build a power plant, and he expresses his excitement before defending his thesis, pleasure at his successful defense and doubts whether to choose graduate school or a collective farm,

This ballet, with its straightforwardly understood “relevance” and “vitality,” is far from the specifics and possibilities of the dance image, and the mistake of its creators is fundamental. As the critic noted, “musical theater is, after all, first and foremost a theater of generalizations, and this applies to ballet even more than to opera.” “Ballet, like music, is capable of conveying the subtlest shades of feeling and its highest, grandest, heroic ascents. But ballet is unable to convey everyday and prosaic actions; it cannot express itself in prose, even if inspired ideas and great thoughts are hidden behind it.”

“Children’s” theater - is it very different from “adult” theater, is theatrical activity well known and understandable to teachers? Speaking about the education of a truly creative personality, we must remember that theatrical art - like any creative process - does not tolerate duplication. And here comes the first problem. The main technique that teachers use in theatrical activities is to show themselves or their child, that is, most often we get children to copy their own activities.

Any theater includes a fairly large number of different areas of activity: literary (knowledge of texts, figures of speech, their presentation); musical (singing songs, musical accompaniment); visual (design of theatrical performances, preparation of scenery) and, of course, gaming, where the actor himself is visible in all his uniqueness. Unfortunately, today most teachers take on a leading role (choosing a play, preparing costumes, scenery, etc.), leaving the child the role of an obedient performer, but not a creator.

As a survey of teachers conducted during advanced training courses for educators showed, many see a serious problem in introducing children to theatrical culture. The form of classes usually does not give a positive result, which confuses educators.

What basics of theatrical culture can a preschool child master? First of all, this is knowledge of theatrical genres: puppetry, where the actors are any puppets; dramatic, where an adult or the child himself is an artist; animal theatre, musical theatre, pantomime theatre...

Some teachers ask the question: is it worth introducing children to subtypes of theatrical genres (comedy, tragedy, opera, operetta, etc.)? Getting to know the structure of the theater and the professions of people who create theatrical performances should also be carried out primarily in activities that are interesting and desirable for children - role-playing games.

Speaking about another area of work of a teacher in theatrical activities - familiarization with various types of puppet theaters, it is necessary to note the following.

Puppet theater not only creates a good mood and enriches children with impressions, but also contributes to their overall development and aesthetic education.

Puppet theater for preschoolers has some advantages over theater in which human actors perform.

It is this theater that is offered to children as the first theater, because it, more than any other, by its nature is close and understandable to young children. On the stage of this theater, children see familiar and favorite toys, dolls or pictures. When “come to life” dolls or pictures begin to move and speak, they transport children to a completely new, fascinating world, the world of living toys, where everything is extraordinary, everything is possible.

Children are often afraid of Santa Claus, a wolf, a bear and other characters performed by human actors, but they enjoy playing with toys that represent them.

When teaching children puppeteering skills, you should pay attention to some points.

To organize a children's theater, we need puppets of various systems that develop in children certain skills and abilities, stimulate children's creativity (singing, dancing, playing), encouraging improvisation on children's musical instruments.

You can introduce children to puppet theater from a very early age. Small performances (picture theatre, shadow theatre, puppet theater and many others), shown by teachers and older preschoolers, will not only bring the joy of interacting with a puppet, but will also provide first knowledge about various types of theaters.

Tabletop toy (puppet) theaters are varied: soft toy theater; theaters of Dymkovo, Bogorodskaya, Kargopol toys, etc.; wooden toy theater; theater of crocheted or knitted puppets (put on bottles or baby skittles); theaters made of paper cones and boxes of different heights; foam toy theater, etc.

Another type of theater that children 2-4 years old can master is a plane theater made of paper, cardboard, plywood, etc. Manipulating “actors” with the pronunciation of individual words or the entire text gives good puppeteering skills.

From the age of 4, a transition to more complex types of theater is possible. This is primarily a theater with ready-made puppets. The basis of such a doll is a wooden rod - gapit. Typically, the following theaters are offered to preschool children: spoon; theater with three-dimensional puppets; planar images.

At an older age, children should be introduced to puppets and dolls with a “living” hand. Theater, where the actors are “human dolls,” is also interesting for children of this age.

We should not forget about another type of theater - shadow: motionless and moving, using lighting devices. And since the main task of getting to know any type of theater is independent use, we transfer work with these types of theater to an older age.

Let us note one more point. The age proposed in these recommendations for getting acquainted with this or that type of theater is quite relative and depends, first of all, on the beginning of work in this area, its systematicity and, of course, on the skills of the children.

But the creation of a subject-specific developmental environment is not the only important point for the teacher, although it is of considerable importance, especially at a younger age. Creating a creative atmosphere and activating sensations is the main task of the teacher. Creative manifestation is a strictly individual phenomenon. It is necessary to provide conditions for the creativity of each of the children.

Theater classes can increase children's level of emotional responsiveness, organization, mobility and training of attention, memory, teamwork skills, and a responsible attitude towards their words and actions, which determine every moment of communication between people.

Theater is a school of life. This is how they spoke about him from century to century. They spoke everywhere: in Russia, France, Italy, England, Germany, Spain...

Gogol called the theater the department of goodness.

Herzen recognized him as the highest authority for resolving vital issues.

Belinsky saw the whole world, the whole universe with all its diversity and splendor in the theater. He saw in him an autocratic ruler of feelings, capable of shaking all the strings of the soul, awakening a strong movement in minds and hearts, refreshing the soul with powerful impressions. He saw in the theater some kind of invincible, fantastic charm for society.

According to Voltaire, nothing tightens the bonds of friendship more closely than the theater.

The great German playwright Friedrich Schiller argued that “the theater has the most beaten path to the mind and heart” of a person.

The immortal creator of Don Quixote, Cervantes, called the theater “a mirror of human life, an example of morals, a model of truth.”

Literature

1. Abalkin N. Stories about the theater. - M., 1981.

2. Bakhtin M. M. Questions of literature and aesthetics. – M., 1975

3. Kagarlitsky Yu. I. Theater for centuries. - M., 1987.

4. Lessky K. L. 100 great theaters of the world. - M., Veche, 2001.

6. Nemirovich-Danchenko Vl. I. The birth of the theater. - M., 1989.

7. Sorochkin B.Yu. Theater between past and future. - M., 1989.

Tairov A. Ya, Notes of the director. Articles. Conversations. Speeches. Letters. M., 1970, p. 79.

Stanislavsky K. S. My life in art. - Collection op. in 8 volumes. M., 1954, vol. 1, p. 393-394.

2. Theater arts

The actor in the theater is the main artist who creates what is called the stage image. More precisely, an actor in the theater is at the same time an artist-creator, and the material of creativity, and its result - an image. The art of an actor allows us to see with our own eyes not only the image in its final expression, but also the very process of its creation and formation. The actor creates an image from himself, and at the same time creates it in the presence of the viewer, before his eyes. This is perhaps the main specificity of the stage, theatrical image - and here is the source of the special and unique artistic pleasure that it gives to the viewer. The spectator in the theater, more than anywhere else in the arts, directly participates in the miracle of creation.

The art of theater, unlike other arts, is a living art. It arises only at the hour of meeting with the viewer. It is based on an indispensable emotional, spiritual contact between the stage and the audience. Without this contact, it means there is no performance that lives according to its own aesthetic laws.

Theater is a doubly collective art. The viewer perceives a theatrical production and stage action not alone, but collectively, “feeling the elbow of a neighbor,” which greatly enhances the impression and artistic infectiousness of what is happening on stage. At the same time, the impression itself comes not from one individual actor, but from a group of actors. Both on the stage and in the auditorium, on both sides of the ramp, they live, feel and act - not individual individuals, but people, a society of people connected with each other for a time by common attention, purpose, common action.

In the theater, in a lively community of people gathered for a stage performance, everything is possible: laughter and tears, grief and joy, undisguised indignation and wild delight, sadness and happiness, irony and mistrust, contempt and sympathy, wary silence and loud approval... in a word, all the riches of emotional manifestations and shocks of the human soul.

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The history of Russian theater is divided into several main stages. The initial, playful stage originates in clan society and ends by the 17th century, when, along with a new period of Russian history, a new, more mature stage in the development of the theater begins, culminating in the establishment of a permanent state professional theater in 1756.

The terms “theater” and “drama” entered the Russian dictionary only in the 18th century. At the end of the 17th century, the term “comedy” was in use, and throughout the century – “fun” (Poteshny Chulan, Amusing Chamber). Among the masses, the term “theater” was preceded by the term “disgrace”, the term “drama” - “game”, “game”. In the Russian Middle Ages, definitions synonymous with them were common - “demonic” or “satanic” buffoon games. All sorts of wonders brought by foreigners in the 16th – 17th centuries, as well as fireworks, were also called amusement. The military activities of the young Tsar Peter I were also called fun. The term “game” is close to the term “game” (“buffoon games”, “feast games”). In this sense, both weddings and mummers were called “game”, “games”. “Play” has a completely different meaning in relation to musical instruments: playing tambourines, sniffles, etc. The terms “game” and “game” as applied to oral drama were preserved among the people until the 19th – 20th centuries.

Folk art

Russian theater originated in ancient times. Its origins go back to folk art - rituals, holidays associated with work. Over time, the rituals lost their magical meaning and turned into performance games. Elements of theater were born in them - dramatic action, acting, dialogue. Subsequently, the simplest games turned into folk dramas; they were created in the process of collective creativity and were stored in people's memory, passing from generation to generation.

In the process of their development, the games differentiated, breaking up into related and at the same time varieties increasingly moving away from each other - into dramas, rituals, games. The only thing that brought them together was that they all reflected reality and used similar methods of expressiveness - dialogue, song, dance, music, disguise, acting, acting.

The games instilled a taste for dramatic creativity.

The games were originally a direct reflection of the clan community organization: they had a round dance, choral character. In round dance games, choral and dramatic creativity were organically merged. Songs and dialogues abundantly included in the games helped characterize the images of the games. Mass commemorations also had a playful character; they were timed to coincide with spring and were called “Rusalia.” In the 15th century, the content of the concept of “Rusalia” was defined as follows: demons in human form. And the Moscow “Azbukovnik” of 1694 already defines rusalia as “buffoon games.”

The theatrical art of the peoples of our Motherland originates in rituals and games, ritual actions. Under feudalism, theatrical art was cultivated, on the one hand, by the “popular masses,” and on the other, by the feudal nobility, and buffoons were differentiated accordingly.

In 957, Grand Duchess Olga got acquainted with the theater in Constantinople. The frescoes of the Kiev St. Sophia Cathedral of the last third of the 11th century depict hippodrome performances. In 1068, buffoons were first mentioned in the chronicles.

Kievan Rus was known for three types of theaters: court, church, and folk.

Buffoonery

The oldest “theater” was the games of folk actors - buffoons. Buffoonery is a complex phenomenon. The buffoons were considered a kind of sorcerers, but this is erroneous, because the buffoons, participating in the rituals, not only did not enhance their religious-magical character, but, on the contrary, introduced worldly, secular content.

Anyone could make a joke, that is, sing, dance, joke, act out skits, play musical instruments and act, that is, portray some kind of person or creature. But only those whose art stood out above the level of art of the masses for its artistry became and was called a skilled buffoon.

In parallel with the folk theater, professional theatrical art developed, the bearers of which in Ancient Rus' were buffoons. The appearance of puppet theater in Rus' is associated with buffoon games. The first chronicle information about buffoons coincides with the appearance of frescoes depicting buffoon performances on the walls of the Kiev St. Sophia Cathedral. The chronicler monk calls the buffoons servants of devils, and the artist who painted the walls of the cathedral considered it possible to include their image in church decorations along with icons. Buffoons were associated with the masses, and one of their types of art was “glum,” that is, satire. Skomorokhs are called “mockers,” that is, scoffers. Mockery, mockery, satire will continue to be firmly associated with buffoons.

The worldly art of buffoons was hostile to the church and clerical ideology. The hatred that the clergy had for the art of buffoons is evidenced by the records of chroniclers (“The Tale of Bygone Years”). Church teachings of the 11th-12th centuries declare that the mummers resorted to by buffoons are also a sin. Buffoons were subjected to especially severe persecution during the years of the Tatar yoke, when the church began to intensively preach an ascetic lifestyle. No amount of persecution has eradicated the art of buffoonery among the people. On the contrary, it developed successfully, and its satirical sting became sharper.

In Ancient Rus', crafts related to art were known: icon painters, jewelers, wood and bone carvers, book scribes. Buffoons belonged to their number, being “cunning”, “masters” of singing, music, dancing, poetry, drama. But they were regarded only as entertainers, amuse-benders. Their art was ideologically connected with the masses of the people, with the artisans, who were usually opposed to the ruling masses. This made their skill not only useless, but, from the point of view of the feudal lords and clergy, ideologically harmful and dangerous. Representatives of the Christian Church placed buffoons next to wise men and sorcerers. In rituals and games there is still no division into performers and spectators; they lack developed plots and transformation into images. They appear in folk drama, permeated with acute social motives. The emergence of public theaters of oral tradition is associated with folk drama. The actors of these folk theaters (buffoons) ridiculed the powers that be, the clergy, the rich, and sympathetically showed ordinary people. Folk theater performances were based on improvisation and included pantomime, music, singing, dancing, and church numbers; the performers used masks, makeup, costumes, and props.

The nature of the performances of buffoons initially did not require uniting them into large groups. To perform fairy tales, epics, songs, and play an instrument, only one performer was enough. Skomorokhs leave their native places and roam the Russian land in search of work, moving from villages to cities, where they serve not only the rural, but also the townspeople, and sometimes even princely courts.

Buffoons were also involved in folk court performances, which multiplied under the influence of acquaintance with Byzantium and its court life. When the Amusing Closet (1571) and the Amusing Chamber (1613) were set up at the Moscow court, the buffoons found themselves in the position of court jesters.

The performances of the buffoons combined different types of arts: dramatic, church, and pop.

The Christian Church contrasted folk games and the art of buffoons with ritual art, saturated with religious and mystical elements.

The performances of buffoons did not develop into professional theater. There were no conditions for the birth of theater troupes - after all, the authorities persecuted buffoons. The Church also persecuted buffoons, turning to secular authorities for assistance. A Charter of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery of the 15th century and a Charter of the early 16th century were sent against the buffoons. The Church persistently placed buffoons on a par with the bearers of the pagan worldview (magi, sorcerers). And yet the buffoon performances continued to live, and the folk theater developed.

At the same time, the church took all measures to assert its influence. This found expression in the development of liturgical drama. Some liturgical dramas came to us along with Christianity, others - in the 15th century, along with the newly adopted solemn charter of the “great church” (“Procession to Sweep”, “Washing of Feet”).

Despite the use of theatrical and entertainment forms, the Russian church did not create its own theater.

In the 17th century, Simeon of Polotsk (1629-1680) tried to create an artistic literary drama on the basis of liturgical drama; this attempt turned out to be isolated and fruitless.

17th century theaters

In the 17th century, the first oral dramas developed, simple in plot, reflecting popular sentiments. The puppet comedy about Petrushka (his name at first was Vanka-Ratatouille) told about the adventures of a clever, merry fellow who was not afraid of anything in the world. Theater truly appeared in the 17th century - court and school theater.

Court Theater

The emergence of the court theater was caused by the interest of the court nobility in Western culture. This theater appeared in Moscow under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. The first performance of the play “The Act of Artaxerxes” (the story of the biblical Esther) took place on October 17, 1672. At first, the court theater did not have its own premises; scenery and costumes were moved from place to place. The first performances were staged by Pastor Gregory from the German Settlement; the actors were also foreigners. Later they began to forcefully attract and train Russian “youths”. They were paid irregularly, but they did not skimp on decorations and costumes. The performances were distinguished by great pomp, sometimes accompanied by playing musical instruments and dancing. After the death of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the court theater was closed, and performances resumed only under Peter I.

School theater

In addition to the court theater, in Russia in the 17th century a school theater also developed at the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy, in theological seminaries and schools in Lvov, Tiflis, and Kyiv. Plays were written by teachers, and students staged historical tragedies, allegorical dramas close to European miracles, sideshows - satirical everyday scenes in which there was a protest against the social system. School theater sideshows laid the foundation for the comedy genre in national drama. The origins of the school theater were the famous political figure and playwright Simeon Polotsky.

The emergence of court school theaters expanded the sphere of spiritual life of Russian society.

Early 18th century theater

By order of Peter I, the Public Theater was created in 1702, designed for the mass public. A building was built especially for him on Red Square in Moscow - the “Comedial Temple”. The German troupe of J. H. Kunst gave performances there. The repertoire included foreign plays that were not successful with the public, and the theater ceased to exist in 1706, as subsidies from Peter I ceased.

Conclusion

A new page in the history of the performing arts of the peoples of our Motherland was opened by serf and amateur theaters. The serf troupes that existed since the end of the 18th century staged vaudeville, comic operas, and ballets. On the basis of serf theaters, private enterprises arose in a number of cities. Russian theatrical art had a beneficial influence on the formation of the professional theater of the peoples of our Motherland. The troupes of the first professional theaters included talented amateurs - representatives of the democratic intelligentsia.

Theater in Russia in the 18th century gained enormous popularity, became the property of the broad masses, another publicly accessible sphere of people’s spiritual activity.