Puppet theater of Kyiv. Kiev Municipal Academic Puppet Theater Kiev Puppet Theater on Grushevsky

, Tashkent, Chelyabinsk, Sochi.

The theater's performances received awards from international puppeteer festivals in Yugoslavia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Portugal, Mexico, and France.

The creative approach and love for their work of the main director and actors of the theater have been repeatedly awarded with awards for best directing and acting. The theater team has many honorary certificates, diplomas and seven theater awards “Kiev Pectoral”.

Repertoire

With its works, the theater intervenes in a casual conversation about how to play a fairy tale for children, but most importantly, it considers it necessary to look back to remember the good traditions of puppet theater, which help create a unique emotional atmosphere of performances, focusing on the feelings of the child.

Theater performances are about the boundlessness of human imagination, about the desire to see the unusual in the ordinary. They contain rules of the game that are difficult for actors and well known to children, and therefore are accepted with joy by young spectators.

The characters in the plays determine their own destiny, have personalities, and know how to dream. And this touches invisible strings in the souls of children, fills them with optimism, faith in fairy tales and the triumph of goodness and truth. This is what makes the theater's productions so modern.

A number of performances in the theater operate in the “Open face” style, when the viewer observes the presence of an actor on stage together with a doll, and sometimes without it. The actors do not “hide” behind a screen, but play on stage in a “live plan”.

The repertoire of the Kyiv Municipal Academic Puppet Theater consists of fairy tales of the peoples of the world. The team performs productions based on famous works by Wilhelm Hauff, Charles Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, Astrid Lindgren, Alan Alexander Milne, Hans Christian Andersen, as well as works by famous Ukrainian playwrights Vsevolod Nestayk, Grigory Usach, Efim Chepovetsky and other authors.

There are no age restrictions in theater productions; everyone in the auditorium should be interested.

The theater's current repertoire includes more than 40 performances for youth, adult audiences and, above all, for children.

Theater performances

• - “Good Horton” by E. Chepovetsky; director S. Efremov
• - “Flower Semitsvetik” by G. Usach and S. Efremov; director S. Efremov
• - “The Snow Queen” by N. Lange based on Andersen’s fairy tale; director S. Efremov
• - “Once again about Little Red Riding Hood” by S. Kogan and S. Efremov; director N. Buchma
• 1986 - “Behemoth Bow” by I. and I Zlatopolsky; director I. Tseglinsky
• - “Morozko” by M. Shurinova based on a Russian folk tale; director S. Efremov
• - “Mytsik the Mouse” by E. Chepovetsky; director N. Buchma
• 1988, May 30 - “Brave Lamb” by Nelly Osipova based on Georgian folk tales; director S. Efremov. The performance was restored on June 30, 2012
• - “Mother Deer” by L. Ulitskaya based on Ch. Aitmatov; director B. Asakeeva
• - “Baby Elephant” by G. Vladicin based on R. Kipling; director N. Buchma
• - “The Three Little Pigs” by G. Usach and S. Efremov; director S. Efremov
• - “Everything will be fine” by S. Efremov and I. Uvarova based on the diaries of Janusz Korczak; director S. Efremov
• - “Knapsack with Songs” by V. Danilevich; director N. Buchma
• - “Mother for a baby mammoth” by Dina Nepomnyashchaya; director S. Efremov
• - “Cat and Cockerel” by G. Usach and S. Efremov; director S. Efremov
• - “The Adventures of Kashtanchik” by V. Orlov; director S. Efremov
• 1998 - “Little Muk” M. Chesal; director S. Efremov
• 1998 - “The Raven” by C. Gozzi; director S. Efremov
• - “Aibolit against Barmaley” by V. Korostylev based on the fairy tale by K. Chukovsky; director S. Efremov
• - “The Town Musicians of Bremen” by the Brothers Grimm; director E. Gimelfarb
• 2000 - “Sister Fox and Brother Wolf” by V. Nestaiko based on Ukrainian fairy tales; director S. Efremov
• 2000 - “Christmas Lullaby” by B. Boyko; director S. Efremov
• 2000 - “Winnie the Pooh” by A. Milne; director S. Efremov
• - “Wild Swans” by I. Zagraevskaya based on the fairy tale by H. Andersen; director S. Efremov
• - “Cat House” by S. Marshak; director S. Efremov
• - “Kid and Carlson” by G. Usach based on the fairy tale by A. Lindgren; director S. Efremov
• , April 10 - “Puss in Boots” by M. Shuvalov based on the fairy tale by C. Perrault; director S. Efremov
• 2004, September 4 - “The Princess and the Pea” by Natalia Bura and Eleonora Smirnova based on the fairy tale by H. Andersen; director S. Efremov
• , September 4 - “Cinderella” by Svetlana Kurolekh based on the fairy tale by C. Perrault and the film script by E. Schwartz; director S. Efremov
• , September 9 - “Pinocchio” by A. Borisov based on the fairy tale by A. Tolstoy; director S. Efremov
• 2006, November 11 - “The Little Humpbacked Horse” by P. Ershov; director M. Uritsky
• , May 3 - “Natalka-Poltavka” by I. Kotlyarevsky; director S. Efremov
• , April 6 - “Sister Alyonushka and brother Ivanushka” by G. Usach and S. Efremov; director S. Efremov
• 2008, September 28 - “The Steadfast Tin Soldier” by Vsevolod Danilevich based on the fairy tale by H. Andersen; director M. Uritsky
• , October 24 - “Funny Little Bears” by Maria Polivanova; director S. Efremov
• 2009, December 26 - “The Magic Violin” by Sergei Kovalev based on Belarusian fairy tales; director M. Uritsky
• , October 2 - “The Adventures of the Tiger Cub” by Sofia Prokofieva; director S. Efremov
• , January 5 - “Love for Three Oranges” by Victoria Serdyuchenko based on Carlo Gozzi’s fiaba; director M. Uritsky
• , March 10 - “Thumbelina” based on the fairy tale by H. Andersen; director M. Uritsky
• 2012, December 8 - “Snow White” by G. Usach based on the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm; director S. Efremov
• , June 1 - “A Ray of Sunshine” by Atanas Popescu; director M. Uritsky
• , September 7 - “Beauty and the Brave” based on M. Bartenev’s play “Counting to Five”; director M. Uritsky

Awards and nominations

Data

Theater director Vyacheslav Borisovich Starshinov was hacked to death with an ax on April 10, 2015 in the Dnieper district of Kyiv

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Literature

1. Efremov S. I. Lyalki bring out the light: about Lyalok theaters in foreign countries, Lyalka festivals and more. - K.: Veselka, 2010. - 166 p.
2. Sergiy Efremov, Bogdana Boyko. Our Lyalok Theater (Kyiv Municipal Academic Lyalok Theater is 30 years old). - K.: Veselka, 2013. - 159 p. - ISBN 978-966-01-0580-5.

Notes

Links

An excerpt characterizing the Kiev Municipal Academic Puppet Theater

Prince Vasily fulfilled the promise made at the evening at Anna Pavlovna's to Princess Drubetskaya, who asked him about her only son Boris. He was reported to the sovereign, and, unlike others, he was transferred to the Semenovsky Guard Regiment as an ensign. But Boris was never appointed as an adjutant or under Kutuzov, despite all the efforts and machinations of Anna Mikhailovna. Soon after Anna Pavlovna's evening, Anna Mikhailovna returned to Moscow, straight to her rich relatives Rostov, with whom she stayed in Moscow and with whom her beloved Borenka, who had just been promoted to the army and was immediately transferred to guards ensigns, had been raised and lived for years since childhood. The Guard had already left St. Petersburg on August 10, and the son, who remained in Moscow for uniforms, was supposed to catch up with her on the road to Radzivilov.
The Rostovs had a birthday girl, Natalya, a mother and a younger daughter. In the morning, without ceasing, trains drove up and drove off, bringing congratulators to the large, well-known house of Countess Rostova on Povarskaya throughout Moscow. The countess with her beautiful eldest daughter and guests, who never ceased replacing one another, were sitting in the living room.
The Countess was a woman with an oriental type of thin face, about forty-five years old, apparently exhausted by children, of whom she had twelve. The slowness of her movements and speech, resulting from weakness of strength, gave her a significant appearance that inspired respect. Princess Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya, like a domestic person, sat right there, helping in the matter of receiving and engaging in conversation with the guests. The youth were in the back rooms, not finding it necessary to participate in receiving visits. The Count met and saw off the guests, inviting everyone to dinner.
“I am very, very grateful to you, ma chere or mon cher [my dear or my dear] (ma chere or mon cher he said to everyone without exception, without the slightest shade, both above and below him) for himself and for the dear birthday girls . Look, come and have lunch. You will offend me, mon cher. I sincerely ask you on behalf of the whole family, ma chere.” He spoke these words with the same expression on his full, cheerful, clean-shaven face and with an equally strong handshake and repeated short bows to everyone, without exception or change. Having seen off one guest, the count returned to whoever was still in the living room; having pulled up his chairs and with the air of a man who loves and knows how to live, with his legs gallantly spread and his hands on his knees, he swayed significantly, offered guesses about the weather, consulted about health, sometimes in Russian, sometimes in very bad but self-confident French, and again with the air of a tired but firm man in the performance of his duties, he went to see him off, straightening the sparse gray hair on his bald head, and again called for dinner. Sometimes, returning from the hallway, he walked through the flower and waiter's room into a large marble hall, where a table for eighty couverts was being set, and, looking at the waiters wearing silver and porcelain, arranging tables and unrolling damask tablecloths, he called Dmitry Vasilyevich, a nobleman, to him. who was taking care of all his affairs, and said: “Well, well, Mitenka, make sure everything is fine. “Well, well,” he said, looking around with pleasure at the huge spread-out table. – The main thing is serving. This and that...” And he left, sighing complacently, back into the living room.
- Marya Lvovna Karagina with her daughter! - the huge countess's footman reported in a bass voice as he entered the living room door.
The Countess thought and sniffed from a golden snuffbox with a portrait of her husband.
“These visits tormented me,” she said. - Well, I’ll take her last one. Very prim. “Beg,” she said to the footman in a sad voice, as if she was saying: “Well, finish it off!”
A tall, plump, proudly looking lady with a round-faced, smiling daughter, rustling with their dresses, entered the living room.
“Chere comtesse, il y a si longtemps... elle a ete alitee la pauvre enfant... au bal des Razoumowsky... et la comtesse Apraksine... j"ai ete si heureuse..." [Dear Countess, how long ago... she should have been in bed, poor child... at the Razumovskys' ball... and Countess Apraksina... was so happy...] animated women's voices were heard, interrupting one another and merging with the rustle of dresses and the moving of chairs. That conversation began, which is started just enough so that at the first pause you get up and rustle with dresses , say: "Je suis bien charmee; la sante de maman... et la comtesse Apraksine" [I am in admiration; mother's health... and Countess Apraksina] and, again rustling with dresses, go into the hallway, put on a fur coat or cloak and leave. about the main city news of that time - about the illness of the famous rich and handsome man of Catherine's time, old Count Bezukhy, and about his illegitimate son Pierre, who behaved so indecently at an evening with Anna Pavlovna Scherer.
“I really feel sorry for the poor count,” said the guest, “his health is already bad, and now this grief from his son will kill him!”
- What's happened? - asked the countess, as if not knowing what the guest was talking about, although she had already heard the reason for Count Bezukhy’s grief fifteen times.
- This is the current upbringing! “Even abroad,” said the guest, “this young man was left to his own devices, and now in St. Petersburg, they say, he did such horrors that he was expelled from there with the police.
- Tell! - said the countess.
“He chose his acquaintances poorly,” Princess Anna Mikhailovna intervened. - The son of Prince Vasily, he and Dolokhov alone, they say, God knows what they were doing. And both were hurt. Dolokhov was demoted to the ranks of soldiers, and Bezukhy’s son was exiled to Moscow. Anatoly Kuragin - his father somehow hushed him up. But they did deport me from St. Petersburg.
- What the hell did they do? – asked the Countess.
“These are perfect robbers, especially Dolokhov,” said the guest. - He is the son of Marya Ivanovna Dolokhova, such a respectable lady, so what? You can imagine: the three of them found a bear somewhere, put it in a carriage and took it to the actresses. The police came running to calm them down. They caught the policeman and tied him back to back to the bear and let the bear into the Moika; the bear is swimming, and the policeman is on him.
“The policeman’s figure is good, ma chere,” shouted the count, dying of laughter.
- Oh, what a horror! What's there to laugh about, Count?
But the ladies couldn’t help but laugh themselves.
“They saved this unfortunate man by force,” the guest continued. “And it’s the son of Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhov who is playing so cleverly!” – she added. “They said he was so well-mannered and smart.” This is where all my upbringing abroad has led me. I hope that no one will accept him here, despite his wealth. They wanted to introduce him to me. I resolutely refused: I have daughters.
- Why do you say that this young man is so rich? - asked the countess, bending down from the girls, who immediately pretended not to listen. - After all, he only has illegitimate children. It seems... Pierre is also illegal.
The guest waved her hand.
“He has twenty illegal ones, I think.”
Princess Anna Mikhailovna intervened in the conversation, apparently wanting to show off her connections and her knowledge of all social circumstances.
“That’s the thing,” she said significantly and also in a half-whisper. – The reputation of Count Kirill Vladimirovich is known... He lost count of his children, but this Pierre was beloved.
“How good the old man was,” said the countess, “even last year!” I have never seen a more beautiful man.
“Now he’s changed a lot,” said Anna Mikhailovna. “So I wanted to say,” she continued, “through his wife, Prince Vasily is the direct heir to the entire estate, but his father loved Pierre very much, was involved in his upbringing and wrote to the sovereign... so no one knows if he dies (he is so bad that they are waiting for it) every minute, and Lorrain came from St. Petersburg), who will get this huge fortune, Pierre or Prince Vasily. Forty thousand souls and millions. I know this very well, because Prince Vasily himself told me this. And Kirill Vladimirovich is my second cousin on my mother’s side. “He baptized Borya,” she added, as if not attributing any significance to this circumstance.
– Prince Vasily arrived in Moscow yesterday. He’s going for an inspection, they told me,” the guest said.
“Yes, but, entre nous, [between us],” said the princess, “this is an excuse, he actually came to Count Kirill Vladimirovich, having learned that he was so bad.”
“However, ma chere, this is a nice thing,” said the count and, noticing that the eldest guest was not listening to him, he turned to the young ladies. – The policeman had a good figure, I imagine.
And he, imagining how the policeman waved his arms, laughed again with a sonorous and bassy laugh that shook his entire plump body, as people laugh who have always eaten well and especially drunk. “So, please, come and have dinner with us,” he said.

There was silence. The Countess looked at the guest, smiling pleasantly, however, without hiding the fact that she would not be at all upset now if the guest got up and left. The guest’s daughter was already straightening her dress, looking questioningly at her mother, when suddenly from the next room several men’s and women’s feet were heard running towards the door, the crash of a chair being snagged and knocked over, and a thirteen-year-old girl ran into the room, wrapping her short muslin skirt around something, and stopped in the middle rooms. It was obvious that she accidentally, with an uncalculated run, ran so far. At the same moment a student with a crimson collar, a guards officer, a fifteen-year-old girl and a fat, ruddy boy in a children's jacket appeared at the door.
The count jumped up and, swaying, spread his arms wide around the running girl.
- Oh, here she is! – he shouted laughing. - Birthday girl! Ma chere, birthday girl!
“Ma chere, il y a un temps pour tout, [Darling, there is time for everything,” said the countess, pretending to be stern. “You keep spoiling her, Elie,” she added to her husband.
“Bonjour, ma chere, je vous felicite, [Hello, my dear, I congratulate you,” said the guest. – Quelle delicuse enfant! “What a lovely child!” she added, turning to her mother.
A dark-eyed, big-mouthed, ugly, but lively girl, with her childish open shoulders, which, shrinking, moved in her bodice from fast running, with her black curls bunched back, thin bare arms and small legs in lace pantaloons and open shoes, I was at that sweet age when a girl is no longer a child, and a child is not yet a girl. Turning away from her father, she ran up to her mother and, not paying any attention to her stern remark, hid her flushed face in the lace of her mother’s mantilla and laughed. She was laughing at something, talking abruptly about a doll that she had taken out from under her skirt.
– See?... Doll... Mimi... See.
And Natasha could no longer speak (everything seemed funny to her). She fell on top of her mother and laughed so loudly and loudly that everyone, even the prim guest, laughed against their will.
- Well, go, go with your freak! - said the mother, feigning angrily pushing her daughter away. “This is my youngest,” she turned to the guest.
Natasha, taking her face away from her mother’s lace scarf for a minute, looked at her from below through tears of laughter and hid her face again.
The guest, forced to admire the family scene, considered it necessary to take some part in it.
“Tell me, my dear,” she said, turning to Natasha, “how do you feel about this Mimi?” Daughter, right?
Natasha did not like the tone of condescension to childish conversation with which the guest addressed her. She did not answer and looked at her guest seriously.
Meanwhile, all this young generation: Boris - an officer, the son of Princess Anna Mikhailovna, Nikolai - a student, the eldest son of the count, Sonya - the count's fifteen-year-old niece, and little Petrusha - the youngest son, all settled in the living room and, apparently, tried to keep within the boundaries of decency the animation and gaiety that still breathed from every feature of them. It was clear that there, in the back rooms, from where they all ran so quickly, they were having more fun conversations than here about city gossip, the weather and Comtesse Apraksine. [about Countess Apraksina.] Occasionally they glanced at each other and could hardly restrain themselves from laughing.

Address: st. Grushevskogo, 1a (European Square)
Telephone: +38044 278-58-08
Websitehttp://www.akadempuppet.kiev.ua/

The oldest puppet theater in Ukraine. Founded in 1927 as a branch of the Theater for Young Spectators. The initiators of the creation of the theater were People's Artist Alexander Solomarsky and actress Irina Deeva. But only two years after the opening, the puppet theater was separated from the Youth Theater.

Initially, the new theater operated in the premises of the former Rote Fahne cinema (36 Khreshchatyk St.). From 1936 until the start of the war, it occupied the current Actor's House (7 Yaroslavov Val St.), and in 1955 it was transferred to the building of the former Choral Synagogue, where it remained until 1997, when the premises were returned to the Jewish community. Eight years after this, the theater did not have its own premises, wandering around rented stage venues, until the current building was built in 2005 - a real fairy-tale palace, one of certainly the best structures of modern architecture in Kyiv. The acoustics and equipment of the new theater are among the best in Europe.

The project of the Kyiv Academic Puppet Theater was developed by architect Vitaly Yudin. The three-story building in the shape of a fairy-tale castle with spiers accommodates two halls - for 300 and 110 people. On the ground floor there is a children's cafe and... a museum of antique dolls, where you can even touch puppets of all times and peoples. Outlandish butterflies, tigers and dragons “settled” on the second floor of the doll castle. And the third floor is a real happiness for children: magical characters from fairy tales and cartoons peek out from around every corner.

The area around the theater is also decorated in a fairy-tale style - funny flower beds, stairs, fountains, sculptures of fairy-tale characters. The effect is enhanced by the tower building of the nearby café and the former water tower where the Water Museum is located.

All “actors” of the puppet theater are literally “veterans” of the stage. The main dolls have remained unchanged for more than 80 years (!). They are periodically restored, the “team” is replenished with new figures, but such a venerable age of “heroes” makes the performance even more interesting.

The artistic director of the theater is Nikolai Ivanovich Petrenko.

Artistic director - theater director
Nikolay PETRENKO:

« A DOLL IN THE THEATER IS LIKE AN ICON PRAYED IN A TEMPLE»

The Kiev Academic Puppet Theater began its creative journey back in 1927. It is the oldest professional theater among its stage relatives in our country and the CIS and one of the oldest professional puppet theaters in Europe. Many generations raised him with Cinderella and Pinocchio, Pif and the little pig Chok, Puss in Boots and Kolobok, Kotigoroshko... And also the awareness that children need theater, that they love it, that they feel comfortable in it.

It is clear that the rich and generous biography of the theater has also given rise to its extraordinary creative traditions. One of them: for more than eight decades it has invariably remained a theater of classical fairy tales. "Why?" — The correspondent of the First Excursion Bureau media center asked this question to the artistic director - director of the Kyiv Academic Puppet Theater, Honored Worker of Culture of Ukraine Nikolay Petrenko.

Because to this day, and now, and, I think, in the future, we have always adhered and will zealously adhere to the classics, and not the avant-garde, - says Nikolai Ivanovich. - Classics both in dramaturgy and in artistic expression - that is, in scenography. The music should also be classical.

Why do we focus on this? But because some kind of horror is happening in artistic genres for children now. Especially if you look at those cartoons that are broadcast on television - about some kind of Shrek, Pokemon... It seems to me that a strange invasion is happening on the child’s psyche, on the little Ukrainian. There is no benefit from this. That is why 90% of our repertoire consists of purely classical performances. These are Ukrainian fairy tales - “Kolobok”, “The Ryaba Hen”, “Turnip”. Many performances are also from Western classics, for example, based on the works of Andersen: “The Ugly Duckling”, “The Steadfast Tin Soldier”, “The Little Mermaid”.

In my opinion, if the play is about a bunny, then the corresponding doll should look like a bunny; if it is a fox, then it should be red. For when the curtain opens on the stage, the child should not be frightened by anything, looking at some unknown monster. On the contrary: the first performances for little ones are designed to resemble something real from home life and the world around them. After all, puppet theater is the first time in the life of a small viewer. Crossing the threshold of such a luxurious children's palace as ours, he hopes to meet something beautiful. And the interior designers and artists did their job perfectly here. It is no coincidence that for two works in decorating the interiors of the Kyiv Academic Puppet Theater, artist Kostya Lavro received the State Prize named after T.G. Shevchenko is behind the panels of Pan Kotsky and Mitten, which decorate the lobbies of our theater.

- Nikolai Ivanovich, why and how interested are children in puppet theater?

Because at home the child has a bear and a doll. But they don’t move or walk, they don’t say anything and don’t ask anything. But here the dolls can do everything and have an interesting conversation with the baby. Therefore, actors, directors, composers must have extraordinary abilities and talent in order to stage a realistic performance for children that they will believe in. Because the children's audience is the most sincere audience in the world, it is very difficult to deceive them. You and I can go to an “adult” drama theater. And when we don’t like something there, at best, we will wait politely until intermission, clap our hands and quietly leave the hall. A child, if she is not captivated by the stage action, no matter how much they order him: “Sit quietly, it’s so interesting here,” he will still lose attention and interest. And this, one might say, will be a complete failure of the theater. Therefore, it was not me who said a long time ago that it is a hundred times harder to work for children than for an adult audience. And thank God that our creative team, which consists of 26 actors, is of very high professional qualifications. These are experienced craftsmen who have already reached or are about to reach their retirement age, and, of course, creative youth - graduates of the Kharkov Higher School and the Karpenko-Kary National University.

- How, in your opinion, is the difference between puppet theater and drama?

We don't have "prime". All actors play the main roles. Today you can play the role of Cinderella and the Prince, and tomorrow - the Butterfly, while having the status of an honored artist. This, if you like, shows the clan solidarity of the actors. Actually, over the 25 years that I have been heading the puppet theater, I have come to a firm conviction: the only two artistic environments that are most democratic in our country are the puppet theater and the circus. If, say, acrobats or circus athletes reach their retirement age, they do not leave the circus, but continue to work in it as uniform workers, animal caretakers, just to remain in their native team. That smell and spirit of the circus - it has already stayed with them for the rest of their lives. It’s the same in our genre: at one time we all “fell into childhood,” and God grant us strength and health not to return from this childhood.

- And yet from time to time you have to return from childhood...

Your truth: once a year the theater produces a new puppet show for adults. This is our ancient tradition - from the time when we were in a room on Shota Rustaveli Street. And, I must say, such a “return” to the adult genre is quite difficult; it is intense work, which is very different from children's performances. For adults, the dolls play either comedy or serious melodrama. The latest of these works in the theater’s repertoire is “Chasing Two Hares” by Staritsky. Enjoys great success. One of the most favorite performances of adult audiences is “The Forest Song” based on the work of Lesya Ukrainka...

It is known that, having left the old address on Shota Rustaveli Street, the puppet theater remained “homeless” for a long time. Have you lost your viewer?

Yes, since 1997 the theater was deprived of its permanent premises, well known to the people of Kiev since 1954 - this was the premises of the church on Shota Rustaveli Street. But historical justice triumphed: the religious building, which had been used for other purposes for a long time, was returned to the believers. I'm not saying that we suffered from this. That's not the point. After all, if it is a church, it should remain just that.

Therefore, until 2005, without having a new premises of its own, the theater was indeed traveling. We went to schools and kindergartens. But they didn’t lose touch with the audience. We worked actively on weekends, giving two performances: in the small hall of the National Philharmonic and on the stage of the Center for Culture and Arts of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Together with the audience, we counted the days when the first brick would be laid in the construction of this wonderful palace where we are now. Finally, it happened on December 19, 2004 - the first drilled pile was driven into the foundation of the future palace for children. The then head of Kiev, Alexander Omelchenko, laid his 100 hryvnia into the foundation so that the construction would be successful. And so it happened: in exactly one year, namely December 19, 2005, this seven-story miracle palace was put into operation. Since then, we have been giving our little viewers magical fairy-tale art here.

- Did the dolls move here along with the actors?

Of course, we have about two thousand of them. They planned to make a large doll museum in this palace. But the construction site still had space restrictions. Therefore, we have only three large stands in one of the lobbies, where we constantly change the exhibition. Children look at it with great pleasure and interest.

- Do old dolls play in new theater performances?

The play “The Adventures of Pif” and its hero-puppet, the pig Choka, can be included, if not in the Guinness Book of Records, then certainly in the Ukrainian Book of Records: the play is over 40 years old... I gave only one example.

- Are young spectators interested in where and how the creation of a performance begins?

We, of course, often tell them about this during various meetings. As an artist, director, composer, they gradually embody their creative ideas in sketches and drawings of dolls. How a scenery model is made. How the workshop begins to create a doll...

Actually, this is a rather complicated process - it takes a month or a month and a half to make just one doll. And sometimes there are 30 dolls in a performance. For each one, a mold is made, first from plasticine, then from plaster... The workshop that makes the “mechanics” puts in all sorts of springs for the mouth and eyes... Girls-craftswomen sew and dress the dolls... This is all scrupulous manual work. And when the actors pick up the doll, they also put their soul into it... And finally, the little spectator charges the doll with his positive energy.

A doll in a theater is like an icon prayed for in a temple. There we pray to the icon spiritually, asking the Lord God for welfare or help to our neighbors. And here the child gives positive spectator emotions to the doll. Gives off its positive energy. Why do adult actors, who once “fell into childhood,” do not want to return from it? Because they give their soul to the audience in the hall, and in return they receive this very positive energy from it. It is a great pleasure to work in such a creative atmosphere.

Nikolai Ivanovich, you mentioned that 90% of the theater’s performances are from the classical repertoire. Do audiences perceive your attraction to the classics? Do Cinderellas continue to amaze them?

They continue. And such fairy-tale heroes will continue to amaze children forever. You know, sometimes I hear children talking to each other: Let’s go, one says to the other, hurry home, “Yeralash” will be on TV soon... They still want positive emotions. Like in the funny “Jumble” or in old fairy tales. Or even in old cartoons - from the 30s or 40s of the last century. Children watch them with pleasure. There are pleasant voices, nice drawings. Not like now: a certain triangle is running across the TV screen, eyes are bulging, face is green - who knows what...

If I were a television producer, I would pay very close attention to this. Finally, television programs are watched not only by children who are strangers to them, but also by their own children. So what are you instilling in them? We say: children are our future. Indeed, children are the future, but those children who have not yet been born. But those children who already surround us, who already live with us, are our present. They look at us, at our actions and behavior. Therefore, we are obliged to instill in them a sense of beauty. Using classical music, classical poetry, classical painting and classical sculpture. Since ancient times, elementary schools, teaching children language and writing, start small, apply the same principle: first, children write sticks and zeros in notebooks with oblique rulers, and only then... This is how they should instill a love of beauty in theater - through the classical “toes” and “sticks” in music, in actions...

- Are modern computer games replacing what you are talking about now?

Thank God, I haven’t seen this yet. But I notice a tragedy elsewhere. Society is dispersed among the poor and the very poor, as well as the rich and the very rich. So, the “very rich” category, alas, does not even know about the existence of a puppet theater for their little ones. There is a governess, a nanny, a computer, electronic games... Such children lose a lot, they are already spiritually impoverished. This is a social problem. Just like the fact that poor families, having a great desire to bring their children to our theater, do not always have the opportunity to do so. In this regard, maybe one day my old dream that children’s entry to the theater will be free will come true. Like, say, secondary education is free.

I have raised this issue more than once at all levels. Officials repeat with one voice: they say, if the state is strong, then we will make entry to the theater free for children. And when will this happen? When will our economy become strong? Let's think, I say. The state rests on “three pillars”: healthcare – this is when the nation, when our children are healthy, they will grow up and build the economy. The second pillar is education, because when healthy children have access to education, they will begin to build the economy competently. And the third is culture and spirituality: only with this will our descendants build the economy. But if our children are sick, ignorant and capable of writing a three-letter word on a fence, then who will build the economy?

It means a good sign for the puppet theater when, despite the difficulties, the audience comes and goes. And not only the spectators: they say that on weekends there is a real wedding pilgrimage here...

Thank God that a temple of children's art has grown on these gray-haired Kyiv hills. Children really come and go here at any time and weather. It’s nice when, by chance, one of the adults says: I remember your theater from my own childhood, and now I’ve brought my grandson...

There is always positive energy above the theater. The souls of good and kind people unite here. We have wonderful bronze sculptures - the fairy-tale Malvina and Thumbelina, Papa Carlo and the Golden Key... They all greet theater guests. Wedding processions also come to them. Brides take pictures with their childhood heroes. There is deep symbolism in this: today the newlyweds came to us, and in four or five years they will bring their cubs here. It turns out that the place near our fairy-tale palace is prayed for year after year, saturated with a positive aura. I have never seen a more beautiful place anywhere in the world. Although the theater took part in many festivals and is itself the founder of international festivals on Kyiv soil, they have a high rating in the world of puppetry. True, there is an amazing theater for children in Japan. This is a very modern building, like a space station. Everything is spinning and spinning there, everything is in amazing structures made of glass, concrete and aluminum. But there is nothing fabulously romantic in that building, there is no that palace architecture. A child doesn’t just go to our theater to see a performance, but he goes to the palace for Cinderella’s ball, to visit Snow White... To that Slavic sincerity and openness that is not found anywhere else in the world. May God give us the spirit and mind so as not to lose this.

Interviewed by Vladimir Tarasyuk, journalist.

Media center of the First Excursion Bureau.

June 2010.

Kiev Academic Puppet Theater is the oldest and most magical puppet theater in Ukraine. It is located in a magnificent castle standing in the middle of a park with a peaked roof, a clock on the towers, and an outlandish fountain in front of the entrance. Along the facade are the heroes of fairy tales: Pinocchio with a golden key, dad Carlo playing the organ, the beautiful Malvina next to her devoted friend Artemon, Kotigoroshko. For every child, this theater is the door to a world of miracles and joy, inhabited by favorite children's heroes.

And the inside of the theater is decorated very colorfully and unusually. Scenes from various fairy tales are painted on the walls - the firebird is walking in the garden, the formidable Kotofey Kotofeevich is sitting among the animals, heroes are competing in strength and dexterity. The fairy-tale dungeon (the lower floor of the theater where the wardrobe is located) is ruled by gnomes, and in the Throne Room there are four luxurious thrones of different heights - both kids and schoolchildren will happily sit on them. For those who are not interested in the role of a royal person, all foyers have soft sofas on which you can sit while waiting for the start of the performance. In addition, the theater houses a small puppet museum, where various puppet characters used in performances are exhibited. Here you can learn about the different types of puppets and how puppeteers operate them.

The Kyiv Puppet Theater has two comfortable auditoriums. The large hall seats 300 spectators. Comfortable chairs, a large stage, good sound, lighting and, of course, interesting performances - everything here is created for every child to enjoy.

The repertoire of the Kyiv puppet theater includes many performances. There are those that are intended for children from 3 years old - “The Wolf and the Little Goats”, “Our Merry Bun” and other fairy-tale performances. In them, characters familiar to kids find themselves in new situations, make new friends, and even if troubles happen, together they find a way out of the situation, and everything ends well. There are also productions for older children - “Peter Pan”, “The Golden Key”, “The Secret of the Queen of the Roads”, etc. The Puppet Theater also staged several performances for adults.

For the New Year, the Kiev Academic Puppet Theater traditionally prepares a cheerful festive performance, in which Father Frost, Snow Maiden and many other children’s favorite characters take part. The performances are performed in Ukrainian, but what is happening on stage is so expressive that children understand the whole essence without words.

Please note that children under 2 years old are not allowed to attend the performances.

Kiev Academic Puppet Theater is the oldest puppet theater in Ukraine, founded in October 1927 at the Kiev Theater for Children. I. Frank (the current Theater for Young Spectators on Lipki) on the initiative of People's Artist of Ukraine A.I. Solomarsky and I.S. Deevoy. The theater troupe consists of 24 talented, highly professional actors and puppeteers, graduates of creative educational institutions of Ukraine. Among them are leading stage masters who pass on their unique creative experience to young people.

In the heart of our capital, on M. Grushevsky Street, there is a real fairy-tale castle, around which trees and flower beds are always green, fountains sparkle and the sounds of enchanting music are heard. It is home to real wizards - masters of their craft, in whose hands the most beloved characters from our childhood fairy tales come to life! Of course, we are talking about the Kiev Puppet Theater, which invariably attracts children and adults with its colorful posters. And it’s not only its unusual architecture and interior design that attracts people – it’s a full-fledged family leisure center. Buying tickets to the Puppet Theater means providing yourself and your kids with a wonderful weekend and a lot of good mood.

October 30, 2002 By the decision of the Board of the Ministry of Culture and Arts of Ukraine, for its significant contribution to the development of Ukrainian theatrical art, the Kiev State Puppet Theater was granted the status of an academic theater. The classic is so beloved by the audience and today it is replete with the following:

• "Puss in Boots" and "Our Merry Bun"
• "Thumbelina" and "Bambi"
• "Peter Pan" and "Little Red Riding Hood"
• "The Golden Chicken" and many other delightful performances.

Giving life to dolls for a couple of hours, the puppeteer is able to immerse every viewer in the world of fantasy and fairy tales. After all, regardless of status and age, we still want to believe in miracles. Tickets for the New Year and Christmas extravaganza from the puppet theater are already at the box office.

How to quickly buy a ticket to the puppet theater

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