The origin of theatrical art, its prerequisites and features. Ancient Greek theater. The emergence of theater in Russia Where did the first theater originate?

European theater arose in Russia at the end of the 17th century. Before his appearance in drama, there was only the art of buffoons. It is very much like a European square theater. They share many identical features and traditions. Buffoons were organized in markets, squares and streets with the goal of entertaining the crowd. This type of art was a set of simple scenes, the purpose of which was to ridicule the authorities and church orders. It is not surprising that such a theater enjoyed tremendous success and popularity among the common people. Such street performances were a real outlet for people who were constantly under pressure from lack of rights. And the upper strata of the public, for obvious reasons, treated the buffoons rather coldly.

Theatrical break

In the second half of the 17th century, a certain turning point occurred in the development of Russian drama. In 1672, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich opened the first court theater. He specialized in staging plays with historical and religious content, and the actors were mainly of foreign origin. But it is worth noting that such stage performances were organized only for noble persons, the king and his retinue. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that after the death of Alexei Mikhailovich, the theater also died. Based on the above, it can be argued that the professionalization of Russian theater dates back to the 18th century.

The 18th century in Russia is characterized by the transformation of medieval Muscovy into a real European country. These transformations are directly related to the era of the reign of Peter the Great, the main Russian innovator. During this period, many industries developed, including theatrical art. Under Peter the Great, regular stage performances began to be organized. With the help of the emperor, the theater becomes an instrument for expressing the ideas of state policy. It is worth emphasizing that such a close connection between theater and power was visible in all subsequent centuries and in modern drama as well. The main purpose of the theater under Peter was to promote his policies. That is why all performances were exclusively Russian-language.

After the death of Peter the Great, the development of drama in Russia slowed down significantly. The theater's next breakthrough came during the reign of Tsarina Anna Ioannovna. During this era, theatrical art simply flourished. Anna's theater was designed to entertain society, therefore, it was mainly dominated by comedies, which did not have a deep meaning. Very often Anna herself made adjustments to the productions, for example, she wanted the heroes to beat each other with sticks. But during the reign of Queen Elizabeth there was a real flourishing of the classic theater.

The first actor is considered to be the Greek Thesipus, who won a poetry competition in honor of Dionysus.

In the 3rd century BC. The Romans, inspired by Greek theater, created their own versions of ancient Greek plays and began performing them on improvised stages. The actors in these performances were slaves. Women were only allowed to play minor roles. As Roman theaters had to compete for the attention of audiences accustomed to gladiatorial combat, public executions and chariot races, plays increasingly contained scenes of violence and crude humor. With the spread of Christianity, such ideas came to an end.

The emergence of theater in the Middle Ages

Later, mysteries began to be played during other religious holidays, presenting various biblical stories.

Renaissance Theater

In 1576, the first theater building was built in London; before that, all plays were performed in hotels, on fairgrounds, or in the middle of halls in castles and noble houses. The English Queen Elizabeth I patronized the theatrical arts; in the era bearing her name, the first professional playwrights appeared, the most famous of whom is the great Shakespeare, actors, the tradition of using props and changing costumes during performances. The classical theater was finally formed by the middle of the 18th century.

The word "theater" is translated from Greek as "spectacle" and as "place for spectacles."

“Spectacle”, “spectator”, “vision” are related words with the same root.

That is, theater is:

• what the viewer watches: performances, concerts, performances (necessarily on stage, so that you can see the performance from anywhere in the auditorium);
• where the viewer watches: a special place, a building in which the theatrical performance takes place.

Therefore, we can say: “We were in the theater.” Or you could say “We watched the theater.”

The emergence of theater

Theater originated in ancient times. In ancient Greece, it was customary to celebrate significant events: the onset of spring, the harvest. The Greeks especially loved the holiday of the god Dionysus, who personified the forces of nature that fall asleep in winter and are reborn again with the first rays of the sun.

(Commentary for adults: His second hypostasis, the god of grapes and winemaking, is also connected with this essence of Dionysus. The entire process of processing the grapes, fermenting them and turning them into a thrilling experiencewine can be considered a metaphor for the death and rebirth of DionIsa.)

This festival joy and freedom, when prisoners were released on bail, debtors were left alone and no one was arrested, so that everyone could take part in the fun,This is how it was called “Great Dionysia” and celebrated the complete victory of spring over winter.

People sang songs, changed clothes, put on masks, and made stuffed animals. At first, the holiday was held in city squares, and then special architectural structures began to be built to hold performances.

The theater building was built on a hillside. At the foot there was a round platform - an orchestra, on which singers, reciters, and actors performed. Behind the orchestra there was a skena - a tent for changing clothes for actors and props.

Some theaters were truly huge and quite comparable in capacity to modern stadiums.

Ancient Greek theater located in the city of Larisa on the south side of Mount Furourio

Only men could be actors in the ancient Greek theater: they played both male and female roles. It was a very respected profession. And very difficult. The actors had to perform in special masks (more details here), the audience could not see their facial expressions, so it was necessary to convey all the emotions with gestures and voice.

Also, tragedy actors went on stage wearing special sandals on a high platform - they were called buskins. These high sandals made the gait slower, more stately, and proud, as befits a character in a tragedy.

(It’s interesting that in Ancient Rome, buskin boots were worn onlyactors portraying gods and emperors to differentiate themselves from actors portraying ordinary people.

And at this link you can read a study that proves a different origin of buskins: “When the Greek tragedian received the role of god, he had to solve a dilemma:<...>how to move around the stage? To lower the gods from their pedestals to the earth of the orchestra, to put them on the ancient stage “on the same level” with man? Greek 6th-5th centuries BC e. I did not consider it possible to do this with images of gods. He was still too closely connected with them by the bonds of religion. The actor has only one way left: to move across the stage along with the pedestal, without leaving it. To do this, the pedestal was cut into two halves and each of them was tied to a leg. This is how buskins were invented.")

As we see, the theater has survived to this day, preserving the basic concepts. Visiting the theater is still holiday, A actor and now plays on a special site - stage- before spectators, trying to show the whole gamut emotions his character.

Odeon of Herodes Atticus and Acoustic Hall at the Mariinsky Theater (Mariinsky-2 )

Ancient Greek actors and actors of the play "Cipollino" ("Taganka Theater")

Theater is a great miracle.As one of Tove Jansson’s heroines said, “theater is the most important thing in the world, because it shows what everyone should be and what they dream of being - however, many do not have the courage to do this - and what they are like in life.”

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 on the walls of the Kiev-Sophia Cathedral of frescoes depicting buffoon performances. 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.