Theatre History Overview - Part 20 - Russian Theatre

The origin of Russian drama seems to be related to Pagan shows. There were recitations of fables and proverbs. They also had singing and dancing. These were performed by traveling minstrels known as skomorokhi. The Orthodox church persecuted the Pagans that put on these shows. This probably started in the 12th century when Poland introduced Religious Dramas or Histories. While he doesn't mention the Pagan parts of theatre, the religious theatre from Poland is mentioned by Tiechonravoff in Origin of the Russian Theatre.

These Histories were first performed exclusively in monasteries. In 1672, a theatre at the court of tsar Alexei Mikhailovich of Russia opened. This was the first theatre in Russia that would stage Biblical dramas. Theatre in St. Petersbug started in in 1752. Fyodor Volkov’s theatre troupe was invited from a Yaroslavl town. In the middle of the 18th century, plays by Griboyedov and Gogol were written and produced. These were considered the first masterpieces of Russisan theatre. Then by the end of the 18th century and the early 19th century, serf theatre started to show up in places across Russia.

In 1898, the Moscow Art Theatre of Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko was founded. This is considered the most important part of Russian theatre in this period. More theatres were founded in the 1900s. Most of these were drama theatres in St. Petersburg. Russian theatre had to fit into the ideals of Soviet theatre. This meant there was idiological dictatorships and rigid frames that the theatre had to match.

When ballet revival came to Russia, it renovated musical theatre in Russia. However, drama theatre made people think and want art creating social theatres and the transformation of theatres that were bound to the Soviet ideals. Today, Russian theatre enjoys complete freedom. Many of the plays and much of the acting styles are still based in Stanislavky's methods.

(Sorry for the late blog post, but for me, this still counts as the May 15, 2018 blog post. I was in a late night tutoring session that prevented me from writing this post earlier.)

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