«Children Need the Best Theater ...» (Forgotten Episode of Theatrical Life of the Early Twentieth Century)

Abstract

The article considers the works of the popular actor, producer, playwright, critic Boris Glagolin (1879–1948) at the beginning of the XX century, in which the task of creating a theater for children is set in Russia and its tasks and specifics are substantiated: “Children’s Theater” (1901–1902), “Behind the Scenes of My Theater” (1911), “A Few Words About Children’s Theater” (1905, 1921). There are analyzed Glagolin’s plays-arrangements for children in the collection “Plays from children’s life” (1901–1902): “Tom Sawyer”, “Knight without fear and reproach. (An episode from the biography of Bertrand du Hecklin”, “In a dream and in reality. (From the Turkish campaign of 1877)”. Particular attention is paid to the participation of Glagolin in the debate about children’s theater in the early 1920s, his ideas of interactive theater, correlating the tasks of the atra for children with the creation of a new school and the education of creative activity of the child.

Keywords: Boris Glagolin, children’s theatre, drama for children, interactive performance