DRAMATISATION AND THEATRICAL PERFORMANCE IN CHILDREN’S AMATEUR THEATRE IN THE 1920S

Abstract

This article aims at examining the phenomenon of children’s theatre in Soviet Russia during the 1920s, evidencing its importance both as a pedagogical and an ideological tool. The analysis is conducted taking into consideration two key factors that influenced the development of children’s theatre at that time, namely the creation of the Unified labour school and the general success of the so called samodeiatel’nyi teatr. It is noted that it was in the early twentieth century, due to the rapid development of paedology and pedagogy in Russia and abroad, that children’s theatre became an object of serious scientific study. According to pedagogical research of the time, the use of drama in school promoted children’s learning by satisfying their natural “dramatic instinct”. Furthermore, from a propaganda point of view, the non-professional stage was seen as an ideal form of proletarian art. In both spheres great importance was attached to the theatre as a means of developing pupils’ independence, activity and creativity — basic skills for shaping a child as a new Soviet man. Pedagogical and ideological principles of children’s theatre will be examined in detail through Aleksandr Bardovskij’s work, which is particularly representative of the theoretical and practical dynamism that characterized the field in that period. Bardovskij’s work bears witness to the creative rise of children’s theatre in that era.

Keywords: children’s theatre, children’s creativity, Soviet pedagogy, dramatic game, Unified labour school, samodeiatel’nyj teatr, mass games, Aleksandr Bardovskij