Description of the attraction
The State Academic Central Puppet Theater of S. V. Obraztsov was established on the initiative of the House of Artistic Education of Children in September 1931. The creator of the theater was Sergei Vladimirovich Obraztsov, an outstanding figure of Russian culture. The theater employed only 12 people. The theater was assigned specific tasks: educational, pedagogical and the task of developing the puppet genre. The theater has become a kind of laboratory for S. Obraztsov and his small team.
The theater did not have its own stage. A theater car with actors drove around the city and gave performances in courtyards, schools, palaces of culture and parks. The theater carried out two or three new productions a year. Spectators watched with pleasure the puppet performance "Circus on the Stage". In April 1932, the premiere of the propaganda performance "Jim and the Dollar" was successfully held. The theater was looking for its own repertoire. Experts worked on new designs of dolls and stage equipment, worked on the style of performances.
In 1936, the theater staged a fabulous carnival performance "At the Pike's Command." The theater quickly gained more and more popularity. In 1937, the theater was allocated a room on the square. Mayakovsky, in the very center of Moscow. In 1940, the theater staged the performance "Aladdin's Magic Lamp", which became one of the most beautiful performances of the theater.
During the war, the theater actors went to the active units of the army and showed the "Front Program" - a parody performance on political themes. In 1946, the famous satirical performance, entered in the Guinness Book of Records, was staged - "An Unusual Concert" with the brilliant Zinovy Gerdt.
The theater toured a lot. Under his influence, puppet theaters were created in Bulgaria, Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. In 1970 the theater moved to a new building on the Garden Ring.
Nowadays, the GAZTK is a world-famous puppet theater. He owns the architectural complex on the Garden Ring, which can be considered an example of a stationary puppet theater. The walls of the auditorium are easily transformed and allow you to surround the audience with puppets. "Running" sound, sophisticated sliding curtain allow you to embody the most unusual creative ideas.
The facade of the building is decorated with an intricate metal clock. They have become a kind of hallmark of the theater. The watch was made by two sculptors: Dmitry Shakhovskoy and Pavel Shimes. The mechanism was made by Benjamin Kalmanson.
In the theater, you can visit the largest specialized library and one of the largest in the world "Theatrical Puppet Museum".
