Description of the attraction
There are few puppet theaters in St. Petersburg. One of the most beloved by the inhabitants of the northern capital is the puppet theater named after E. S. Demmeni. This cultural institution was the first in the northern capital to start showing puppet shows. The countdown of the creative path of a unique and talented team of actors began in 1918. Immediately after the October Revolution, Petrograd artists began to show puppet shows. It is noteworthy that such a theatrical genre as the puppet show had a great spiritual and moral influence on young people. It is noteworthy that according to the work of A. S. Pushkin in April 1919 the theater staged one of its first productions "The Tale of Tsar Saltan", as well as M. Kuzmin's "Vertep".
The name of Lyubov Vasilievna Shaporina-Yakovleva is inscribed in the creative chronicle of the theater. She kindled her colleagues with a creative spark, and thanks to her all-consuming love for the theatrical stage, the State Petrograd Puppet Theater won more and more fans.
Few people know that the first puppets were the image of the Most Holy Theotokos, but the puppets themselves appeared in antiquity. Since then, acting has become closely intertwined with people's lives. In Russia at the end of the 19th century, everyone's favorite Petrushka appears. It was his prototype that formed the basis for various plays of the theater. The puppet theater is like a steam locomotive that pulled and pulls along with it other creative teams of cultural institutions of St. Petersburg and attracted talented creative personalities. S. Marshak and E. Schwartz collaborated with the theater. The repertoire includes works by Anatole France, Swift, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Moliere, Gogol, Chekhov, Pushkin, Maeterlinck. The institution becomes a training center for actors, directors and artists. Many famous cultural figures began their creative activities here.
The era of cinema has affected the development of theater. The release in 1939 of the puppet film "Schoolboy in Paradise" became a swallow.
The Great Patriotic War made its own adjustments to the activities of the theater. In 1942, the artists stopped giving performances. Together with the inhabitants of besieged Leningrad, they survived both cold and hunger. Samuil Marshak writes a pamphlet, which became a rhetorical message from the creative intelligentsia to the soldiers who defended their native borders.
Today the theater is located in a historic building. A museum of dolls has been created here, which has become the hallmark of the institution. The entire evolutionary path of the theater can be traced through the exposition. The museum's collection contains about 1000 puppets. We are especially proud of the dolls made by Russian puppeteers and France.
At present, the theater's repertoire is expanding, it includes such productions as "Gulliver in the Land of Lilliputians", "Fly-Tsokotukha", "Magic Feather", "Thumbelina" and others. Almost every day there is an action on the stage. In total, 330 performances are performed in the theater in a year.
Theatrical activity of the theater is in demand abroad. Every year the acting troupe tours Spain, Canada, Switzerland, South Korea, etc., including taking part in international festivals.
His Majesty the Doll has been in demand by the young spectator of St. Petersburg for about a century. Love for the theater is passed from children to grandchildren. The aspiration of the acting troupe to give the audience a holiday, to make the journey in the land of magic amazing, remains unchanged. And let it be a puppet or parsley, a doll on canes - this is always a great desire of the collective to bring a spiritual component to the performance, to teach people wisdom, patience, and love. And whatever the scenario line, good always triumphs over evil, and the viewer, together with the characters, learns to believe in the best.
