Theater of France, late 19th century. Lectures on the history of foreign theater on the topic "French romantic theater" educational and methodological material on the topic

French accent in the architectural text of St. Petersburg of the 20th century By the end of the reign of Alexander III, there were two permanent metal bridges on the Neva - Nikolaevsky and Liteiny. Next in line was the replacement of the floating Trinity Bridge, which was supposed to be completed at the level

N. I. Tregub Zinaida Serebryakova. French period: the search for one's own theme (1924-1939) The art of Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova (1884-1967) from the very beginning of her creative way captured the attention of audiences and critics. Currently, the artist's works are stored in many

French theater

In the performances of the late 18th - the first half of the 19th century, there was a tendency to expand the boundaries of real action, there was a rejection of the laws of the unity of time and place.

The changes that affected the dramatic art could not but affect the decoration of the stage: not only the stage equipment, but also the theater premises required a radical reorganization, but in the middle of the 19th century it was very difficult to make such changes.

These circumstances allowed representatives of amateur pantomime schools to take their rightful place among the actors of the New Age, they became the best performers of works of innovative dramaturgy.

Gradually, picturesque panoramas, dioramas and neoramas became widespread in the performing arts of the 19th century. L. Daguerre was one of the most famous master decorators in France during the period under review.

By the end of the 19th century, changes also affected the technical re-equipment of the theater stage: in the mid-1890s, the revolving stage, first used in 1896, during K. Lautenschläger's production of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni, was widely used.

One of the most famous French actresses of the 19th century was the Parisian-born Catherine Josephine Rafin Duchenois (1777-1835). Her debut on the stage took place in 1802. In those years, the 25-year-old actress first appeared on the stage of the Comedie Francaise theater, in 1804 she already entered the main part of the theater troupe as a societaire.

In the first years of work, Catherine Duchenois, who played tragic roles on stage, had to constantly fight for the palm with actress Georges. Unlike the game of the last performance, Duchenois attracted the attention of the audience with warmth and lyricism, her penetrating and sincere soft voice could not leave anyone indifferent.

In 1808, Georges left for Russia, and Catherine Duchenois became the leading tragic actress of the Comédie Française.

Among the most significant roles of the actress can be noted Phaedra in the play of the same name by Racine, Andromache in Hector by Luce de Lancival, Agrippina in Arnaud's Germanica, Valeria in Sulla by Jouy, Mary Stuart in the play of the same name by Lebrun, etc.

Particularly noteworthy is the play of the actress Marie Dorval (1798-1849), who with inspiration, with extraordinary skill, embodied on stage the images of women challenging society in the struggle for their love.

Marie Dorval was born into a family of actors, her childhood was spent on the stage. Even then, the girl discovered extraordinary acting abilities. In small roles entrusted to her by the director, she tried to embody the whole image.

In 1818, Marie entered the Paris Conservatory, but left after a few months. The reason for this act was the incompatibility of the system of training actors in this educational institution with the creative individuality of a young talent. Soon Marie Dorval became a member of the acting troupe of one of the best boulevard theaters Port-Saint-Martin. It was here that the role of Amalia was played in Ducange's melodrama "Thirty Years, or the Life of a Gambler", which made the actress incredibly popular. In this performance, Marie's enormous talent was revealed, she demonstrated her masterful play to the metropolitan audience: having managed to go beyond the melodramatic image and find real human feelings in it, the actress conveyed them to the audience with special expressiveness and emotionality.

In 1831, Dorval played the role of Ardel d'Hervey in the romantic drama Antony by A. Dumas, and a few months later she played the title role in V. Hugo's drama Marion.

Despite the fact that poetic plays were given to the actress with difficulty, since the verse was a kind of convention that contradicted her immediate emotionality, Marie successfully coped with the roles. Marion performed by Dorval caused a storm of delight not only among the audience, but also among the author of the work.

In 1835, the actress made her debut in Vigny's drama Chatterton written especially for her. Kitty Bell, performed by Dorval, appeared before the audience as a quiet, fragile woman who turned out to be capable of great love.

Marie Dorval - an actress with a hoarse voice and irregular features - became a symbol of femininity for 19th-century viewers. The play of this emotional actress, capable of expressing the great depth of human feelings, made an unforgettable impression on her contemporaries.

The famous French actor Pierre Bocage (1799-1862), who became famous as the performer of the main roles in the dramas of Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas-son, enjoyed special love of the public.

Pierre Bocage was born into a family of a simple worker, a weaving factory became a school of life for him, to which the boy entered in the hope of somehow helping his parents. Even in his childhood, Pierre became interested in the work of Shakespeare, which served as a catalyst for his passion for the stage.

Bocage, who lived with the dream of a theatre, went on foot to the capital to enter the conservatory. The examiners, amazed by the amazing appearance and unusual temperament of the young man, did not put up any obstacles.

However, his studies at the Paris Conservatory turned out to be short-lived: Pierre did not have enough money not only to pay for classes, but also to live. Soon he was forced to leave the educational institution and enter the acting troupe of one of the boulevard theaters. For a number of years he roamed the theaters, working first at the Odeon, then at the Porte Saint-Martin and many others.

The images created by Bocage on stage are nothing but an expression of the actor's attitude to the surrounding reality, his statement of disagreement with the desire of those in power to destroy human happiness.

Pierre Bocage entered the history of the French theater as the best performer of the roles of rebel heroes in social dramas of Victor Hugo (Didier in Marion Delorme), Alexandre Dumas son (Antoni in Antony), F. Pia (Ango in Ango) and etc.

It was Bocage who took the initiative to create on stage the image of a lonely, disappointed in life romantic hero, doomed to death in the fight against the ruling elite. The first role of such a plan was Anthony in the drama of the same name by A. Dumas the son; abrupt transitions from despair to joy, from laughter to bitter sobs were surprisingly effective. The audience for a long time remembered the image of Anthony performed by Pierre Bocage.

The actor became an active participant in the revolutionary events of 1848 in France. Believing in the victory of justice, he defended his democratic aspirations with arms in hand.

The collapse of hopes for the triumph of justice in the modern world did not force Bocage to change his worldview, he began to use the stage of the Odeon Theater as a means of combating the arbitrariness and despotism of state authorities.

Soon the actor was accused of anti-government activities and fired from his post as director of the theater. Nevertheless, until the end of his days, Pierre Bocage continued to firmly believe in the victory of justice and defend his ideals.

Along with such actresses of the first half of the 19th century as C. Duchenois and M. Dorval, is the famous Louise Rosalie Allan-Depreo (1810-1856). She was born in Mons, in the family of a theater director. This circumstance predetermined the entire future fate of Louise Rosalie.

The atmosphere of theatrical life was familiar to the famous actress from childhood. Already at the age of ten, a talented girl received recognition in the acting environment, the children's roles played by her in the Parisian Comedie Francaise theater left no one indifferent.

In 1827, after graduating from the drama class of the conservatory, Louise Allan-Depreo received a professional acting education. By that time, the young actress was already quite famous, and she was not surprised by the offer to join the acting troupe of the Comedie Francaise theater, where she worked until 1830. In the period from 1831 to 1836, Allan-Depreo shone on the stage of the Gimnaz Theater.

An important role in the acting life of Louise Rosalie was played by a trip to Russia: here, in the French troupe of the St. Petersburg Mikhailovsky Theater, she spent ten years (1837-1847), improving her acting skills.

Returning to her homeland, Allan-Depreo again joined the Comedie Francaise troupe, becoming one of the best actresses in the role of grand coquette. Her game attracted the attention of the aristocratic strata of French and Russian society: refined and elegant manners, the ability to wear a theatrical costume with special grace - all this contributed to the creation of images of frivolous secular coquettes.

Louise Rosalie Allan-Depreo became famous as a performer of roles in romantic plays by Alfred de Musset. Among the most famous roles of this actress are Madame de Lery in Caprice (1847), the Marquise in the play The Door Must Be Open or Closed (1848), the Countess Vernon in the tragedy You Can’t Foresee Everything (1849), the Duchess Bouillon in "Adrienne Lecouvreur" (1849), Jacqueline in "The Candlestick" (1850), the Countess d'Autret in "The Ladies' War" (1850) and others.

In the first half of the 19th century, pantomime theaters began to enjoy wide popularity. The best representative of this genre was Jean Baptiste Gaspard Debureau (1796-1846).

He was born in the family of the head of the theater troupe, and the joyful atmosphere of the theater from childhood filled his whole life. Until 1816, Jean Baptiste Gaspard worked in his father's team, and then moved to the Rope Dancers troupe, which worked at the Funambul Theater, one of the most democratic stage groups in the French capital.

As part of the Rope Dancers troupe, he played the role of Pierrot in the pantomime Harlequin Doctor, which brought the twenty-year-old actor his first success. The audience liked Debureau's hero so much that the actor had to embody this image in a number of other pantomimes: "The Raging Bull" (1827), "The Golden Dream, or Harlequin and the Miser" (1828), "The Whale" (1832) and "Pierrot in Africa" (1842).

At the beginning of the 19th century, the merry genre of folk buffoonery still dominated the farcical theater. Jean Baptiste Gaspard Debureau brought meaning to the farcical pantomime, bringing the wordless folk performance closer to the deeply meaningful productions of modern professional theater.

This explains the popularity of Deburov's Pierrot, who later became a folk comic hero. In this image, typical national traits of the French character were expressed - enterprise, ingenuity and caustic sarcasm.

Pierrot, who is subjected to countless beatings, persecution and humiliation, never loses his composure, maintains an unflappable carelessness, which allows him to emerge victorious from any, even the most intricate situations.

This character, performed by Debureau, indignantly rejected the existing order, he opposed the world of evil and violence with the common sense of a simple city dweller or peasant.

In the pantomimic performances of an earlier period, the performer of the role of Pierrot necessarily applied the so-called farcical makeup: he whitened his face, sprinkling it thickly with flour. Having preserved this tradition, Jean-Baptiste Gaspard used the world-famous Pierrot costume to create the image: long white harem pants, a wide collarless blouse and a symbolic black bandage on his head.

Later, in his best pantomimes, the actor tried to reflect the topic of the tragic fate of the poor in an unjust world, which was relevant in those years. Thanks to his virtuoso skill, which harmoniously combined brilliant eccentricity and a deep reflection of the inner essence of the character, he created wonderful images.

Debureau's game attracted the attention of the progressive artistic intelligentsia of the 19th century. Famous writers - C. Nodier, T. Gauthier, J. Janin, J. Sand and others spoke enthusiastically about this actor. Among the aristocratic strata of French society, there were no admirers of Debureau's talent, his sharply social images, denying the existing order, aroused the indignation of the authorities.

However, Jean-Baptiste Gaspard Debureau entered the history of world theatrical art not as a fighter for justice, but only as a performer of the role of a popular folklore character. The best traditions of Debureau's work as an actor were later reflected in the work of the talented French actor M. Mars.

A remarkable actress in the first half of the 19th century was Virginie Dejazet (1798-1875). She was born into a family of artists, the upbringing received on the stage contributed to the early development of her stage talent.

In 1807, a talented girl attracted the attention of an entrepreneur at the Vaudeville theater in Paris. Virginie accepted the proposal to join the acting troupe with enthusiasm, she had long wanted to work in the capital's theater.

Work in Vaudeville contributed to the development of the skills of the young actress, but gradually she ceased to satisfy her. Leaving this theater, Virginie began work at the Variety, followed by invitations to Gimnaz and Nuvota, where the actress performed until 1830.

The heyday of her creative activity came in 1831-1843, when Virginie Dejazet shone on the stage of the Palais Royal Theater. In subsequent years, the actress, interrupting her collaboration with Parisian theater groups, toured the country a lot, sometimes staying for a season or two in provincial theaters.

Being a master of acting, Dejaze successfully acted as a drag queen, playing the roles of rake boys, pampered marquises, young girls and old women. The most successful roles were played by her in vaudeville and farces by Scribe, Bayard, Dumanoir and Sardou.

Virginie Dejazet's contemporaries often pointed to the actress's extraordinary grace, her virtuosity in stage dialogue, and her ability for precise phrasing.

The cheerful and witty heroines of Dejaze, who easily performed verses in vaudeville, ensured the actress's success, for a long time made her the favorite of the demanding metropolitan public. And this despite the fact that Virginie's repertoire did not correspond to the traditional tastes of the mass audience.

The virtuosity of the actress and the deeply national character of her performance were most clearly manifested in the performance of Béranger's songs (in Beranger's monologue "Lisette Béranger", in the vaudeville "Béranger's Songs" by Clairville and Lambert-Tibout).

One of the most famous French actresses who worked in the era of romanticism in a tragic role was Eliza Rachel (1821-1858). She was born in Paris, in the family of a poor Jew who sold various small things on the city streets. Already in early childhood, the girl showed outstanding abilities: songs performed by her attracted numerous buyers to her father's tray.

Natural artistic talent allowed the seventeen-year-old Eliza to join the acting troupe of the famous French theater "Comedy Francaise". Her debut role on this stage was Camille in Corneille's play Horace.

It should be noted that in the 30s of the 19th century, the repertoire of most metropolitan theaters was based on the works of novelists (V. Hugo, A. Vigny, etc.). Only with the appearance in the theatrical world of such a bright star as Eliza Rachel, the productions of forgotten classics resumed.

At that time, the image of Phaedra in the play of the same name by Racine was considered the highest indicator of acting skills in the tragic genre. It was this role that brought the actress a resounding success and recognition of the audience. Phaedra, played by Eliza Rachel, was presented as a proud, rebellious personality, the embodiment of the best human qualities.

The middle of the 1840s was marked by the active touring activities of the talented actress: her trips around Europe glorified the French school of theatrical art. Once Rachel even visited Russia and North America, where her performance received high marks from theater critics.

In 1848, a performance based on the play by J. Racine "Gofalia" was staged on the stage of the Comedie Francaise, in which Eliza Rachel played the main role. The image she created, which became a symbol of evil, destructive forces, gradually burning the soul of the ruler, allowed the actress to once again demonstrate her outstanding talent.

In the same year, Eliza decided to publicly read the Marseillaise by Rouget de Lisle on the stage in the capital. The result of this performance was the delight of the gallery and the indignation of the audience sitting in the stalls.

After that, the talented actress was unemployed for some time, because Eliza considered the repertoire of most modern theaters unworthy of her high talent. However, the stage craft still attracted the actress, and soon she began rehearsals again.

Active theatrical activity undermined Rachel's poor health: the thirty-six-year-old actress fell ill with tuberculosis and died a few months later, leaving a rich legacy of her unsurpassed skill to grateful descendants.

One of the most popular actors of the second half of the 19th century can be called the talented actor Benoit Constant Coquelin (1841-1909). Interest in theatrical art, shown by him in his early youth, turned into a matter of life.

Studying at the Paris Conservatory with the famous actor Renier in those years allowed the talented young man to rise to the stage and fulfill his old dream.

In 1860, Coquelin made his debut on the stage of the Comedie Francaise theater. The role of Gros Rene in the play based on Molière's play Love Annoyance brought the actor fame. In 1862, he became famous as the performer of the role of Figaro in Beaumarchais's play The Marriage of Figaro.

However, Coquelin played his best roles (Sganarelle in The Unwilling Doctor, Jourdain in The Tradesman in the Nobility, Mascarille in The Funny Cossacks, Tartuffe in the Molière play of the same name) after leaving the Comédie Française in 1885.

Many critics recognized the most successful images created by a talented actor in productions of Molière's works. In the last period of creativity in the repertoire of Coquelin, roles in the plays of Rostand prevailed.

The talented actor also became famous as the author of a number of theoretical treatises and articles on the problem of acting. In 1880, his book "Art and Theater" was published, and in 1886 a manual on acting called "The Art of the Actor" was published.

For eleven years (from 1898 to 1909) Coquelin worked as director of the theater "Port-Saint-Martin". This man did a lot for the development of theatrical art in France.

The improvement of acting skills was accompanied by the development of dramaturgy. By this time, the emergence of such famous writers as O. de Balzac, E. Zola, A. Dumas-son, the Goncourt brothers and others, who made a significant contribution to the stage art of the era of romanticism and realism.

Famous French writer and playwright Honore de Balzac(1799-1850) was born in Paris, in the family of an official. Parents, caring about the future of their son, gave him a legal education; however, jurisprudence attracted the young man much less than literary activity. Soon the creations of Balzac gained wide popularity. Throughout his life, he wrote 97 novels, short stories and short stories.

Honore began to show interest in theatrical art in his childhood, but the first dramatic masterpieces were written by him only in the early 1820s. The most successful of these works were the tragedy Cromwell (1820) and the melodramas The Negro and The Corsican (1822). These far from perfect plays were very successfully staged on the stage of one of the Parisian theaters.

In the years of creative maturity, Balzac created a number of dramatic works that were included in the repertoires of many theaters of the world: The School of Marriage (1837), Vautrin (1840), Kinola's Hopes (1842), Pamela Giraud (1843), The Dealer "(1844) and" Stepmother "(1848). These plays were very popular.

The typical images created by the playwright of bankers, stockbrokers, manufacturers and politicians turned out to be surprisingly plausible; the works revealed the negative aspects of the bourgeois world, its predation, immorality and anti-humanism. In an effort to oppose social evil with the moral perfection of positive characters, Balzac introduced melodramatic features into his plays.

Most of Balzac's dramatic works are characterized by acute conflict, based on social contradictions, saturated with deep drama and historical concreteness.

Behind the fates of individual characters in the dramas of Honore de Balzac, there was always a wide life background; the heroes, who did not lose their individuality, appeared at the same time in the form of generalizing images.

The playwright sought to make his works life-like, to introduce into them the characteristic features of the life of a certain era, to give accurate speech characteristics of the characters.

Balzac dramas, which left a noticeable mark on the dramaturgy of the 19th century, had a significant impact on the development of world theatrical art.

Among the most famous plays by the talented French playwright, it is worth mentioning Stepmother, Kinola's Hopes, which were included in the repertoires of theaters under the name Storm Harbor, Kinola's Dreams; "Eugene Grande" and "Provincial History", written on the basis of the novel "Life of a Bachelor".

Honore de Balzac became famous not only as a playwright and writer, but also as an art theorist. Many of Balzac's articles expressed his ideas about the new theatre.

The playwright spoke indignantly about censorship, which had imposed a taboo on the critical reflection of contemporary reality on the stage. In addition, Balzac was alien to the commercial basis of the theater of the 19th century with its typical bourgeois ideology and remoteness from life's realities.

Benjamin Antier (1787-1870), a talented French playwright, author of numerous melodramas, comedies and vaudevilles, worked in a slightly different direction than Balzac.

The plays of this playwright were included in the repertoire of many metropolitan boulevard theaters. Being a supporter of democratic and republican ideas, Antje tried to convey them to the audience, therefore accusatory notes sound in his works, making them socially oriented.

In collaboration with the popular French actor Frederic Lemaitre, the playwright wrote one of the most famous plays - "Robert Maker", which was staged in 1834 on the stage of the Parisian theater "Foli Dramatic". To a large extent, the success of this play is due to the magnificent performance of the audience's favorite Frederic Lemaitre and the entire acting troupe.

Among other plays by Benjamin Anttier, which were successful among the metropolitan public, The Carrier (1825), The Masks of Resin (1825), The Rochester (1829) and The Firestarter (1830) deserve special attention. They also reflect the acute social problems of the modern world.

An innovator in French drama in the first half of the 19th century was the talented writer K. Asimir Jean Francois Delavigne(1793-1843). At the age of eighteen, he entered the literary circles of France, and eight years later he made his dramatic debut.

In 1819, Casimir Delavigne began working at the Odeon Theater, on the stage of which one of his first tragedies, Sicilian Vespers, was staged. In this, as in many other early works of the young playwright, one can trace the influence of the famous theatrical classics of the past, who did not allow the slightest deviation from the recognized canons of classicism in their creations.

In the same strict tradition, the tragedy "Marino Faglieri" was written, shown for the first time at the theater "Port-Saint-Martin". In the preface to this play, Delavigne tried to formulate the basic principles of his aesthetic views. He believed that in modern drama there was a need to combine the artistic techniques of classic art and romanticism.

It should be noted that at that time many literary figures adhered to a similar point of view, rightly believing that only a tolerant attitude towards various trends in dramaturgy would allow the world theatrical art to develop effectively in the future.

However, the complete denial of samples of classical art, especially in the field of literary poetic language, could cause the decline of theatrical literature as a whole.

The talented playwright embodied innovative tendencies in his later works, the most significant of which was the tragedy "Louis XI", written in 1832 and staged a few months later on the stage of the Comedie Francaise theater.

The tragedy of C. J. F. Delavigne, characterized by romantic poetics, vivid dynamism of images and subtle local color, was significantly different from traditional classical plays.

The image of King Louis XI, repeatedly embodied on stage by the best actors of France and other European countries, has become one of the most beloved in the acting environment. So, in Russia, the role of Ludovic was perfectly played by the talented actor V. Karatygin, in Italy - by E. Rossi.

Throughout his life, Casimir Jean-Francois Delavigne adhered to the anti-clerical views of the supporters of the national liberation movement, while not going beyond moderate liberalism. Apparently, it was precisely this circumstance that allowed the works of the talented playwright to gain wide popularity among the ruling elite of the Restoration period and not lose it even in the early years of the July Monarchy.

Among the most famous works of Delavigne, the tragedies "Pariah" (1821) and "Edward's Children" (1833) should be mentioned, the comedy works of the author ("School for the Old Men" (1823), "Don Juan of Austria" (1835) were no less popular in the 19th century. ) and etc.).

No less famous than the plays of O. de Balzac and other famous figures of theatrical art, in the 19th century, the dramatic works of the famous Alexandre Dumas son (1824—1895).

He was born in the family of the famous French writer Alexandre Dumas, author of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo. The father's profession predetermined the son's life path, however, unlike his illustrious parent, Alexander was more attracted to dramatic activities.

Real success came to Dumas the son only in 1852, when the play The Lady of the Camellias, remade by him from a previously written novel, was presented to the general public. The production of the play, imbued with humanity, warmth and deep sympathy for the courtesan rejected by society, took place on the stage of the Vaudeville Theater. The audience enthusiastically greeted The Lady of the Camellias.

This dramatic work of Dumas son, translated into many languages, entered the repertoire of the largest theaters in the world. At various times, S. Bernard, E. Duse and other famous actresses played the leading role in The Lady of the Camellias. Based on this play, in 1853 Giuseppe Verdi wrote the opera La traviata.

By the mid-1850s, family problems became the leading themes in the work of A. Dumas son. These are his plays "Diana de Lis" (1853) and "Half Light" (1855), "Money Question" (1857) and "Bad Son" (1858), staged on the stage of the theater "Gimnaz". The playwright turned to the theme of a strong family in his later works: “The Views of Madame Aubrey” (1867), “Princess Georges” (1871), etc.

Many theater critics of the 19th century called Alexandre Dumas son the founder of the problem play genre and the most prominent representative of French realistic dramaturgy. However, a deeper study of the creative heritage of this playwright makes it possible to make sure that the realism of his works was in most cases external, somewhat one-sided.

Condemning certain aspects of contemporary reality, Dumas son affirmed the spiritual purity and deep morality of the family structure, and the immorality and injustice existing in the world appeared in his works as the vices of individual individuals. Along with the best works of E. Ogier, V. Sardou and other playwrights, the plays of Alexandre Dumas son formed the basis of the repertoire of many European theaters in the second half of the 19th century.

Brothers were popular writers, playwrights and theorists of theatrical art. Edmond (1822-1896) and Jules (1830-1870) Goncourt. They entered the literary circles of France in 1851, when their first work was published.

It is worth noting that the Goncourt brothers created their literary and dramatic masterpieces only in co-authorship, rightly believing that their joint work would find ardent admirers.

For the first time, the work of the Goncourt brothers (the novel Henriette Marechal) was staged on the stage of the Comedie Francaise theater in 1865. Many years later, on the stage of the Free Theatre, Henri Antoine staged the drama Fatherland in Danger. He also staged Goncourt's novels Sister Philomena (1887) and The Maiden Eliza (1890).

In addition, the advanced French public did not ignore the staging of the novels Germinie Lacerte (1888) at the Odeon Theater, Charles Damailly (1892) at the Gymnase.

The emergence of a new genre is connected with the literary activity of the Goncourt brothers: under the influence of their fine artistic taste, such a phenomenon as naturalism became widespread in the European theater.

Famous writers strove for detailed accuracy in describing events, attached great importance to the laws of physiology and the influence of the social environment, while paying special attention to a deep psychological analysis of the characters.

Directors who undertook to stage Goncourt's plays usually used exquisite scenery, which was given at the same time strict expressiveness.

In 1870, Jules Goncourt died, the death of his brother made a great impression on Edmond, but did not force him to abandon his literary activities. In the 1870s - 1880s he wrote a number of novels: "The Zemganno Brothers" (1877), "Faustina" (1882) and others, dedicated to the life of actors of Parisian theaters and circus performers.

In addition, E. Goncourt turned to the genre of biographies: works about famous French actresses of the 18th century (Mademoiselle Clairon, 1890) were especially popular.

No less attractive to readers was the "Diary", begun during the life of Jules. In this voluminous work, the author tried to present a huge thematic material on the religious, historical and dramatic culture of France in the 19th century.

However, despite his special interest in theater issues, Edmond Goncourt considered it an endangered art form, unworthy of the attention of a true playwright.

In the later works of the writer, anti-democratic tendencies sounded, nevertheless, his novels were filled with subtle psychologism, characteristic of the new trends of modern French literature.

Following the Impressionist artists, Edmond Goncourt considered it necessary to reflect in the works of any genre the slightest shades of feelings and moods of the characters. Probably for this reason, E. Goncourt is considered the founder of impressionism in French literature.

The second half of the 19th century, marked by the development of a new cultural trend - critical realism, gave the world many talented playwrights, including the famous Émile Edouard Charles Antoine Zola(1840-1902), who gained fame not only as a gifted writer, but also as a literary and theater critic.

Emile Zola was born in the family of an Italian engineer, a descendant of an old family. The childhood years of the future playwright were spent in the small French town of Aix-en-Provence, where Zola the father worked on the design of the canal. Here the boy received a decent education, made friends, the closest of whom was Paul Cezanne, a famous artist in the future.

In 1857, the head of the family died, the financial well-being of the family deteriorated sharply, and the widow and her son were forced to leave for Paris. It was here, in the French capital, that Emile Zola created his first work of art - the farce The Fooled Mentor (1858), written in the best traditions of the critical realism of Balzac and Stendhal.

Two years later, the young writer presented to the audience a play based on La Fontaine's fable "The Milkmaid and the Jug". The staging of this play, called "Pierrette", was quite successful.

However, before gaining recognition in the literary circles of the capital, Emil had to be content at first with odd jobs, which soon gave way to a permanent job at the Ashet publishing house. At the same time, Zola wrote articles for various newspapers and magazines.

In 1864, his first collection of short stories, entitled The Tales of Ninon, was published, and a year later the novel Claude's Confession was published, which brought the author wide fame. Zola did not leave the dramatic field either.

Among his early works of this genre, the one-act vaudeville in verse “To live with wolves is like a wolf howl”, the sentimental comedy “Ugly Girl” (1864), as well as the plays “Madeleine” (1865) and “Marseille secrets” (1867) deserve special attention.

The first serious work of Emile Zola, many critics called the drama "Thérèse Raquin", based on the novel of the same name at the Renaissance Theater in 1873. However, the realistic plot of the play and the tense internal conflict of the main character were simplified by a melodramatic denouement.

The drama "Thérèse Raquin" was included in the repertoire of the best French theaters for several decades of the 19th century. According to many contemporaries, it was "a genuine tragedy in which E. Zola, like Balzac in Père Goriot, reflected the Shakespearean story, identifying Teresa Raquin with Lady Macbeth."

While working on the next work, the playwright, carried away by the idea of ​​naturalistic literature, set as his goal the creation of a "scientific novel", which would include data from the natural sciences, medicine and physiology.

Believing that the character and actions of each person are determined by the laws of heredity, the environment in which he lives, and the historical moment, Zola saw the writer's task in an objective depiction of a particular moment of life under certain conditions.

The novel "Madeleine Ferat" (1868), demonstrating the basic laws of heredity in action, became the first sign in a series of novels dedicated to the life of several generations of one family. It was after writing this work that Zola decided to turn to this topic.

In 1870, the thirty-year-old writer married Gabrielle-Alexandrine Mel, and three years later became the owner of a beautiful house in the suburbs of Paris. Soon, young writers, supporters of the naturalistic school, who actively promoted radical reforms in the modern theater, began to gather in the living room of the spouses.

In 1880, with the support of Zola, young people published a collection of stories "Medan Evenings", theoretical works "Experimental Novel" and "Natural Novelists", the purpose of which was to explain the true essence of the new dramaturgy.

Following the supporters of the naturalistic school, Emil turned to writing critical articles. In 1881, he combined separate publications on the theater into two collections: Our Playwrights and Naturalism in the Theatre, in which he tried to give a historical explanation of the individual stages in the development of French drama.

Having shown in these works the creative portraits of V. Hugo, J. Sand, A. Dumas son, Labiche and Sardou, in a dispute with which an aesthetic theory was created, Zola sought to present them exactly as they were in life. In addition, the collections included essays on the theatrical activities of Dode, Erkman-Chatrian and the Goncourt brothers.

In the theoretical part of one of the books, the talented writer presented a new program of naturalism, which absorbed the best traditions of the times of Molière, Regnard, Beaumarchais and Balzac - playwrights who played an important role in the development of theatrical art not only in France, but throughout the world.

Believing that theatrical traditions needed a serious revision, Zola showed a new understanding of the tasks of acting. Taking a direct part in theatrical productions, he advised the actors to "live the play instead of playing it."

The playwright did not take seriously the pretentious style of play and declamation; he was unpleasant for the theatrical unnaturalness of the poses and gestures of the actors.

Of particular interest to Zola was the problem of stage design. Speaking against the inexpressive scenery of the classical theater, following the Shakespearean tradition, which provided for an empty stage, he called for the replacement of scenery that "does not benefit the dramatic action."

Advising artists to apply methods that truthfully convey "the social environment in all its complexity", the writer at the same time warned them against simply "copying nature", in other words, from the simplified naturalistic use of scenery. Zola's ideas about the role of theatrical costume and make-up were based on the principle of rapprochement with reality.

Approaching critically the problems of modern French dramaturgy, the illustrious writer demanded both from the actors and the directors that the stage action should be closer to reality, and that various human characters be studied in detail.

Although Zola advocated the creation of "living images" taken in "typical positions", he at the same time advised not to forget the best traditions of dramaturgy of such famous classics as Corneille, Racine and Moliere.

In accordance with the principles promoted, many works of the talented playwright were written. So, in the comedy The Heirs of Rabourdain (1874), when showing funny provincial philistines who were looking forward to the death of their wealthy relative, Zola used the storyline of B. Johnson's Volpone, as well as comedy situations typical of Molière's plays.

Elements of borrowing are also found in other dramatic works by Zola: in the play The Rosebud (1878), the melodrama Rene (1881), the lyrical dramas The Dream (1891), Messidor (1897) and The Hurricane (1901) .

It is worth noting that the writer's lyrical dramas, with their peculiar rhythmic language and fantastic plot, expressed in the unreality of time and place of action, were close to the plays of Ibsen and Maeterlinck and had a high artistic value.

However, theatrical critics and the metropolitan public, brought up on the "well-made" dramas by V. Sardou, E. Ogier and A. Dumas-son, indifferently met the productions of Zola's works, carried out with the direct participation of the author by the talented director V. Byuznak on many theater stages in Paris.

So, at various times, Zola's plays The Trap (1879), Nana (1881) and Scum (1883) were staged at the Ambigu Comedian Theater, and The Womb of Paris (1887) was staged at the Theater de Paris. ), at the Free Theater - "Jacques d'Amour" (1887), at the "Chatelet" - "Germinal" (1888).

In the period from 1893 to 1902, the repertoire of the Odeon Theater included "Page of Love", "Earth" and "The Misdemeanor of the Abbé Mouret" by Emile Zola, and they were quite successful on the stage for a number of years.

Theatrical figures of the late 19th century spoke with approval of the late period of the famous writer's work, recognizing his merits in winning the freedom to stage plays “with various plots, on any topic, which made it possible to bring people, workers, soldiers, peasants to the stage - all this many-voiced and magnificent the crowd."

Emile Zola's main monumental work was the Rougon-Macquart series of novels, which was worked on over several decades, from 1871 to 1893. On the pages of this twenty-volume work, the author tried to reproduce the picture of the spiritual and social life of French society in the period from 1851 (the coup of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte) to 1871 (the Paris Commune).

At the last stage of his life, the famous playwright worked on the creation of two epic cycles of novels, united by the ideological searches of Pierre Froment, the protagonist of the works. The first of these cycles (Three Cities) included the novels Lourdes (1894), Rome (1896) and Paris (1898). The next series, "The Four Gospels", were the books "Fecundity" (1899), "Labor" (1901) and "Truth" (1903).

Unfortunately, the "Four Gospels" remained unfinished, the writer was unable to complete the fourth volume of the work, begun in the last year of his life. However, this circumstance in no way diminished the significance of this work, the main theme of which was the utopian ideas of the author, who tried to realize his dream of the triumph of reason and labor in the future.

It should be noted that Emile Zola not only actively worked in the literary field, but also showed interest in the political life of the country. He did not disregard the famous Dreyfus affair (in 1894, an officer of the French General Staff, the Jew Dreyfus, was unfairly convicted of espionage), which, according to J. Guesde, became “the most revolutionary act of the century” and found a warm response from the progressive French public.

In 1898, Zola made an attempt to expose an obvious miscarriage of justice: a letter was sent to the President of the Republic with the heading "I accuse".

However, the result of this action was sad: the famous writer was convicted of "slander" and sentenced to a year in prison.

In this regard, Zola was forced to flee the country. He settled in England and returned to France only in 1900, after the acquittal of Dreyfus.

In 1902, the writer died unexpectedly, the official cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning, but many considered this "accident" planned in advance. During a speech at the funeral, Anatole France called his colleague "the conscience of the nation."

In 1908, the remains of Emile Zola were transferred to the Pantheon, and a few months later the famous writer was posthumously awarded the title of member of the French Academy of Sciences (note that during his lifetime his candidacy was proposed about 20 times).

Among the best representatives of French drama in the second half of the 19th century, one can name a talented writer, journalist and playwright. Fields of Alexis(1847-1901). He began to engage in literary creativity quite early, the poems he wrote while studying at the college became widely known.

Upon graduation, Paul began working in newspapers and magazines, in addition to this, he was also attracted to drama. In the late 1870s, Alexis wrote his first play, Mademoiselle Pomme (1879), followed by other dramatic masterpieces.

The theatrical activity of Paul Alexis was most closely associated with the Free Theater of the outstanding director and actor Andre Antoine. Supporting the creative pursuits of a talented director, the playwright even staged for him his best short story, The End of Lucy Pellegrin, which was released in 1880 and staged at the Paris Theater in 1888.

Being an ardent admirer of naturalism in the performing arts, Paul Alexis opposed the strengthening of anti-realist tendencies in the French theater.

The desire for naturalism was expressed in the play "The Servant about Everything", written in 1891 and staged on the stage of the Variety Theater a few months later. Somewhat later, under the direction of Alexis, the theater "Gimnaz" staged the novel by the Goncourt brothers "Charles Demailli" (1893).

Humanistic motives are imbued with the works of another, no less popular French playwright, Edmond Rostand(1868-1918). His plays reflected the romantic ideals of faith in the spiritual power of each individual. Noble knights, fighters for goodness and beauty, became the heroes of Rostanov's works.

The playwright's debut on the stage took place in 1894, when his comedy The Romantics was given at the Comédie Française. In this work, the author sought to show the sublimity of sincere human feelings, to demonstrate to the audience sadness and regret for the naive romantic world that has gone into the past. Romantics was a resounding success.

Rostand's heroic comedy Cyrano de Bergerac, staged at the Porte Saint-Martin Theater in Paris in 1897, was especially popular. The playwright managed to create a vivid image of a noble knight, a defender of the weak and offended, who later received a real embodiment in the performance of the best actors of the French theater school.

The fact that the beautiful, noble soul of the protagonist hides behind an ugly appearance, which forces him to hide his love for the beautiful Roxanne for a number of years, makes the play's artistic conception especially poignant. Only before his death, Cyrano reveals his feelings to his beloved.

The heroic comedy "Cyrano de Bergerac" was the pinnacle of Edmond Rostand's work. In the last year of his life, he wrote another play, called "The Last Night of Don Juan" and reminiscent of the nature of the presentation and the main meaning of a philosophical treatise.

An important role in the stage art of France in the late 19th - early 20th century was played by the so-called Antoine Theater, founded in Paris by the outstanding director, actor and theater figure Andre Antoine.

The new theater began its work in the premises of one of the Menu-Pleisir salons. His repertoire was based on the works of young compatriots and the best examples of new foreign drama. Antoine invited actors to his troupe, with whom he worked for a number of years at the Free Theater (the latter ceased to exist in 1896).

The premiere productions of the Theater Antoine were quite successful staging of plays by young French playwrights Briet and Courteline.

When creating his theater, the director sought to solve the same tasks that were put forward by him while working at the Free Theater.

Approving the ideas of the naturalistic school of French theatrical art, Antoine not only promoted the works of young French writers, but also introduced capital audiences to new foreign drama, which rarely hit the French stage (at that time, empty, meaningless plays by fashionable authors were staged on the stages of many Parisian theaters) .

In addition, the director fought against craft and "cash plays" that promised big profits; in the first place for him was art as such.

In an effort to create something new, different from the Free Theatre, the performances of which could only be accessed by owners of expensive subscriptions, Antoine gave paid performances designed for a wide audience. To this end, moderate ticket prices were introduced in the theater, and the extensive repertoire was frequently updated to attract a wide range of spectators.

The playbill of the Antoine Theater included plays by such young compatriots as A. Brie, E. Fabre, P. Loti, L. Benière, J. Courteline, L. Decave and others. Performances based on the works of Maupassant, Zola, Balzac were especially popular . In addition, in the repertoire of the theater on for a long time delayed plays by foreign authors - Ibsen, Hauptmann, Zudeoman, Heyermans, Strindberg.

In 1904, Shakespeare's King Lear was staged on the stage of the Antoinov Theatre. This performance made an indelible impression on the audience, in the future, many French directors, realizing how fertile this soil was, turned to the eternal Shakespearean dramaturgy.

By the beginning of 1905, there was no trace of the former progressiveness of Andre Antoine, the metropolitan audience and theater critics indifferently greeted the productions of performances based on the plays of the reactionary playwright de Curel and action films that were fashionable at that time with a famously twisted plot. In 1906, the director was forced to leave his brainchild and move to another, equally popular among Parisians, the Odeon theater.

Firmin (Tonnerre) Gemier (1869-1933), a talented student of Andre Antoine, a famous actor, director and energetic theatrical figure, was placed at the head of the Antoinov Theater. He was born into the family of a poor innkeeper. Having lost his mother early, Firman was forced to drop out of school and go to work.

In 1887, after graduating from private drama courses, Gemier got a job as an extra at the Free Theater, but pretty soon he was fired by order of the director, who was dissatisfied with his work.

Nevertheless, work under the direction of Andre Antoine had a significant impact on the development of the skill of the young actor. In the future, Gemier largely repeated the ideas of the teacher, propagating the rejection of "routine, dilapidated and harmful views." He saw the purpose of dramatic theatrical art in serving the people, and all his work was subordinated to the promotion of the principles of realism.

At the same time, defending high humanistic ideals, Gemier sharply criticized the phenomena of everyday life that hindered the progressive development of society and world culture as a whole.

In 1898, having received an invitation from the leadership of the Belleville Theater, the actor enthusiastically set to work; he stayed at Belleville until 1890. At the same time, Gemier tried three times to enter the drama class of the Paris Conservatoire, but to no avail.

For three years (1892-1895), the actor played on the stage of the Free Theater, then a period of wandering began for him: Gemier worked in various theater groups in Paris, the most famous of which at that time were the theaters Gimnaz, Creativity, Ambigu ”, Antoine Theater, Renaissance and Chatelet.

At the beginning of 1904, having received an invitation from the leadership of the French troupe of the Mikhailovsky Theater, Gemier, together with his wife, actress A. Megar, went to St. Petersburg. Upon his return to his homeland in 1906, he received an invitation to head the Antuanov Theater team and held the position of director for fifteen years.

After the departure of Gemier in 1921, the Antoine Theater lost its former importance as an advanced artistic group, a stronghold of young writers and progressive intelligentsia, and turned into an ordinary metropolitan theater.

Firmin Gemier began his directing career back in 1900 while working at the Zhimnaz Theatre. Guided by the best traditions of realistic art, the progressive director boldly experimented, presenting new forms of stage action to the audience, in which he tried to combine theatrical showiness with the unprepossessing truth of life.

Rejecting the "frozen classicism" with its outdated directing rules, Gemier sought to show the public a colorful, dynamic performance, which attracted a large number of spectators to the "Gimnaz".

The director believed that turning to the ideological works of contemporary French writers was the only correct direction in the matter of updating French drama.

The Antoine Theater and the Renaissance Gemier staged the plays "Public Life" by Fabre (1901), "Parisian" by Beck (1901), "Thérèse Raquin" by Zola (1902), "July 14" by Rolland (1902), "Krechinsky's Wedding" Sukhovo-Kobylin (1902), Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" (1907), Fabre's "Winners" (1908).

The director was also attracted by the Shakespearean heritage, the productions of Hamlet (1913), The Merchant of Venice (1916), Antony and Cleopatra (1917), The Taming of the Shrew (1918) were enthusiastically received by the Parisian public.

With the direct participation of Firmin Gemier in 1916, the Shakespeare Society was organized in France, the purpose of which was to popularize the works of the famous English classic. Somewhat later, on the initiative of this man, a trade union of performing artists was created.

In 1920, Gemier's long-standing dream of creating a truly folk theater accessible to the masses came true. In Paris, in the beautiful hall of the Trocadero Palace, which could seat 4,000 spectators, the National People's Theater was opened. Soon he received the status of the state (the Grand Opera, Comedie Francaise and Odeon were also awarded a similar honor).

Simultaneously with the leadership of his beloved brainchild, Gemier carried out productions on the stages of the Comedy Montaigne and Odeon theaters.

The National People's Theater staged the plays by R. Rolland "July 14" and "Wolves", "The Marriage of Figaro" by P. O. Beaumarchais. The staging of Shakespeare's plays affirmed the greatness of the individual and, at the same time, the tragedy of a person who embarked on the path of crimes ("The Merchant of Venice", "Richard III").

However, the performances of popular mass spectacles, which Gemier dreamed of when creating his theater, were prevented by material difficulties and the unsuitability of the premises in which the performances were shown.

After the death of Gemier in 1933, the National People's Theater fell into decay, he found a new life only with the arrival of Jean Vilar, who will be described below, in the team in 1951.

Firmin Gemier paid special attention to the education of the future generation of actors. To this end, back in 1920, on his initiative, the Drama Conservatory was opened at the Antoine Theater, in which young talents learned the methods of modern acting.

In contrast to the Paris Conservatoire, where declamation was the basis of teaching, the Gemier school emphasized the rejection of old theatrical traditions that had lost their viability.

In 1926, the famous actor and director tried to found the World Theater Society, whose functions would include the device international festivals, tours and all kinds of creative conferences, but to no avail.

In 1928, Gemier visited Russia for the second time. Meetings in Moscow with colleagues from the capital's troupes demonstrated to him the high level of skill of Russian actors and directors. The trip turned out to be very educational.

The mature period of Firmin Gemier's work was characterized by the implementation of progressive ideas and bold aspirations, preserved from the days of his work at the Free Theatre.

Versatile talent allowed the actor to play in productions of various genres, to create sharply characteristic, tragic or lyrical images on stage, and also to play the role of comedic characters in satirical plays.

Theater critics recognized the most successful roles of Gemier as Patlen in the farce "Lawyer Patlen" and Philip II in Schiller's drama "Don Carlos".

No less attractive were the images of Ubu in Jarry's King Ubu, the soulless jealous Karenin in Tolstoy's production of Anna Karenina, the jovial Jourdain in Molière's The Tradesman in the Nobility, Shylock in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, Philippe Brido in The Bachelor's Life. O. Balzac.

However, Gemier himself considered his best creations, a huge creative luck images of ordinary people in dramatizations of the works of modern playwrights (the worker Baumert in "The Weavers", the stonemason Papillon in the play "Papillon, the Just Lyon" by Hauptmann, etc.). An unsurpassed master of make-up, Firmin Gemier knew how to change his appearance beyond recognition. His characteristic virtuosity and excellent technical skill made it possible to create emotional dynamic images on stage, in which the characters' characters were reflected in subtle nuances.

Gemier's movements and gestures were no less expressive than intonations. According to colleagues, this actor "was the very naturalness." Firmin Gemier did not lose these features of his game in the cinema, where his career began in 1930, after leaving the Odeon Theatre.

Of great importance for the history of French stage art was the activity of the talented actress Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923). Carried away by the theater as a child, she made the stage the main business of her life.

After graduating from acting classes at the Paris Conservatory, Sarah Bernard began working on the stage.

The debut of a talented young actress on the professional stage (at the Comedie Francaise theater) took place in 1862. In the performance based on the play by Racine "Iphigenia in Aulis" she played the role of the main character. However, an unsuccessful performance forced Bernard to leave the Comédie Francaise. This was followed by a period of creative search, which lasted from 1862 to 1872. During this time, Sarah worked at Gimnaz, Port Saint-Martin and Odeon. The most successful roles played by the actress on the stages of these theaters were Zanetto in Coppe's play Passerby, the queen in Ruy Blas by Victor Hugo and dona Sol in Hernani by the same author.

In 1872, Sarah Bernard received an offer from the management of the Comédie Française and again began performing on the stage of this theater. Here, for eight years, the actress played leading roles in the comedies of Racine and Voltaire, dreaming of creating her own theater.

In 1880, Sarah Bernhardt left the Comédie Francaise for the second time and, heading the acting troupes, first of the Porte Saint-Martin theater and then of the Renaissance, tried to organize her own theater. Her dreams were destined to come true only in 1898, when posters of the new Sarah Bernard Theater appeared on the streets of Paris.

The inimitable skill of a talented actress, the key to which was, first of all, excellent external technique, contributed to the growth of her stage career. It was in this that theater critics saw the reason for the resounding success of the famous Sarah.

Coping well with female roles in the productions of her theater, the actress nevertheless preferred male roles, in particular the role of Hamlet in Shakespeare's play of the same name. However, the pinnacle of Sarah Bernhardt's acting skills was the role of Marguerite Gauthier in the play by Alexandre Dumas son "The Lady of the Camellias". No less memorable was the heroine Bernard in the melodrama "Adrienne Lecouvreur" by E. Scribe.

Many playwrights created their plays specifically for Bernard, in the hope that the talented actress, with her magnificent play, which makes the audience empathize with the fate of the characters, will be able to glorify the names of the authors. Thus, the melodramas "Cleopatra" and "Phaedra", written by the playwright Sardou specifically for the Sarah Bernard Theater, were designed for participation in the productions of Sarah herself.

By the mid-1890s, the actress's repertoire included a large number of roles, the most successful of which theater critics called the images created by Sarah in Rostand's neo-romantic plays (Princess Melissande, Duke of Reichstadt in The Eaglet, Lorenzaccio in the play of the same name).

Sarah Bernhardt, who went down in the history of world theatrical art as a talented performer of diverse roles, will forever remain a high example of acting skills, an unattainable ideal.

The first decades of the 20th century, marked by turbulent events in the political life of most countries of the world, had a somewhat negative impact on the cultural life of these states, in particular on theatrical art.

The period of temporary stabilization that followed after the end of the First World War contributed to the revival of theatrical activity in France.

The repertoires of most French theaters of the 20th century were characterized by an extraordinary breadth of range: masterpieces of classical tragedy, romantic drama and comedy of the medieval era were again embodied on the stage. But that was later, but for now the French theater remained mostly entertaining.

In the post-war period in France, there was a revival of the commercial theater, focused on the interests of the metropolitan public and asserting the art of legalized stamps, exquisite mise-en-scenes.

In the 1920s, in the commercial boulevard theaters of Paris, the principle of one play was proclaimed as a leader, running on the stage for a number of evenings as long as the performance was popular. In the future, the play was removed from the theater repertoire, it was replaced by a new one, which was also staged every evening.

In their desire to entertain the Parisian public, the actors of the boulevard theaters Gimnaz, Renaissance, Porte Saint-Martin, Héberto, Vaudeville and others did not shun any means, even obscene plots and cheap theatrical tricks were used. .

Excellent mastery of the secrets of theatrical skills, peculiar stamps inherited from previous generations of actors, was the key to successful performances on stage in the 20th century. Plasticity, expressiveness, excellent diction and skillful command of the voice became the goal of acting creativity.

At the same time, among the tabloid actors there were also highly professional masters, whose acting was distinguished by a high sense of style. Among the most striking figures of the French artistic world of the first half of the 20th century, Guitry's father and son deserve special attention.

Famous actor and playwright Lucien Guitry(1860-1925) was born in Paris. After graduating from the conservatory in 1878, he joined the troupe of the Zhimnaz Theater - this is how his stage activity began.

The eighteen-year-old actor made his debut in the role of Armand in the play based on the play by A. Dumas-son “The Lady of the Camellias”. The successful performance of Lucien was noted by the leadership of the French troupe of the Mikhailovsky Theater, and soon the young talent was already in a hurry to St. Petersburg.

The talented actor spent several theatrical seasons at the Mikhailovsky Theatre, and upon his return to Paris in 1891, he began performing on the stages of various boulevard theaters - such as the Odeon, Porte Saint-Martin, and others.

In 1898-1900, Lucien Guitry worked together with the talented actress G. Réjam, the participation of this duet in Rostand's play "Eaglet" (Lucien played the role of Flambeau) brought unprecedented success to the production.

No less interesting was the work of L. Guitry in the play "Chantecleer", staged on the stage of one of the commercial theaters in 1910. Being an actor of restrained temperament, Lucien nevertheless managed to create a vivid dynamic image on stage.

Seven years later, L. Guitry presented to the public his dramatic works "Grandfather" and "The Archbishop and His Sons", the performances of which on the stage of the theater "Port-Saint-Martin" turned out to be very successful.

In 1919, Lucien performed his first role in a play based on a play by Alexandre Guitry. In the future, the father played many roles in works written by his son especially for him - “Pasteur”, “My father was right”, “Beranger”, “Jacqueline”, “How history is written”.

Lucien Guitry continued to perform on stage until the last days of his life; his game, distinguished by truthfulness, laconism of characteristics, alien to affectation, delighted people until 1925.

In the last years of his life, the actor created vivid, memorable images in Moliere's comedies - Alceste in The Misanthrope, Tartuffe in the play of the same name and Arnolf in The School for Wives.

No less popular than his father, enjoyed in the first half of the XX century Sasha (Alexander) Guitry(1885-1957), talented French theater and film actor, famous writer and playwright.

The bright atmosphere of theatrical life that accompanied the childhood years of Guitry-son contributed to his passion for the theater, the literary field seemed no less attractive to young Alexander, especially since Sasha's early works were a success.

His professional literary activity began in 1901, when the first play entitled "The Page" was released, staged a little later on the stage of the Paris Renaissance Theater. Gradually, Sasha Guitry became one of the leading representatives of the "tabloid drama". Almost all of his plays, and there were more than 120 of them, were included in the repertoires of various metropolitan theaters.

Plays by Guitry-son with a witty, somewhat cynical and superficial, but at the same time entertaining action were always popular with most of the metropolitan public, who saw in the theater only a means of entertainment.

Many dramatic works by Sasha Guitry are built on adultery plots with piquant situations, various kinds of amusing absurdities. These are his plays At the Zoacs (1906), Scandal at Monte Carlo (1908), The Night Watchman (1911), Jealousy (1915), Husband, Wife and Lover (1919), I love you" (1919).

In addition, this playwright wrote a number of biographical works called "dramatic biographies" - "Jean La Fontaine", "Debureau", "Pasteur", "Beranger", "Mozart", etc.

In 1902, Sasha Guitry gained fame as a talented actor. His performances at the Renaissance Theater were an unprecedented success. Pretty soon, the actor developed his stage style of work - the style of light joyful art, moderately authentic and piquant, giving the audience the opportunity to have fun in the theater.

Sasha Guitry was most famous for the roles of charming seducers in his own plays: he performed them with slight irony, as if from the side looking slyly at his hero.

A dark spot on the reputation of Guitry-son lay down cooperation with the Nazis during the Second World War. In 1945 he was imprisoned, but soon he was released and continued his work as a playwright.

In 1949, Guitry wrote two plays - "Toa" and "You Saved My Life", shown a little later at the Variety Theater. In 1951, on the stage of the same theater, the premiere screening of “Madness” by Sasha Guitry took place, who by that time was carried away by cinema (he played several roles in films of the 1950s).

The citadel of the academic stage in the first half of the 20th century was still the same Comedie Francaise with its traditional stage principles and classical repertoire. This circumstance contributed to the transformation of the largest state theater France into a kind of theater-museum, which opposed the popular boulevard theaters, on the one hand, and the innovative aspirations of most theatrical figures, on the other.

The period from 1918 to 1945 in the history of the Comedie Francaise is usually divided into three stages. The first of them, from 1918 to 1936, was led by the general administrator Emile Fabre, the second, from 1936 to 1940, was marked by the active work of Edouard Bourdet, the third, from 1940 to 1945, was marked by the work of first Jacques Copeau, and then Jean Louis Vaudoyer.

All the leaders of the Comédie Francaise sought to keep the theater at the level of an "exemplary stage", however, new social ideas and searches in the field of performing arts steadily penetrated into inner life theater.

In 1921, director Georges Berr tried to re-present Molière's Tartuffe on the stage of the Comédie Francaise: the action of the play, which takes place now in Orgon's house, now on the street, now in the garden, destroyed the previously prevailing principle of the unity of place, and also ignored the unity of time .

Nevertheless, the director failed to fill the classical work with new content that corresponded to the spirit of the era. As a result, Burr's experience was not developed in further theater productions.

At the end of 1933, E. Fabre staged Shakespeare's Coriolanus at the Comédie Francaise. The performance, which evoked associations with modern realities (the victory of the Nazis in Germany), gained incredible popularity. This was largely due to the excellent performance of the lead actors Rene Alexander (1885-1945) and Jean Herve (1884-1962), who interpreted the image of the despotic Roman ruler Coriolanus in different ways.

The famous playwright, author of numerous "comedies of manners" Edouard Bourde, who replaced the no less eminent Emile Fabre as the head of the "Comedy Francaise", was well aware that the oldest French theater needed to update the repertoire, introducing it to the acute problems of our time.

To solve these problems, advanced figures of theatrical art, supporters of the realistic theater, director Jacques Copeau and his students, the founders of the Cartel of Four, Charles Dullin, Louis Jouvet and Gaston Baty, were invited to the Comédie Francaise.

The well-known director, actor, theater teacher, author of a number of theoretical works on the theater, Jacques Copeau, sought to adapt the classical repertoire of the oldest theater to modern realities. He wanted to reinterpret the main ideas of the works of Molière, Racine, Dumas son and others.

Working in 1937 on the production of Racine's "Bayazet", Copeau taught the actors a more restrained recitation, free from excessive melodiousness and at the same time not spoiling the beauty of Racine's verse.

Stylized scenery and costumes, the speech of the actors, demonstrating not only the skill of performance, but also the ability to express the deep feelings of their characters - all this testified to the development of new trends in the traditional art of the Comedie Francaise theater.

The staging of Molière's The Misanthrope also sounded in a new way. Copeau's appeal to the best masterpieces of French and world classics made it possible to fully demonstrate the fact that classical art, freed from established clichés, is an integral part of the spiritual heritage of each country.

At the same time, part of the theater's actors tried to preserve the traditional repertoire, to put on performances demonstrating only the professional skills of the actors. Among such productions are Racine's Phaedra, Molière's School of Husbands, A. Dumas' son's Denise, and some others.

The followers of J. Copeau, who led the third direction in the creative search for the Comédie Francaise, expressed a desire to make the oldest theater in France a significant factor in the social struggle.

So, at the initiative of Gaston Baty, several performances were staged on the stage of the Comédie Francaise. Among them are "Candlestick" by A. Musset (1937) and "Samum" by A. R. Lenormand (1937). These performances were the next step on the way to a new style of acting, contributed to the familiarization of acting with the discoveries of psychological theater.

Charles Dullin presented Beaumarchais' comedy The Marriage of Figaro (1937) in a new way on the stage of the Comédie Française. In this performance, the actors managed to demonstrate not only their high skill, but also to reveal the deep social and psychological layers of the play.

The staging of "Comic Illusion" by P. Corneille, carried out on the initiative of Louis Jouvet in 1937, was an attempt to analyze the clash between philistine and creative consciousness, a desire to glorify the acting profession.

However, the production turned out to be less successful than the works of Bathy and Dullen, since the actors sought to show their professional skills rather than fulfill the task set by the director. However, work with Jouvet did not go unnoticed for the Comédie Francaise team. The actors fully realized the need to bring theatrical art closer to the intellectual problems of the time.

The most difficult period in the activities of the Comedie Francaise was the years of the occupation of Paris. Overcoming difficulties, the actors of the theater tried to maintain their high professionalism, and in addition, in their performance they sought to show humanistic ideas, faith in man and his dignity.

During the war years, the classics again became the basis of the Comedie Francaise repertoire, but the influence of time was felt in the productions. So, Jean Louis Barraud in Kornelev's Side (1943) presented Rodrigo as a man who managed to maintain firmness of spirit in difficult conditions.

Along with classical works, the compositions of modern playwrights were included in the repertoire of the Comédie Francaise. Among them, P. Claudel's play "The Satin Slipper" (1943) enjoyed the greatest success, sounded in the occupied French capital as a call to action. Nevertheless, the oldest theater in Paris continued to be a stronghold of the national stage tradition.

In the first half of the 20th century, the most important factor in the artistic life of France was avant-garde art, which opposed modern reality and its inherent ideological, moral and aesthetic norms.

The French theatrical avant-garde turned out to be extremely heterogeneous: it included both surrealists who rejected established traditions (G. Apollinaire, A. Artaud), and figures of the folk theater who proclaimed democratic ideals (F. Gemier, A. Lessuer, who opened in 1936 in the premises of the Sarah Theater Bernard People's Theatre), and supporters of realistic art (J. Copeau and the founders of the Cartel of Four).

A special role in the literary life of France in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was played by the talented writer, poet and playwright Wilhelm Apollinaris Kostrovitsky (1880-1918), known under the pseudonym Guillaume Apollinaire. This man entered the history of the French theater as the founder of surrealism - one of the trends in modernist art.

Guillaume Apollinaire was born in Rome, in a family of Polish noblemen of an old family. Studying at the best colleges of Monaco and Cannes allowed the young man to gain the necessary knowledge base. Carried away by literary activity, upon arrival in Nice, seventeen-year-old Guillaume began to publish a handwritten newspaper, The Avenger, with poems and farces of his own composition.

In 1900, Apollinaire's first one-act comedy, The Escape of a Guest, was released; three years later, the next work was begun - the verse drama Breasts of Tiresias, completed only 14 years later, in 1917.

In his literary and dramatic masterpieces, Apollinaire opposed the naturalistic depiction of the surrounding reality, against the "refined beauty" of symbolist productions. In his opinion, in the interpretation of various phenomena, it would be more desirable to show not a "piece of life", but the "drama of mankind" in general.

The satirical-buffoon orientation of Apollinaire dramaturgy later found expression in the work of many famous playwrights of the 20th century, including the works of J. Cocteau, J. Giraudoux, A. Adamov.

However, the writer's call to rise above the existing reality was perceived by many modernist artists as a rejection of real life and a desire to plunge into the sphere of the subconscious.

It was in this direction that Antonin Artaud worked. He aspired in his theoretical articles and manifestos, combined in the book "The Theater and its Double" (1938), and poetic work Alfred Jarry Theater (together with Roger Vitrac) to establish theatrical art, which, like a religious ritual or a mystery, can have a huge impact on the human subconscious.

Artaud's stage experiments were unsuccessful because they demonstrated in full measure the incompatibility of the main provisions of surrealism with the live practice of theatrical art.

Particularly noteworthy are the activities of the Cartel of Four, which was briefly described above. The idea of ​​its creation was born in 1926 by the progressive theatrical figures who led the young metropolitan theaters, Ch. Dullen, L. Jouvet, G. Baty and J. Pitoev, in 1926.

The declaration of the "Cartel", signed by its members in July 1927, stipulated the need to create a single administrative apparatus to manage all French theaters, and also mentioned the creative mutual assistance necessary to oppose traditional and commercial theaters.

Heading theaters of different aesthetic principles, the members of the "Cartel" nevertheless managed to find common ground - the realistic pathos of creativity and democratic views of the world. It was thanks to the commonality of the worldview that the Cartel of Four managed to survive in the harsh conditions of the first half of the 20th century and play an outstanding role in the development of the French stage art of this period.

The outstanding actor and director Charles Dullin (1885-1949), who was educated at home and then comprehended the "science of life" in Lyon, began performing on stage in 1905. It was then that he made his debut in the small theater "Nimble Rabbit", unknown to the general public.

Two years later, Dullin got into the Antoine Odeon Theater, where he began to comprehend the secrets of the mastery of the new theater, and in 1909 he joined the acting troupe of the Theater of Arts. The first outstanding image of Dullen, created on the stage of this theater, was Smerdyakov in Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. This role marked the end of the actor's apprenticeship.

Charles' talent was noticed by the outstanding actor and director J. Copeau. In 1913, he invited a young actor to his "Old Dovecote Theatre". The production of The Brothers Karamazov was a resounding success here too. No less successful was the role of Harpagon in Molière's The Miser, the actor managed to fully reveal the psychological depth and complexity of the embodied image.

Copeau's ideas about the lofty spiritual mission of the theater resonated with Düllen's soul. However, unlike his famous teacher, Charles was also fascinated by the ideas of the folk theater, which was the reason for his transfer to the troupe of Firmin Gemier.

At the same time, Dullin dreamed of creating his own theater, which opened in 1922. Various performances were staged on the “Atelier” stage, as the director called his brainchild, some of which were scripted specifically for this theater (“Do you want to play with me” by M. Ashar and others).

Almost all the plays staged on the stage of the "Atelier" turned out to be close to reality. These are "Volpone" by B. Jones with Dullen in the title role, "The Birds" by Aristophanes interpreted by B. Zimmer, "Muss, or the School of Hypocrisy" by J. Roman and others.

Gradually, Charles Dullin developed his own pedagogical system, based on the training of actors in the process of improvisational performances. Thanks to this, not only the words of the role were comprehended, but the whole image as a whole, the hero appeared before the performer as a living person, as a result, the actor became a character.

Seeing the key to success in the excellent mastery of acting technique, Dullen paid special attention to the training of young performers. From the "Atelier" of this director came a whole galaxy of remarkable stage figures - M. Jamois, M. Robinson, J. Vilar, J. L. Barro, A. Barsak and others.

The production of A. Salacru's play "The Earth is Round" was Dullen's last work at the Atelier. In 1940, having handed over his brainchild to Andre Barsac, the aging master began working in theaters that received subsidies from the state - at the Theater de Paris and the Theater de la Cité ( the former Theater Sarah Bernard).

Dullin managed the last of them until 1947, on the stage of this theater the existentialist play by J. P. Sartre "The Flies" was staged. In the future, the director toured a lot, by this time he staged the play by A. Salacru "The Lenoir Archipelago", where Dullin played the main role.

The last years of Dullen's work were marked by a departure from the usual ethical and moral issues and an awareness of the political and social functions of the theater. The director's realism became more and more intellectual, and the influence of his performances on the hearts and minds of the audience was obvious.

No less prominent figure in the theatrical life of France at that time was Louis Jouvet (1887-1951). He began attending theater classes while still studying at the University of Paris.

Like his colleague in the Cartel, Louis first performed on the stages of small, little-known theaters in the suburbs, but stage clichés and old theatrical traditions could not satisfy the talented actor.

In 1911, Jouvet became a member of Jacques Roucher's Théâtre des Arts. Here he met Dullen and Copeau, as well as his debut performance in The Brothers Karamazov (the role of the elder Zosima).

In 1913, Louis began work at Copeau's "Old Dovecote Theatre"; the roles of Andrew Agjuchik in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Geronte in Scapin's Rogues and Sganarelle in Molière's The Unwilling Doctor brought the talented actor fame.

In his youth, Jouvet played mainly the role of old people, which is explained by his desire to learn the art of reincarnation. The images he created during this period of creativity turned out to be surprisingly lifelike, at the same time frankly theatrical characters appeared before the audience.

Jouvet took over from Copeau his attitude to the theater as a means of understanding life and man. Already in the 1920s, he abandoned the emphasized external theatricality of the created images. Showing the inner essence of the hero, his intellectual content - these are the tasks that the actor set himself.

From 1922 to 1934, Jouvet headed the Comedy of the Champs Elysees team, after which he moved to Antey, which he led until the last days of his life.

One of the most successful productions of this director, theater critics called "Knock, or the Triumph of Medicine" by J. Roman. Jouvet, who played Knock in a modern costume and practically without makeup, managed to create an impressive image of a misanthrope, a supporter of fascist ideology.

In Jouvet's productions, every detail carried a certain semantic load, i.e. strictly adjusted mise-en-scenes and sharply defined stage characters determined the staging style. In 1928, Jouvet collaborated with the outstanding French playwright J. Giraudoux with the staging of the play Siegfried. The result of their further work was the staging of the play "There will be no Trojan War", which, like "Knock", contained a certain gloomy foreboding. The scene was dominated by two colors - white and blue, the audience was presented with characters-ideas leading an intellectual struggle among themselves.

Even in classical plays, Jouvet managed to highlight their intellectual beginning. For example, Arnolf in Moliere's "School of Wives" appeared as a thinker whose philosophical concept was defeated in the struggle with real life, and Don Giovanni in the play of the same name was a man who lost faith in everything. The theatrical discoveries of Louis Jouvet served as the basis for the development of intellectual theater in France.

The beginning of the theatrical activity of the outstanding actor and director Gaston Baty (1885-1952) dates back to 1919, the time of his acquaintance with Firmin Gemier and the signing of the first contract. Baty, who attracted the attention of the illustrious student of Andre Antoine, got the job of director, he was entrusted with staging the "Great Pastoral" by C. Elem and P. D'Estoc and a number of folk tales in the Winter Circus of Paris.

A few months later, Bati took up the position of director of the Comedy Montaigne theater. Of the five performances he staged on this stage, Lenormand's "Samum" was the most famous. This play revealed the main trends in the director's work, in particular, the desire to discover in the tragedy the main characters of the religious and philosophical meaning, supposedly characteristic of modern reality.

In the autumn of 1921, after opening his own Chimera Theatre, Bati published three articles explaining the basic ethical principles of building a new institution (Temples of the Theater, Drama in Need of Reform, His Majesty the Word).

These publications allowed critics to call Gaston Baty "an idealist and a militant Catholic". Putting forward the slogan "Renovation of the theater is its liberation from the domination of literature", the director, as it were, challenged the centuries-old traditions of the Comedy Francaise and boulevard theaters.

In 1930, Baty was put in charge of the Montparnasse team. The first production of the director - "The Threepenny Opera" by B. Brecht and K. Weill - turned out to be quite successful and immediately entered the theater's repertoire.

In 1933, Bati presented his new work, Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky, to the audience. Without hiding his interest in the religious aspect of the work, the director at the same time paid attention to the human personality.

The struggle for a person, in his name, has become decisive in the interpretation of some images, in particular Sonya Marmeladova (Margaret Jamois). The triumph of the heroine over Porfiry Petrovich (Georges Vitray), the spokesman for the state concept of man, as well as the realization by Raskolnikov (Lucien Nata) of the fallacy of his beliefs, were shown as a victory for humanistic ideals. Similar ideas were voiced in the play "Madame Bovary" (1936).

The humanistic ideals of Bati received a sharp social orientation on the eve and during the Second World War. In 1942, in the occupied city, the director staged Macbeth. According to Bati, this play, which tells about the fate of an ambitious hero, fully corresponded to the spirit of the time, she convinced of the triumph of justice.

The fourth founder of the "Cartel", Georges Pitoev (1884-1939), was a native of Tiflis. In 1908, after graduating from Moscow University, St. Petersburg Institute of Communications and Prague University, Pitoev became close to the theater of the greatest Russian actress V.F. F. Skarskoy.

In 1912, Georges opened Our Theater in St. Petersburg, on the stage of which a number of plays by Russian and foreign authors were staged. Two years later, Pitoev left Russia, thus ending the Russian period of his life and work. In Paris, Georges met the talented actress Lyudmila Smanova, who soon became his wife.

For seven years (1915-1922), the Pitoevs performed on the stages of Swiss theaters, in particular at the Plainpalais, whose repertoire included works by L. N. Tolstoy, A. P. Chekhov, A. M. Gorky, Ibsen, Bjornson, Maeterlinck, Shaw and others. On the initiative of Pitoev, Shakespeare's Hamlet, Macbeth and Measure for Measure were staged in the theater, which were a resounding success.

In December 1921, the Pitoevs received an invitation from the famous entrepreneur, owner of the Champs-Elysées Theater Jacques Heberteau, to work permanently in France. Soon the couple moved to Paris and in February 1922 opened their own theater.

Among the productions performed by Pitoev in the French capital, Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" and "The Seagull" were especially popular. Their decoration was rather modest: heavy velvet curtains separated the front of the stage from the back. Critics noted the director's ability to convey the beauty and poetry of dramatic masterpieces, to emphasize the deep psychologism of the events unfolding on stage.

Many credited Pitoev with discovering Chekhov for the French public, thereby laying the foundation for a new, so-called Chekhovian trend in French stage art. The directors who worked in this direction sought to show the deep layers human life unravel the complex tangle of human relationships.

Georges Pitoev was not only a wonderful director, but also an excellent performer of roles in Chekhov's plays. The images he created turned out to be surprisingly organic and humane. Critics recognized Astrov in Uncle Vanya and Treplev in The Seagull as the most successful Chekhovian roles of this actor.

It should be noted that the bright appearance of Zh. Pitoev (thin, somewhat angular, with blue-black hair, a hat framing a large pale face, on which black eyebrows hung over huge, thoughtful eyes) allowed him to play practically without makeup.

The second half of the 1920s was marked by the emergence of new trends in the work of Georges Pitoev, who at that time was influenced by various artistic trends. This manifested itself in many productions: for example, in Hamlet (1926), the protagonist appears as a weak person, incapable of fighting, doomed to defeat in the real world.

Chekhov's play Three Sisters, staged at the Georges Pitoev Theater in 1929, was interpreted in a similar manner. The futile attempts of the Prozorov sisters to break out of the boring routine of provincial life turn into a tragedy, the breath of which is felt in everything - both in the scenery of the performance and in the pathetic play of the actors. Thus, the tragedy of human existence was brought to the fore in the play.

The last years of Pitoev's life were imbued with the pathos of public service. In 1939, the terminally ill director staged Ibsen's play Enemy of the People.

Strict scenery and modern costumes used in this performance did not distract the attention of the audience from the action unfolding on the stage, and Dr. Stockman, performed by Pitoev, made an indelible impression. The hero appeared as a bright creative individuality, a preacher of the greatness of the three components - Reason, Truth and Freedom.

A special contribution to the development of the French theater was made by Lyudmila Pitoeva (1895-1951), the wife of the famous director. Her acquaintance with the performing arts took place in Russia. Having received acting skills in this country, Lyudmila continued to improve it in France.

A short, slender, fragile actress with huge expressive eyes on a moving face made a huge impression on the audience with her artless game. Each image embodied by her on the stage was a bright personality, looking with pity at the world around her full of tragedy.

At an early stage of her acting career, Lyudmila Pitoeva sought to present to the public heroines full of spiritual harmony and purity; such are her Ophelia in Shakespeare's Hamlet, Sonya in Chekhov's Uncle Vanya.

However, the most significant role of the talented actress was Jeanne d'Arc in "Saint John" Shaw. Despair was expressed in the whole appearance of the exalted, overly sensitive heroine L. Pitoeva. The image of Irina from The Three Sisters is filled with a premonition of an imminent catastrophe.

Only in the second half of the 1930s, the actress again began to play heroines who believe in a better future. Many theater critics called Lyudmila Pitoeva's Nina Zarechnaya in the new production of 1939 "the apostle of hope".

“The thinnest and most complex of the actresses of France,” according to A. V. Lunacharsky, was Suzanne Despres (Charlotte Bouvalle) (1874-1951). She was born in the family of a doctor, and, it would seem, nothing foreshadowed her fate as an actress.

Acquaintance with the director O. M. Lunye Poe changed Susanna's life dramatically. In 1893, she married this man, and a year later she made her debut on the stage of the Parisian Evre theater, of which he was the director and chief director.

In the same year, the young actress entered the Paris Conservatory, in the class of G. I. Worms. After completing her studies, Suzanne Deprez again returned to the Evra stage, where she created her own best images: Hilda in Solnes the Builder, Solveig in Peer Gynt and Rautendelein in The Sunken Bell. For contemporaries, Suzanne Despres was one of the best performers of roles in G. Ibsen's plays.

An important place in the French dramaturgy of the first half of the 20th century was occupied by the activities of the so-called repertory authors, whose work was characterized by comedic coverage of the events of modern life. One of the most prominent representatives of this trend was a talented writer and playwright Jacques Deval(Bularan) (1890-1971).

Jacques was born and raised in a large acting family. He began to perform on stage quite early, but these were only minor amateur roles. In 1920, Deval made his debut at the Femina Theater not only as a professional actor, but also as one of the directors of the comedy The Weak Woman.

Jacques Deval gained even more popularity after writing a number of comedy plays that were included in the repertoires of the best theater groups in France of that period.

So, on the stages of the theaters "Monte Carlo", "Comédie-Comartin" and "Athenay" the plays "Devil's Beauty" (1924), "Imaginary Lover" (1925), "September Rose" (1926), "Deboche "(1929), "Mademoiselle" (1932) and "Prayer for Life" (1933) (the last two plays took place in a narrow home circle).

The works of J. Deval, distinguished by a somewhat rude, heavy humor, had an unprecedented success in philistine circles. At the same time, serious theatrical figures subjected Devalev's comedies to sharp criticism for numerous teachings, invariably a happy ending to plays, the plot of which was based on the love affairs of the characters.

To please the tastes of a poorly educated public, the dramas Ventos and Comrade were written: in the first of them, the author tried to present the supporters of democracy as anarchists and destroyers of life; the second play was a caricature of the Russians, allegedly grieving over the fate of the descendants of the Russian imperial family.

In the post-war years, continuing the traditions of his early work, J. Deval worked on the creation of numerous comedies and light vaudeville, the plot of which was based on the cheerful adventures of daring adventurers and beautiful courtesans. The performances of Jumping Girl (1957) and Romancero (1957), staged according to works of the same name Jacques Deval.

The second half of the 20th century was marked by the growing popularity of the talented playwright's works in Russia. In the mid-1950s, a Prayer for Life was staged at the Moscow Art Theater, with the famous Russian actors Bersenev and Giatsintova playing the leading roles.

In 1957, Deval began collaborating with the Leningrad Drama Theater. A. S. Pushkin and the Moscow Theater. M. N. Ermolova. Around the same time, the French playwright began working in the cinema, he wrote a number of scripts, and made several independent film productions.

Along with the repertoire, avant-garde dramaturgy was widely developed in the first half of the 20th century, the most prominent representatives of which were Jules Roman(1885-1966), the author of a number of sharply social satirical plays ("Knok, or the Triumph of Medicine", "Monsieur Le Truadec has fun", "The Marriages of Le Troadec", etc.), as well as the creators of the twenty-volume work "People of Good Will" Charles Vildrac and Jean-Richard Block.

The best play by a talented playwright, an active figure in the French Resistance Charles Vildrac(1884-1971), theater critics called "Steamboat Tenesity" (1919), which became a notable phenomenon in the theatrical life of the country.

One of the first playwright turned to the topic of the generation that suffered in the war and was unnecessary in post-war France. The main characters of the play "Steamboat Tenesity", Bastian and Segar, are opposed to a modern society built on lies and betrayal.

The title of the drama "Steamboat Tenesity" is symbolic: Segar sets off on a steamboat of perseverance and perseverance to distant lands, where new grievances and disappointments await him.

One of the founders of French realism in the field of theatrical art is considered to be a talented French writer, playwright, publicist, theater and public figure. Jean-Richard Block (1884—1947).

Being a supporter of the creative ideas of R. Rolland and F. Gemier, for a number of years Blok actively fought for the creation of a folk theater in France. He treated with disdain the theatrical art of the late 1920s and early 1930s, which was predominantly entertaining.

Thus, in the book "The Fate of the Theater" (1930), the playwright acted as a passionate exposer of contemporary art, here there was a call for staging plays on the stage with relevant content that evokes "great thoughts and passions" in the audience.

Jean-Richard Blok entered the literary world as a fully formed person: in 1910 he wrote the play "The Restless", which 12 months later was staged at the Odeon theater in the capital. The successful premiere forced the Odeon team to turn again to the playwright with a request to create a new play.

In 1936, the theater presented Blok's historical drama to the public under the title " The last Emperor"(1919-1920) directed by F. Gemier. This play by a talented playwright was later included in the repertoire of the National People's Theater in Trocadero, later the performance was shown on the theater stages of Geneva and Berlin.

In the early 1930s, Jean-Richard Blok worked on the libretto of ballet and opera performances, of which there were already several dozen by the end of the decade. In addition, the playwright took part in the organization and subsequent work of the People's Theater, opened in Paris in 1935.

Blok was personally present at the rehearsals of performances based on his works, watched the actors play and gave them useful advice. Thanks to the active work of the famous playwright, in 1937, the Parisian public saw a mass folk performance “The Birth of a City” in the premises of the winter velodrome.

During the years of the occupation, J. R. Blok, together with A. Barbusse, R. Rolland and some other progressive figures of France, was part of the anti-fascist union.

In 1941 he was forced to leave the country and settle in the Soviet Union. The four years spent here turned out to be extremely fruitful: the patriotic dramas A Search in Paris (1941) and Toulon (1943), reflecting real life events and staged later on the stages of many theaters, found a warm response in the hearts and souls of progressive people era. In 1950, Jean-Richard Blok was posthumously awarded the World Gold Medal.

No less popular than the above-named playwrights, enjoyed André Gide(1869-1951) - a talented French symbolist writer, Nobel Prize in Arts (1947).

In the literary world, his name has become known since 1891. Andre wrote several short works, which presented the image of a proud, freedom-loving person who despises modern society, putting personal interests above the state.

The continuation of this theme was the plays "Saul" (1898) and "King Kandavl" (1899), in which the author captured the grotesque images of cruel tyrants and representatives of the common people. Sharp satire on modern reality was imbued with other works of André Gide.

One of the most successful works, according to the author himself, was the play "Philoctetes", which was released in 1899, staged two decades later on the stage of one of the capital's theaters.

However, the principles of individualism and the preaching of immoralism sounded most clearly in the later works of the writer - the novels The Immoralist (1902), Vatican Dungeons (1914) and The Counterfeiters (1925).

The heyday of A. Gide's work fell on the 1930s - 1940s, it was during this period that he created a number of dramatic masterpieces - the drama "Oedipus" (1930), the libretto for the dramatic symphony "Persephone" (1934), staged at the "Grand Opera" to music by Stravinsky and others.

The hope for liberation from a heavy burden, clearly manifested in the works of the 1930s, was replaced by pessimistic forecasts in the writings of a later period. The playwright tried to somehow come to terms with modern reality, but, realizing the futility of these attempts, he fell into a deep depression.

The book Return from the Soviet Union (1936) was a response to the events taking place in Europe, where the author tried to analyze the inhumane ideology of fascism.

Spiritual confusion, even some fear of a powerful force that was gaining weight in Europe, is clearly felt in the play "Robert, or Public Interest", written by A. Gide in 1940 and staged on the stage of one of the Parisian theaters six years later.

The last works of the writer ("The Trial", 1947, etc.) were a kind of interpretation of ancient legends and plots borrowed from ancient history and the Bible. They developed the preaching of individualism, inherent in the early dramatic works of this man.

Being an opponent of the "public, patriotic aspirations of the playwright", André Gide strove to create a "pure" art that did not affect the problems of our time. With his numerous works devoted to the state of modern drama (the article "On the evolution of the theater", etc.), he prepared a platform for the formation of an existentialist trend in theatrical art and the school of the French "avant-garde theater".

Perhaps the highest achievement of French realistic art was the flowering of intellectual drama, which affirmed the humanistic concept of life.

Among the best representatives of this genre, Armand Salacru, Jean Cocteau, Jean Anouille and Jean Giraudoux (1882-1944) deserve special attention. The last of these playwrights was the author of a number of works that touched on important socio-philosophical problems: "Siegfried" (1928), "Amphitrion-38" (1929), "Judith" (1931), "There will be no Trojan War" (1935), " Elektra (1937), The Mad Woman of Chaillot (1942), Sodom and Gomorrah (1943) and others. The dramatizations of these plays were very popular with the French public.

However, one of the best works of the 1930s was called by contemporaries the drama A. Salacru"The Earth is Round" (1937). Taking as a basis the historical events that tell about the life of the Florentine society in 1492-1498, the playwright subjects to merciless criticism the religious fanaticism, moral and political unscrupulousness of the Florentines, and at the same time the representatives of the modern world.

We are talking not only about religious fanaticism, but also about any other idolatry, fertile ground for which was the consciousness of ordinary inhabitants, ready to obey any order given to them.

By the magnitude of the disasters, the playwright equates war with tyranny and fanaticism. And yet, Salacru makes the audience believe in the triumph of progress: the news of the sailors who have traveled around the world reaches everyone. This once again proves the fallacy of the opinions of fanatical inhabitants.

Salacru devotes a number of works of the war years (Marguerite, 1941; Betrothal in Le Havre, 1942) and the post-war period (Nights of Anger, 1946; Lenoir Archipelago, 1945-1947; Boulevard Duran) to the problem of establishing high moral values. , 1960; "Black Street", 1968, etc.). In these works, the playwright remained true to high humanistic ideals and his critical attitude to modern reality.

A talented poet, playwright, cinematographer left a noticeable mark in the cultural life of France in the 20th century. Jean Cocteau(1889-1963). Having become his own among the outstanding writers of France, having become famous as a poet and novelist (Tom the Pretender, 1923; Difficult Children, 1929), he soon became interested in performing arts.

One of the first in his work, this playwright turned to mythology, which allowed him to take a fresh look at modern reality, to rise to high philosophical generalizations. In 1922, Cocteau interpreted the tragedy of Sophocles "Antigone", a few years later he presented to the public the free adaptations of the tragedies "Oedipus Rex" (1925) and "Orpheus" (1926).

In the 30s - 40s of the 20th century, Cocteau continued to work on the interpretation of mythological subjects. The writing of the dramas The Infernal Machine (1932), The Knights of the Round Table (1937), Renault and Armida (1941), The Double-Headed Eagle (1946), Bacchus (1952) belongs to this time. In contrast to earlier works, a new motive gets a sound here - faith in the triumph of human courage and stamina.

Simultaneously with work on mythological plays, Cocteau worked on creating works that reflected the state of modern reality (Terrible Parents, 1938; Idols, 1940; Typewriter, 1941). Especially popular were his miniatures, or songs performed by the famous Edith Piaf, Marianne Oswald, Jean Marais and Bert Bovy (miniature "The Human Voice", 1930, etc.).

An important place in the creative life of Jean Cocteau was occupied by cinema. In 1930, according to his script, the film “The Blood of the Poet” was staged, however, the unsatisfactory results of the work forced the screenwriter to turn to independent directorial activity: in 1946 he presented the film “Beauty and the Beast” to the audience, followed by “The Double-Headed Eagle” (1950) , "Orpheus" (1958) and "The Testament of Orpheus" (1960).

For decades, the most popular playwright in France was Jean Anouille(1910-1987). Starting his literary career in the early 1930s, he soon became a well-known writer. The heyday of his work came in the 30s - 40s of the XX century. In 1932, Anouilh wrote his first play entitled "The Ermine", in which the motive of opposing the two polar worlds - the rich and the poor - was put in the first place. A few months later, the comedy-ballet Ball of Thieves (1932) was presented to the public, the plot of which was based on the love story of a rich girl for a thief.

The most successful work of Anuy's early period of creativity was recognized by critics as "The Savage Woman" (1934). With the image of a morally pure girl named Teresa, the playwright marked the opening of a whole gallery of similar characters, who later appeared in many of his works.

No less popular than "The Savage Woman" were plays that touched on family and moral issues. One of them - "Once upon a time there was a prisoner" (1935) - tells about the fate of a hero who was released from prison after serving a long term as a new person, and the other - "A Traveler Without Luggage" (1936) - tells about the sad fate of a person in the modern world, whose memory is burdened with memories of the war.

The years of the Second World War were marked by the beginning of a new stage in the work of Jean Anouilh, characterized by bitter disappointment in the old ideals. Nevertheless, the playwright did not lose his former interest in the theater.

In 1942, two cycles of plays, both new and created earlier, were released: the first collection entitled "Black Pieces" included the dramas "Ermine", "Passenger without Luggage", "Savage" and "Eurydice" (1941), which became sort of a sequel to "The Wild Ones".

The second collection - "Pink Pieces" - turned out to be no less interesting than the first; it included the works "Ball of Thieves", "Leocadia" (1939), "Date in Senlis" (1941).

The most significant works of this period of Anuyev's creativity were the plays "Eurydice" and "Antigone", written on a mythological plot and affecting the problems of our time. The author focuses all his attention on the deep ideological clashes of the characters, while he elevates the realities of life to the level of philosophical problems.

In the postwar years, Anuy continued to work actively. Already in the early 1950s, his new collection entitled “Brilliant Pieces” (1951) was released, five years later “Prickly Pieces” (1956), and then “Costume Pieces” (1962) were presented to the discerning public, which continued to propagate high humanistic ideals.

The writing of such works as "Beckett, or God's Honor" (1959), "Basement" (1961) and others belongs to the post-war period of the life and work of the talented playwright.

Many critics called the play "The Lark" (1953), built in the form of a trial of the national heroine Joan of Arc, the pinnacle of Anouilh's dramatic work. The tragic conflict of the work (the confrontation between a man and an inquisitor) acquires a sharp socio-philosophical sound. In the finale, humanistic ideas triumph over the beliefs of the enemy of humanity - the inquisitor.

The dramaturgy of Anouilh, which entered the repertoires of most French theaters as early as the mid-1930s, has been in demand for a number of decades. To this day, performances of the best works of this playwright can be seen on the stages of Parisian theaters.

The most prominent representative of the French dramaturgy of the war and post-war periods was the recognized head of existentialism Jean Paul Sartre(1905-1980). Philosophy, aimed at developing moral problems, is reflected in many of Sartre's dramatic masterpieces.

Believing that a person is free in his choice and in any situation appears to be what he has made of himself, the playwright turned to the study of the behavior of heroes who found themselves in a critical situation. As a result, the plays acquired the character of philosophical parables of moral and instructive content.

During the war years, Sartre's works sounded a call to fight that was relevant for that time. These are his "Flies", staged by Dullin in 1943 in occupied Paris. In the mythological heroes, the figures of the Resistance (the image of Orestes), the bearers of Nazi ideas (the image of Aegisthus) and the supporters of the conciliatory position of the collaborators (the image of Clytemnestra) were easily guessed.

In the future, J.P. Sartre often turned to historical plots (“The Devil and the Lord God”, 1951), however, the reflection of modern socio-political reality was often accompanied by philosophical experiments in the spirit of existentialism (the plays “Behind the Closed Door (1944), “Dirty Hands " (1948), "The Dead Without an Executioner" (1946), etc.).

The psychological drama The Recluses of Altona (1959) was a warning against repeating the mistakes of the past, against the revival of fascism in the post-war world. Here, as in many other works by Sartre, the tragic motifs of loneliness and panic fear of the future found expression.

In the 40s-50s of the 20th century, dramatic masterpieces of the "absurdists" turned out to be similar in mood to Sartre's works. The sermon of the doom of a person who, in search of a way out of such a state, turns to alogism (an irrational or mystical vision of the world in the works of Ionesco), a submissive expectation of death (in Beckett) or a destructive rebellion that leads to death (in Genet’s work), was the main theme of the “drama of the absurd ".

One of the most famous plays Samuel Beckett(1906-1989) can be considered the work "Waiting for Godot" (1952) - a gloomy parable in which, along with religious motives, pessimistic philosophical reasoning and "black humor" coexist. Many theater critics called this work "philosophical clowning".

Beckett's dramatic heritage ("The End of the Game", 1957; "Oh! Happy Days!", 1961) is permeated through with despair, his heroes - blind, dumb, paralyzed and freaks - appear as puppets controlled by unknowable forces of evil.

The works of Jean Genet (1910-1986), who sought to turn them into bizarre phantasmagoria (The Maids, 1946; Negroes, 1959; Balcony, 1960; Screens, 1966) were distinguished by lush entertainment and some complexity of the usual form.

The desire to distract the public from pressing problems, to plunge it into a state of trance often turned into poeticization of cruel violence in J. Genet (probably, this was due to the lifestyle that the writer led before becoming a celebrity).

The plays of Eugene Ionesco (1912-1994) are filled with the denial of logical thinking as a means of knowing the truth. Grotesque images and buffoonish comedy are present in almost all of the author's dramatic works (The Bald Singer, 1950; Lesson, 1951; Chairs, 1952; Rhinoceros, 1959, etc.), permeated with the preaching of nihilism and anarchist rebellion.

Speaking against traditional forms of art, the "absurdists" denied not only modern theater as such, but also literature and dramaturgy. They refused to consider language as a means for people to understand each other, hence some of the intricacies and complexity of the forms of the “drama of the absurd”.

Another trend in the French stage art of the post-war years was the "democratic avant-garde", the most prominent representative of which was Arthur Adamov(1908-1970). He was born in Kislovodsk. In 1914, the family left Russia and, after long wanderings, settled in France.

The early plays, testifying to the confusion and spiritual disorder of the young playwright, were written under the strong influence of the ideas of "absurdist" playwrights, but even then Adamov began to show a special interest in the fate of people in the modern world.

Six months spent by a talented writer in a fascist concentration camp left their mark on his future work. In the post-war years, the playwright created his best works, imbued with faith in the triumph of democratic ideas and containing sharp criticism of modern society.

A. Adamov's plays "Invasion" (1950), "Ping-Pong" (1955) and "Paolo Paoli" (1957) were especially popular. No less famous were "The Politics of Dregs" (1962), "Mr. Moderate" (1967) and "No Entry" (1969).

The playwright called his best works satirical and journalistic one-act plays, called "topical scenes" ("I am not a Frenchman", "Intimacy", "Complaint of laughter").

In addition to creating his own dramas, Arthur Adamov was engaged in translations. Thanks to this man, France got acquainted with the “Petty bourgeois” and “Vassa Zheleznova” by A. M. Gorky, the creative heritage of A. P. Chekhov.

The end of the 60s of the XX century was marked by an unprecedented increase in the interest of the French public in dramaturgy. Plays by young authors were published in the largest French publications "Saille" and "Stock", new productions were staged on the stages.

The works of young playwrights were to a greater extent a response to the events of modern reality (“Melee weapons” and “The peel of the fruit on a rotten tree” by V. Aim), a reflection of socio-political reality (“Studio”, “Quarrel”, “Tomorrow”, “Window on street" by J.C. Granber).

A special place in the French dramaturgy of the 20th century was occupied by the work of young authors who began their careers on the stage of provincial theaters. They took an active part in the Avignon Festival, this kind of "feast for the mind and heart." The history of the festival began in 1947 (the organizer of the first such event was the famous theater figure Jean Vilar).

The theme of loneliness and abandonment of a person in the modern world in creativity has received a new sound Barnara Marie Koltesa(born in 1948). Such, for example, are the plays "The Night Before the Forest" (shown at the Avignon Festival in 1977), "The Battle of the Negro and the Dogs" (staged in 1983 in the suburbs of Paris).

An appeal to socio-political issues and human psychology marked the works of such playwrights as Pierre Laville, Daniel Benhard and others.

More rapidly than dramaturgy, the French theater developed in the second half of the 20th century. Already in the early 1960s, commercial "tabloid" theaters, gradually moving closer to cabarets and other entertainment establishments, became an "arena" for staging adulterous comedies by Andre Roussin and Roger Ferdinand, for showing bloody melodramas and action films by various authors.

The repertoire of such theaters, along with the refined cynical dramas of Francoise Sagan, included the eccentric, slightly rough plays of Marcel Aimé.

Despite everything, commercial theaters continued to attract numerous spectators who wanted to see popular actors - Jean-Claude Briali and Micheline Prel (both played in the play "A Flea in the Ear"), Daniel Ivernel and Paul Meurisse (the main characters in "Ladder"), Marie Belle (Phaedra in the modernist production of Racine's tragedy), etc.

The bearers of the richest cultural traditions in the second half of the 20th century were the oldest theater in France, the Comédie Francaise, and the teams of Andre Barsac and Jean Louis Barrot. The acting of the Comédie Francaise, which was awarded the highest praise by the Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni in the 18th century, still amazes today with its unsurpassed skill and high professionalism: “There is nothing strained in it either in gesture or in expression. Every step, every movement, glance, silent scene is carefully studied, but art hides the study under the cover of naturalness. Some features of the stage style of the oldest French theater are present in the performance of other acting groups. However, "Comédie Francaise" to this day does not lose its popularity and prestige, many actors consider it an honor to appear on the stage of this theater.

Talented French directors Jean Louis Barro and Andre Barsac learned the secrets of directing at the famous Cartel school, under the famous Charles Dullin. However, each of them took the lessons of the master in his own way.

André Barsac (1909-1973) gained fame not only as a director-psychologist, but also as a theater decorator. Fascinated by the theater in his childhood, he chose not acting as his career, but the profession of an artist. Years of study at the Paris School of Decorative Arts (1924-1926) allowed him to master the basics of his chosen profession, and in 1928 Barsak went to work at the Atelier Theater by Ch. Dullen, which was popular in those years.

The debut work of the young artist was the scenery for the play "Volpone" by B. Johnson, and the best masterpieces in this field were sketches of scenery and costumes for the play "The Doctor of His Part" by Calderon (1935).

Beginning in 1930, A. Barsak simultaneously worked in several theaters - the Atelier, the Troupe of Fifteen and at the Opera House, where he decorated Stravinsky's Persephone.

In 1936, Andre initiated the creation of a new theater called the Four Seasons Troupe, which soon presented its first production to the audience - Gozzi's The Stag King (this was the debut work of Barsak the director).

In the 1937/1938 season, a number of performances were staged on the stage of this theater, the scenery for which was performed by the director himself - "Jean from the Moon" by Ashar, "Knock" by Romain, "Once upon a time there was a prisoner" by Anui, etc. The successful performances of the troupe allowed her to start tours in New York, Paris and the provincial cities of France, Belgium and Brazil.

In 1940, André Barsac was appointed director of the Atelier Theatre, at the same time he continued to work as a set designer and stage director. With the active participation of this man, Scapin's Tricks (1940), Anui's Eurydice and Romeo and Jeanette (1940), Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov (1946) and a number of other performances were staged on the stage of the Atelier.

In 1948, Barsak presented Gogol's "Inspector General" to the audience, in 1940 - Chekhov's "The Seagull", and in 1958-1959 - Mayakovsky's play "Bug".

However, Barsak the director was best known for his adaptation of Dostoevsky's novel The Idiot, in which the role of Nastasya Filippovna was played by the famous tragic actress Catherine Seller.

The staging of Turgenev's work "A Month in the Country" was no less popular. The performance turned out to be extremely poetic, the subtle psychological characteristics of the characters made it possible to understand their true essence.

Another area of ​​work for Andre Barsac was literary activity. He is the author of the comedy "Agrippa, or Crazy Day", staged at the "Atelier" in 1947, and a number of articles on the theater.

The talented actor and director Jean Louis Barrot (1910-1994) played a special role in the development of French stage art. He was born in the family of a pharmacist and already in his childhood he showed outstanding ability to draw. Upon reaching the required age, the boy entered painting courses at the Louvre School in Paris. However, Jean Louis was not destined to graduate from this educational institution, his passion for theater forced him to abandon his career as an artist and join the troupe of the theater of Ch. Dullen "Atelier".

Having made his debut in 1932 in a small role in one of the theater productions, Barro began to participate in almost all performances. But the lack of skill prevented career growth, and the young actor showed a desire to engage in the art of pantomime with the famous mime E. Decroux.

In 1935, on the stage of the Atelier Theater, the premiere screening of the pantomime Near the Mother, based on Faulkner's novel While I Was Dying, took place. In this performance, Jean Louis played a horse and a rider riding around it. Around the same time, Barro made his film debut (the film "Children of Paradise"). A very significant event in his life was his acquaintance with the surrealists and the theater troupe "October".

Soon, Jean Louis left Dullin and organized his own troupe, called the Augustine Attic, but did not stop cooperating with the Atelier. In 1939, Barro played the role of Silvio in Salacru's anti-fascist play The Earth is Round, staged at the Dullen Theatre, and presented a staging of Hamsun's play Famine to the audience.

A few years earlier, J. L. Barrot made his debut on the stage of the Theater Antoine with the patriotic drama Numancia (according to Cervantes). The performance was an unprecedented success, due to the timeliness and relevance of the production (at that time, the entire progressive public was worried about the outcome of the war in Spain).

In 1940, Barraud was invited to the Comedie Francaise theater, where he worked until 1946. On this most famous stage in France, he played a number of roles, including Rodrigo in Shakespeare's "Sid" and the desperate Hamlet in the play of the same name. In addition, Jean Louis reinterpreted the classical repertoire of the theatre: Racine's Phaedra (1942), Claudel's The Satin Slipper (1943) and Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra (1945) staged by Barrault became very popular with sophisticated metropolitan audiences.

Evidence of some eclecticism in the tastes of a talented director was his successful staging of works of various genres, whether it be comedy or tragedy, operetta or pantomime. At the same time, he strove to create a synthetic theater that would harmoniously combine the best means of expression inherent in various types of art.

In 1946, Jean Louis organized a new acting troupe, which, in addition to him, included M. Renault (the director's wife) and several other talented performers.

Barraud became the artistic director and leading actor of this troupe, which performed in the building of the theater "Marigny". Performances such as Salacru's Nights of Anger (1946), Kafka's Trial (1947), Molière's Tricks of Scapin (1949), Claudel's Christopher Columbus (1950), Ashar's Malbrook Going on Campaign were staged here, " The Cherry Orchard» Chekhov.

In some of these productions, Jean Louis acted not only as a director, but also as a performer of the main roles (the anti-fascist patriot Cordo in Nights of Anger, Christopher Columbus in the play of the same name, Trofimov in The Cherry Orchard, etc.).

In 1959, Barraud was elected president of the Théâtre de France in Paris. By the same time, his productions of the plays Rhinos by Ionesco, Claudel's Golden Head and Anouil's Little Madame Molière belong to the same time.

In addition to directing and acting, Barro was also involved in public affairs: for a number of years he was the director of the School dramatic art, founded by him in Paris with the help of J. Berto and R. Roulo. Peru Jean Louis Barrot belongs literary work"Reflections on the Theatre", in which the author acts as a seeker of truth and a poet of stage art.

Thus, the work of Barrot and Barsac had a significant impact on the development of French theater in the postwar years. No less interesting was the activity of the outstanding masters Pierre Franck, Georges Vitali, Jean Meyer on the stages of the Evre, La Bruyère and Michel theaters.

The beginning of the 1950s saw the revival of the former glory of the National Folk Theater F. Gemier, due to the arrival of the talented director Jean Vilar (1912-1971) to the troupe. In a short time, this man managed to turn the National People's Theater into one of the best theaters in France.

Vilar pursued a single goal: to make the theater accessible to millions of spectators, "according to the wise and fundamental formula of Stanislavsky." The talented stage director was the creator of a new stage style: simple and at the same time majestic, aesthetically perfect and accessible, designed for thousands of viewers.

Vilar created a truly living theater in which the audience played a certain role, managed to arouse interest in the performing arts even among those who were far from the theater. At the initiative of this person, the audience service system was reorganized: two hours before the start of the performance, a cafe was opened at the National Folk Theater where you could have a bite to eat after work, in addition, the performances began at a convenient time for the audience.

Gradually, the theater turned into a kind of House of Folk Culture, which not only showed performances and films, but also arranged literary and musical evenings, exhibitions of sculpture and painting. In those years, the "folk balls" organized by the leadership of the National Folk Theater gained the greatest popularity.

Putting on the stage the works of domestic and foreign classics, Jean Vilar tried to find in them the answers to his questions, to extract from the past necessary lessons. Such are the productions of Corneille's Cid with Gerard Philippe in the title role (1951), G. Kleist's Prince of Homburg (1952), Molière's Don Giovanni (1953) and Shakespeare's Macbeth (1954).

The play "Sid" in the interpretation of Vilar appeared as a poem about love and nobility, the text full of passion sounded on the stage like a colloquial speech understandable to every inhabitant.

This production became a symbol of the revival of the folk French theater, the best people of France spoke of it with enthusiasm. So, Louis Aragon called "Cid" "the best performance ever staged on the French stage", and Maurice Thorez, after watching this masterpiece, noted: " national heritage- it is ours.

On the stage of the National People's Theater, important steps were taken towards understanding the folk historical theme, the productions of Mary Tudor by Hugo (1955) and Lorenzaccio by Musset (1958) became a real sensation in the modern world.

In 1960-1961, Vilar presented to the audience the performances of Antigone by Sophocles, Arturo Ui's Career by Brecht, Scarlet Roses for Me by O'Casey, Alcalde's Salamey by Calderon and The World by Aristophanes. In these productions, the image was developed folk hero fighting for peace and freedom.

Many talented actors were honored to work under the famous Jean Vilar. Gradually, a highly professional acting troupe was formed at the National Folk Theater, which included Gerard Philip, Daniel Sorano, Maria Cazares, Christian Minazzoli and other actors. The best decorators, illuminators, costume designers and other stage workers flocked here as well.

Gerard Philippe (1922-1959) was one of the most popular actors of post-war France, the recognized leader among modern romantic actors. He made his debut on the stage in 1942 and soon became famous.

Numerous performances with the participation of this actor aroused genuine public interest. Gerard Philip created a number of unforgettable images - Rodrigo in Corneille's Side, the Prince of Homburg in the play of the same name, Lorenzaccio in Musset's play, and others. Being the first president of the Union of Actors of France, he defended the rights of people of this profession in the modern world.

Gerard Philip performed not only on the theater stage, but also in front of movie cameras, he starred in such films as "Parma Convent", "Fanfan-Tulip", "Red and Black", etc.

Maria Cazares (real name Quiroga) (1922-1996), a representative of the family of a Spanish statesman, was an outstanding dramatic actress of a tragic role.

After her father was transferred to France, Maria began her studies at one of the Parisian lyceums, and then, having successfully graduated from this educational institution, she entered the Conservatory of Dramatic Art.

In the mid-1950s, the talented actress left the Comedy Francaise, where she had performed for a number of years, and joined the troupe of the National People's Theatre, on the stage of which she created a large number of unforgettable dramatic images (Queen Mary in Hugo's Mary Tudor and etc.).

Maria Cazares gained particular popularity as a film actress, her debut in this field was the role in “Children of Paradise” by M. Carne (1945), followed by an offer from R. Bresson to star in the film “Ladies of the Bois de Boulogne” (1945). However, the most successful role, which left a bright mark on French cinema, was Sanseverina in Christian-Jean's adaptation of A. Stendhal's Parma Monastery.

In 1949, the outstanding dramatic actress played the role of Death in Jean Cocteau's Orpheus, and ten years later received an invitation to the role of the princess in the film Orpheus' Testament (1959). Jean Mare (Orpheus) and Jean Cocteau (poet) became M. Cazares' partners on the set, whose talented play was the key to the successful distribution of the picture.

The small roles played by M. Cazares in the films “Shadow and Light” by A. Calef (1950), “Reader” by M. Deville (1987) and “Knights of the Round Table” by D. Llorca (1990) were noted with no less audience attention.

The actress maintained good spirits until the last days of her life. For example, this fact is indicative: in 1996 (the year she died), 74-year-old Maria Cazares took an active part in the filming of Paskalevich's film “Someone's America”.

It is noteworthy that in her entire life the actress has never given reason to doubt her reputation, moreover, she did not allow journalists and biographers into her life.

One of the most famous French actors of our time was Jean Gabin (real name Jean Alexis Moncorger) (1904-1976). He was born in the family of a simple worker, and it seemed that nothing foreshadowed Jean a different fate. Nevertheless, while still an apprentice at a construction site and an assistant worker at a foundry, he demonstrated outstanding acting skills.

In 1923, Jean Gabin made his debut on the stage of the Folies Bergère theater in the capital as an extra. The talent and attractive appearance of the young actor were noticed, and soon he received an invitation to become an actor in a variety show. After working for several years in the musical revue genre, he moved to the operetta theater, at the same time becoming a performer of funny songs in the Vaudeville, Bouffe Parisienne and Moulin Rouge theaters.

However, the most famous Jean Gabin brought numerous roles played in the movies. The film debut took place in 1931 in the film The Great Illusion.

The success of the film forced many directors to pay attention to the twenty-seven-year-old actor, who soon became one of the most invited. Jean Gabin played a number of roles in such films as Quay of the Fog, Heavenly Thunder, At the Walls of Malapaga, Great Families, Powerful Ones, Prairie Street, etc.

This actor entered the history of world theatrical and cinematic art as the creator of the image of a person who is faithful to the ideal ideas of duty and justice, able to defend his dignity and independence in the struggle.

In 1949, after an almost twenty-year break, J. Gabin returned to the stage. At the Ambassador Theatre, he performed one of the best stage roles - the main character in Bernstein's play Thirst.

After the end of the Second World War, not only the stage art of Paris developed, but also the provincial theaters of France, which had been in hibernation for a long time.

After the First Festival of French Dramatic Art in Avignon was held in 1947, the activity of theatergoers in other provincial cities of France intensified. Soon in Strasbourg, Le Havre, Toulouse, Reims, Saint-Etienne, Bourges, Grenoble, Marseille, Colmar, Lille and Lyon, permanent acting troupes began to operate, centers of dramatic art and Houses of Culture appeared.

Following J. Vilar, provincial theaters turned to the work of outstanding domestic and foreign classics, interpreting classical masterpieces in a new way. Provincial directors presented performances to the audience that corresponded to the spirit of the time.

Thus, while retaining the humanistic sound of Corneille's tragedy Horace, the Strasbourg director Hubert Ginho in his 1963 production focused on the consequences of blind obedience to an order.

At various times, the productions of plays by Gogol, Chekhov, Gorky, as well as Arbuzov (Irkutsk History in Strasbourg in 1964), Schwartz (Dragon in Saint-Etienne in 1968) and other Russian playwrights were very popular. The dramatizations of satirical comedies by domestic authors - Dürrenmatt and Frisch, plays by O'Casey and Bertolt Brecht enjoyed the love of the audience.

Roger Planchon (born in 1931), a talented director and director of the Théâtre de la Cite in Villeurbanne, left a noticeable mark on the history of French provincial theaters. Being an ardent admirer of the works of B. Brecht and J. B. Moliere, he tried to convey the ideas of these writers to a wide audience.

The director's innovation manifested itself in a number of his performances, for example, in the production of "Schweik in the Second World War" by B. Brecht (1961) R. Planchon used a constantly rotating circle, which allowed him to achieve a certain effect: in the necessary places, the hero either approached the audience, then moved away from them.

When staging Molière's "Tartuffe" (1963), the technique of expanding the stage space was used, due to which the unfolding events acquired an avalanche-like, threatening character.

Planchon rightly believed that the director must be a subtle psychologist, this will allow him to fully reveal the "social situation", to explore the environment during a certain historical and political moment.

Correctly defining the nature of a particular play, the director focused on it. During the screening of Moliere's Georges Dandin (1959), Planchon made the audience feel the tragicomic situation in which a wealthy peasant found himself, who had lost touch with the familiar world and had not received recognition among the nobility.

Performances staged by the director based on his own dramatic masterpieces had an unprecedented success with the audience. Among them are the plays "Debtors" (1962), "White Paw" (1965), "Dishonest" (1969), etc. Finding interest in various dramatic and stage forms, Planchon nevertheless sought to find in his productions a solution to a single problem - research of social contradictions of modern life.

Rigid rationalism and precise calculation, unexpected decisions and frank fantasy - these are the characteristic features of the director's style of Roger Planchon. These features were most clearly manifested in the process of staging the novel by A. Dumas père The Three Musketeers (1957), numerous parodic and ironic scenes made us recall the productions of the famous Russian directors Meyerhold and Vakhtangov.

Planchon was best known for performances based on plays by contemporary French authors, Brecht's followers - "Paolo Paoli" by Arthur Adamov (1957), "The Imaginary Life of a Street Sweeper Auguste Jay" by Armand Gatti (1962) and others.

The play by A. Gatti, staged by R. Planchon, was a harmonious union of two dramas - the “drama of ideas” and the “drama of imagination”: the present and the past, reality and dreams are confused in the mind of a mortally wounded person. Before the audience appears not one, but several Augustes of different ages at once - a boy, a young man, a man, thereby the director emphasizes the desire to capture the hero in various periods of his life.

In addition to the capital and provincial theaters, in post-war France, the theaters of the Parisian suburbs developed, the leaders of which pursued the goal of making these institutions a "parliament of social thought." Performances-courts, original studies, focusing on the tragic fate of the enslaved people, were staged on the stage.

So, on the stage of the Theater of Nanterre, Bulgakov's "Running" (1971) was staged, the troupe "Guild" managed to stage Shakespeare's "Macbeth" (1965), the repertoire of the Commune Theater in Aubervilliers for a long time included performances of "Optimistic Tragedy" by Vs. Vishnevsky (1961) and The Star Turns Red by O'Casey (1962), at the Theater. Gerard Philip in Saint-Denis, the most popular was "Spring-71" by A. Adamov.

In addition, A. Gatti's drama The Stork and A. Adamov's comedy The Politics of Garbage, The Cherry Orchard by A.P. Chekhov and B. Brecht's plays (The Threepenny Opera, Saint Joan slaughterhouses", "Dreams of Simone Machar").

The second half of the 1960s, marked by the aggravation of the political situation throughout the world, including in France, became a time of reaction in the history of the theater.

Many French theater directors were forced to resign. Jean Vilar did this in 1963, and Georges Wilson (born 1921) became his successor as director of the National People's Theatre.

Being an ardent admirer of the dramaturgy of Brecht and his followers (Gatti, Dürrenmatt, etc.), Wilson staged a number of wonderful plays by these authors on the stage of the theater - Brecht's "Mr. Puntila and his servant Matti" (1964), Osborne's "Luther" (1964), " Romulus the Great" by Dürrenmatt (1964), "People's Song in front of Two Electric Chairs" by Gatti (1965), "Turandot, or Congress of Whitewashers" by Brecht (1971) and others.

Despite a number of successful productions, the National Folk Theater gradually lost its former popularity, this was to some extent due to the abandonment of the system of public subscriptions introduced by J. Vilar.

In 1971, when the National Folk Theater ceased to exist, his ideas were taken up by the city municipal theater Paris - "Theater de la Ville", which was managed in those years by Jean Mercure (born in 1909). A versatile repertoire, consisting of masterpieces of classical and modern drama, attracted numerous spectators to the theater.

Mass performances by Robert Hossein (born in 1927) became a new trend in the French theatrical art of the 20th century. In 1971, this popular film actor headed the People's Theater of Reims; with his direct participation in the theater, Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Lorca's House of Bernard Alba, Gorky's At the Bottom and a number of other significant performances were staged.

In the mind of Hossein, who believed that the theater should influence the feelings of the audience, the concept of a “great folk spectacle”, a kind of folk holiday, was gradually developed.

The performance "Battleship Potemkin", staged in 1975 in the capital's Sports Palace, was the first successful work in this direction. This was followed by dramatizations of plays from the classical repertoire - Notre Dame Cathedral (1978) and Les Misérables (1980) by Hugo, which aroused no less public interest than the first production.

At the end of 1979, R. Hossein presented his new work to the audience - the historical drama "Danton and Robespierre" (1979), and in 1983 the premiere of the play "A Man Called Jesus", based on a story from the Bible, took place.

R. Hossein's works attracted attention not only for their grandiosity and colorful spectacle, but also for their dynamic mass scenes, unusual lighting and sound effects, as well as the simplicity and accessibility of the content.

A notable phenomenon in the theatrical life of France in the 20th century was the New National Theater of Marseille, organized by the talented director Marcel Marechal (born in 1938), who was also a wonderful actor (he created vivid images of Falstaff and Tamerlane, Scapin and Lear, Sganarelle and Hamlet on stage ).

Back in the early 1960s, Marechal organized a troupe in Lyon, called the "Company du Cautourne". The democratic aspirations of the advanced theatrical community could not but affect the activities of the talented provincial director, this was expressed in Marechal's desire to turn his theater into a House of Popular Culture, accessible to a large audience.

Believing that the main problem of performing arts is the lack of "poetic realism", Marcel Marechal sought to solve it by using new stage forms accessible to the understanding of the mass audience.

In his work, he often turned to socio-political issues: in 1971, he staged a play by the Algerian playwright Kateb Yasin, The Man in Rubber Sandals, dedicated to the events of the Vietnam War.

The following year, a staging of Brecht's play "Mr. Puntila and his servant Matti" (1972) was presented to the audience. According to theater critics, the director managed to teach the public a lesson "in the most cheerful way in the world - in the rhythm of a farce, in which magic and folk wisdom, evil satire and poetry merge."

Among the most successful works of M. Marechal, Ruzante's Moschetta (1968), Fracasse by T. Gauthier (1972), the many-hour production of The Grail Theater (1979), dedicated to King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, deserve special attention. These performances were an organic combination of simple and complex, naive and prudent, moments of high lyrics in them were accompanied by playful farcical scenes; here the past meets the present, making you think about the future.

Maréchal proudly said that he managed "to revive the theatrical tradition, entirely immersed in the element of the game, that is, to return to the great traditions and plots of the folk game."

In 1975, the Maréchal troupe moved to Marseille, the second largest city in France, and here the New National Theater of Marseille arose, which became largest center struggle for folk theatrics.

A noticeable mark in the history of modern French theater was left by youth theaters - such as the Theater Bule by Alain Scoff, the Big Magic Circus by Jerome Savary, etc.

The best representatives of the new generation of French film directors were Patrice Chereau and Ariana Mnushkina, in whose work innovative ideas were developed.

Patrice Chereau (born in 1944) chose the crisis state of a society built on lies, hypocrisy and injustice as the main theme of his work. Giving a deep socio-historical analysis of the work and the time of its writing, the playwright at the same time tries to rethink it from the point of view of modern man.

Many critics call P. Chereau the heir of Roger Planchon. The fact is that the latter, being the head of the National Folk Theater, which opened in Villeurbanne on the basis of the Theater de la Cité, invited the young director to his theater. Here P. Chereau staged his first performances - "Soldiers" by Lenz (1967), "Don Giovanni" by Moliere (1969), "The Imaginary Maid" by Marivo (1971), "The Paris Massacre" by Marlo (1972).

In 1982, Patrice Chereau was appointed director of the Théâtre des Amandiers, located in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. The new activities of this person were the education and training of young actors in a theater school, as well as the organization of the work of a film studio specializing in the release of feature films. P. Shero does not forget about the director's work in the theater, in the 1980s he staged the plays "Battle of the Negro and Dogs" by B. M. Koltes, "Screens" by Genet.

Ariana Mnushkina, the head of the Theater of the Sun, has repeatedly attracted the attention of the audience with her directorial works, among which Gorky's Petty Bourgeois (1966), Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968), Clowns (1969) and others deserve special attention.

A significant event in the theatrical life of France was the performances "1789" and "1793", dedicated to the Great French Revolution and staged by A. Mnushkina in 1971 and 1973, respectively. Commenting on the dilogy, Ariana said: “We wanted to look at the French Revolution through the eyes of the people,” to show its role in this event.

A characteristic feature of the performances was the introduction into action of the collective hero, the creator of history - the French people. In addition, each actor played several roles, five playgrounds were involved, which forced the audience, moving from one platform to another, to take a direct part in the action.

Songs, dances and symbols of the era of the French Revolution found expression in Mnushkina's productions; moreover, she introduced historical documents into the narrative, which became an integral part of the plot. The action, captivating with its extraordinary power and striking in scale, is both complex and simple; his dynamism, great emotionality and at the same time extraordinary determination were able to make a great impression on the audience.

The next work by A. Mnushkina, the play "The Golden Age" (1975), which tells about the life of immigrant workers in France, was a continuation of the theme of social struggle, begun by staging the dilogy.

At the same time, the repertoire of the Theater of the Sun included a number of classical plays. So, in the 1981/1982 season, the team presented Shakespeare's "Richard II" and "Twelfth Night" to the audience. These performances, which had an unprecedented success, were awarded two prestigious awards - the Dominique Prize for the best performance of the year and the Grand Prize of Drama Critics.

By the beginning of the 90s of the XX century, theater schools appeared in many theaters in France, preparing a younger generation of actors. Among them, the most famous were the schools of the Theater of Chaillot, the Theater des Amandieu, the New National Theater of Marseille, etc.

Around the same time, management was replaced in a number of metropolitan theaters: Jean Pierre Vincent then became the general administrator of the Comédie Francaise, Jean Pierre Miquel became the head of the Paris Conservatory of Dramatic Art, and Antoine Vitez, who previously directed one of the suburban theaters in Paris.

Currently in France there is a flourishing of theatrical art. Along with the old, eminent masters of directing, young directors are actively working in the capital and provincial theaters, striving to bring something new to the performing arts. Young stars also appear in the acting sky. In the repertoire of most French theaters, plays by domestic and foreign classics peacefully coexist with the dramaturgy of young talented writers.

Full text of the dissertation abstract on the topic "New forms and genres of theater in France at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries"

As a manuscript

Kuzovchikova Tatyana Igorevna

New forms and genres of theater in France at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries

Specialty 17.00.01 - Theatrical art

dissertations for the degree of candidate of art history

Saint Petersburg 2014

The work was done at the Department of Foreign Art of the Federal State Budgetary educational institution higher professional education "St. Petersburg State Academy of Theater Arts"

Scientific adviser: Doctor of Arts, Professor Maksimov Vadim Igorevich

Official opponents:

Gracheva Larisa Vyacheslavovna, Doctor of Arts, Professor, Associate Professor of the Acting Department of the St. Petersburg State Academy of Theater Arts

Semenova Marianna Borisovna, Candidate of Art History, Associate Professor of the Acting Department of the Baltic Institute of Ecology, Politics and Law (BIEPP)

Lead organization:

Federal State Budgetary Research Institution "State Institute of Art Studies"

Dissertation Council D 210.017.01 at the St. Petersburg State Academy of Theater Arts at the address: 191028, St. Petersburg, Mokhovaya st., 35, room 512.

The dissertation can be found in the library of the St. Petersburg State Academy of Theater Arts (Mokhovaya st., 34) The abstract was sent out in 2014.

Scientific Secretary

dissertation council ^

Candidate of Art Criticism Nekrasova Inna Anatolyevna

The turn of the 19th-20th centuries in France is a time of aesthetic eclecticism, expressed in the confrontation of disparate artistic trends that arise almost simultaneously. In polemics with academic and commercial traditions, the aesthetics of naturalism, symbolism, neo-romanticism, and modernity are being formed in the theater. Traditionally, this period is usually considered as the time of the formation of the director's theater, which asserted itself in parallel in the two main artistic directions of the era - naturalism and symbolism. The theatrical practice of Andre Antoine, Paul Faure, Aurélien-Marie Lugnier-Pau, their contribution to the development of the world theater today has been studied in some detail by both domestic and foreign theater studies.

The comprehension of the performance as an artistic whole brought to the fore such concepts as atmosphere, stylistic unity, author's poetics, shaping. The desire for naturalness, the truth of life was opposed to a metaphorical, conditional theater, but in general, all significant experimental scenes - both the Libre Theater, and the Theater d "Ar, and the Evre Theater were aimed at overcoming the theatrical model of the 19th century, the traditions of the acting theater. Such a need in many ways was due to the emergence of a “new drama”, which, refusing an external event series (the concept of “static theater” by M. Maeterlinck), the usual understanding of the hero and dramatic conflict, required directorial comprehension and made new demands on the theater.

At the same time, in France there was another significant layer of theatrical culture, which offered alternative forms of solving the same problems. In 1894, the critic A. Aderé called this phenomenon "le théâtre à côté"1, which can be translated as "next door theater" or "roadside theater". The author did not set a goal to determine the role of this or that phenomenon and considered the “roadside theater” as an amateur environment, a temporary stage on the way to

1 Aderer A. Le Théâtre à côté. Paris, 1894.

professional world. However, at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, “the theater on the roadside” went beyond the definition of Adére and developed into an independent artistic phenomenon, in which the aesthetic eclecticism of this period was expressed in the close relationship of disparate artistic concepts. Here, the interweaving and similarity of creative searches associated with the development of the director's theater and aimed at rethinking the concept of theatricality become obvious. In this dissertation, “roadside theater” is considered as a set of new forms and genres that arose in the course of amateur experiments and private initiatives and contained new theatrical models that rethink the principles of dramaturgy, the existence of an actor, and the design of a performance. Among them, four equal-scale phenomena stand out: cabaret, shadow theater, puppet theater and the “horror theater” Grand Guignol.

Without adhering to any of the artistic movements, the alternative theatrical culture of Belle époque (Belle époque, Belle Epoque) became a reaction to their diversity, contributed to the shift of genre and specific boundaries. The puppet theatre, the shadow theatre, the mask theatre, the cafe-concert and the mass entertainment culture have already had their centuries-old history or deep background in similar phenomena of the past. Always developing separately, in the shadow of the dramatic theater, at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries they become equal with it in rights, are the first to react to the realities of the time and easily interact with each other, solving the problems of the theatrical language of the 20th century. Their experiments in the field of new dramaturgy, new genres, new expressive means and new ways of creating a stage image (mask, shadow, puppet, naturalistic devices) expanded and fundamentally modified the aesthetics of theatrical naturalism, symbolism, and modernity.

Despite the growing interest of Western science in certain theatrical forms and genres of belle époque, they have never been

considered together as components of a single artistic process, which was associated with the same trends as the formation of the director's theater. Starting with the cabaret, which became synonymous with creative freedom and reconciled antagonistic forces under its roof, this process ended with the triumph of “le théâtre de spécialité” (literally: a theater with its own specialization, that is, a theater that focuses on the specific needs of the public; the term was proposed by the researcher theatrical culture of this period, Agnès Pierron)1, the formation of the art industry (in this series, such a commercially successful project as the Moulin Rouge). The creators of the cabaret initially focused on a wide audience: while the performances of naturalists and symbolists plunged the layman into shock, the cabaret offered him the illusion of a compromise, the feeling that he was being flirted with - by force drawing him into a new theatricality, accustoming him to new proposed circumstances. The discoveries made in the "roadside theatres" in many ways prepared the aesthetic base for the avant-garde of the 20th century; in parallel with this, the foundations of the mass culture industry were laid here.

The purpose of the dissertation research is to reveal the patterns of the emergence of new forms and genres of theater in France at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, to show the commonality of their artistic searches, their fundamental innovation in the context of the socio-cultural changes of this period.

The objectives of the study include the study of the "alternative" theatrical process at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, the correlation of new forms and genres with the discoveries of the director's theater; demonstration of the search for new theatrical solutions through the specifics of cabaret and "horror theater", through the metaphorical nature of the shadow theater and puppet theater; determination of the role of these phenomena in the evolution of stage language, their overall contribution to the development of theatrical art of the 20th century.

1 Cm.: Pierron A. Préface // Pierron A. Le Grand Guignol: Le Théâtre des peurs de la Belle époque. Paris, 1995. P.X.

A comprehensive study of "alternative" theatrical forms that arose in France at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries and go beyond theatrical naturalism and theatrical symbolism, their correlation with the general theatrical process and the determination of their place in it is carried out for the first time and constitutes the scientific novelty of the work. Most of the documents and materials that were used to recreate the presented phenomena were not previously involved in domestic theater studies; many performances and dramatic texts are described and analyzed in Russian for the first time.

The study of new theatrical forms and genres at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries in the context of the formation of the director's theater seems relevant in the light of similar processes taking place in the theater of the early 21st century, which is also characterized by going beyond the traditional boundaries of the stage space, the desire to synthesize theatrical forms (puppets, masks , shadows, objects), mastering the experience of related arts. Many discoveries made more than a century ago have been erased from historical memory; return to the roots, the study of the experience of the previous century allows you to reconsider the patterns of development of theatrical art, contributes to the rethinking of today's theatrical experiments.

The object of the study is the French theater at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries.

The subject of the research is "alternative" forms and genres of theater in France (cabaret, shadow theater, puppet theater, "horror theater") in the context of the theatrical evolution at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, the transition to the director's theater.

The research material was:

Theoretical publications and manifestos of French theatrical figures at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries;

Dramatic texts and scripts for performances (Sha Noir, Petit Theater de Marionette, Grand Guignol), not previously translated into Russian;

Reviews, reviews, memoirs of contemporaries;

various historical and theatrical documents of the era, posters, iconographic materials.

The research methodology is based on the principles of analysis and description of the theatrical phenomenon developed by the Leningrad-Petersburg school of theater studies; correlating this phenomenon with the historical and socio-cultural context, determining its place in the general theater process.

The theoretical basis of the study was: modern scientific works about the nature of the theater and the typology of theatrical systems - Yu.M. Barboy, V.I. Maksimova1; fundamental works of domestic and foreign experts devoted to the problems of directing and Western European (in particular, French) theater at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries (L.I. Gitelman, T.I. Bachelis, V.I. Maksimov2; D. Knowles, J. Robichet , D. Bable3); related research humanities, aesthetics and theory of French art at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries (Ch. Rerik, R. Shattak4; V.I. Bozhovich, V.I. Razdolskaya5); works of foreign and modern domestic art critics on general issues of Western European art of the studied era6.

1 Barboy Yu.M. To the theory of the theater. St. Petersburg, 2008; Introduction to theater studies / Comp. and resp. ed. Yu.M. Barboy. St. Petersburg, 2011; Maksimov V.I. Age of Antonin Artaud. SPb., 2005.

2 Bachelis T.I. Shakespeare and Craig. M., 1983; Gitelman L.I. Russian classics on the French stage. L., 1978; Gitelman L.I. Ideological and creative searches of French directing of the XX century. L., 1988; The Art of Directing Abroad: (First Half of the 20th Century): Reader. St. Petersburg, 2004; French symbolism. Dramaturgy and theater / Comp., entry. Art., comment. IN AND. Maksimov. SPb., 2000.

3 Knowles D. La Reaction idéaliste au théâtre depuis 1890. Paris, 1934; Robichez J. Le Symbolisme au théâtre: Lugné-Poe et les débuts de l "OEuvre. Paris, 1957; Bablet D. La Mise en scène contemporaine: (1887-1917). Paris, 1968.

4 Rearick Ch. Pleasures of the Belle Epoque. New Haven; London, 1985; Shattuck R. Les primitifs de l "Avant-garde: (Henri Rousseau, Erik Satie, Alfred Jarry, Guillaume Apollinaire). (The Banquet years). Paris, 1974.

5 Bozhovich V.I. Traditions and interaction of arts: (France, late 19th - early 20th century). M., 1987; Razdolskaya V.I. Art of France in the second half of the 19th century. L., 1981.

6 Art Nouveau: (1890-1914). London, 2000; German M. Modernism: (Art of the first half of the 20th century). St. Petersburg, 2008; Kirichenko I.E. Modern. To the question of the origins and typology // Soviet art history "78. Issue 1. M., 1979. S. 249-283; Sarabyanov D.V. Modern: History of style. M., 2001.

The literature on the subject can be divided into four groups, according to the four phenomena under consideration: 1) cabaret; 2) shadow theater; 3) puppet theater; 4) Grand Guignol.

1. As a rule, in Russian science, the cabaret of the turn of the 19th-20th centuries refers to the phenomena of variety art1, which is certainly true in the context of its aesthetic evolution. Cabaret, which swept the whole of Europe at the beginning of the 20th century, does not cease to arouse interest among Western researchers; however, it is studied mainly as a cultural phenomenon2. A special place is given to the cabaret Sha Noir3 (Black Cat) - the first artistic cabaret in Paris, which was perceived by contemporaries as a model.

Considering cabaret as a new form of theatricality was first proposed by M.M. Bonch-Tomashevsky in his 1913 article "The Theater of Parody and Grimace"4, in which he formulated the basic principles of the cabaret, which were subsequently adopted by the director's theatre. Among them: the elimination of the stage ramp, the principle of the atmosphere of the spectacle, the release of action into the hall, improvisation and the grotesque as components of the performing style, the "universality" of the actor, the creation of a mask as a necessary condition for existence on the stage, denial and ridicule as the basis of the creative nature of the cabaret.

N.K. Petrova 1985 "Theatrical art of Montmartre (Formation of theaters of small forms

1 Uvarova E.D. Variety theater: miniatures, reviews, music halls (1917-1945). M., 1983; Klitin S.S. History of stage art. SPb., 2008.

2 Astre A. Les cabarets littéraires et artistiques // Les spectacles a travers les ages: (Théâtre. Cirque. Music-Hall. Café-concerts. Cabarets artistiques). Paris, s.a. T. 1. P. 327-364.; Rearick Ch. Pleasures of the Belle Epoque; Montmartre and the making of mass culture. New Brunswick; New Jersey; London, 2001; Appignanesi JI. Cabaret. M., 2010.

3 Le Chat Noir: (1881-1897). Les dossiers du Musée d "Orsay. Paris, 1992; Fields A. Le Chat Noir: (A Montmartre Cabaret and Its Artists in Tum-of-the-Century Paris). Santa Barbara, 1993; Oberthür M. Le cabaret du Chat Noir à Montmartre (1881-1897), Genève, 2007.

4 Bonch-Tomashevsky M.M. Theater of parody and grimaces. (Cabaret) // Masks. 1912-1913. No. 5. pp. 20-38.

in French theater culture end of the 19th century) Artistic cabarets (on the example of Cha Noir), the art of Montmartre chansonniers, the “spontaneous” theater of the late 19th century (the author refers the balls of Montmartre, for example, Moulin de la Galette) to it are presented in separate chapters. N.K. Petrova explores not only the cabaret, but Montmartre reality in general; considers it as a reflection of socio-cultural changes and a consequence of the theatricalization of life characteristic of the time. Despite the undeniable value of the study (description of the era, the variety of phenomena presented, the novelty of the material), the text contains many rather abstract characteristics; each spectacular event is attributed to the theater, and each performance - to the performance, which is not always justified and not always documented. First of all, this concerns the description of Sha Noir2 performances.

Unique in its kind is Harold Segel's monograph on the history of cabaret3, which covers the entire European culture cabaret and shows the dynamics of its development. In the preface summarizing the formation of the cabaret, the author examines its interaction with the theater, making a fundamental conclusion that the cabaret has established the rights of the "art of small forms", by which Segel understands "the art consisting of genres that have traditionally been perceived as secondary or insignificant in relation to high culture"4 (among them - a song, a parody, a puppet theater, etc.).

2. Due to the fact that for ten years there was a shadow theater in Cha Noir, it stands apart in the culture of the French cabaret. In general research on Sha Noir, shadow theater is considered as one

1 Petrova N.K. Theatrical art of Montmartre (Formation of theaters of small forms in

French culture at the end of the 19th century). Dis. ...cand. art history. M., 1985. See: Ibid. pp. 22-32.

3 Segel H.B. Turn-of-the-century cabaret: (Paris, Barcelona, ​​Berlin, Munich, Vienna, Cracow, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Zurich). New York, 1987.

4 Ibidem. P. XVI.

from the components of the cabaret; they do not analyze the technical features of the theater, its fundamental difference from the previous tradition. On the contrary, in the specialized works on the history of the shadow theater1, where Cha Noir is devoted to separate chapters, the main attention is paid to the technology, which correlates with the Eastern and European shadow theater traditions; this does not take into account the cultural context of the era, the individuality of the cabaret, does not evaluate the independent artistic value of shadow performances.

An exception is the monograph by Paul Jeanne,2 a contemporary of Cha Noir, who proposed a classification of the shadow theater repertoire, considering it as part of the cabaret culture. Detailed reviews by critic Jules Lemaitre3, reviews and memoirs of contemporaries, texts of posters, iconographic materials make it possible to reconstruct some shadow performances, to correlate them with the aesthetics of symbolism and modernity.

3. Experiments with the puppet theater at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries fell into the circle of scientific interests of foreign researchers relatively recently4; in Russian theater studies they are still ignored. The puppet as a tool in the implementation of new theatrical ideas that had a direct impact on the concept of impersonal theater is considered in the monograph by Didier Plassard, dedicated to the actor in the system of modernist art of the 20th century5 and in the dissertation of Helene Beauchamp6, which

1 Bordât D., Boucrot F. Les théâtres d "ombres: Histoire et techniques. Paris, 1956; Blackham O.

Shadow puppets. London, 1960; Cook O. Movement in Two Dimensions: (A study of the animated and projected pictures which preceded the dimension of cinematography). London, 1963. 1 Jeanne P. Les théâtres d "ombres à Montmartre de 1887 à 1923: (Chat Noir, Quat" z "arts, Lune Rousse). Paris, 1937.

3 See for example: Lemaitre J. Le Chat Noir // Lemaitre J. Impressions de théâtre. Paris, 1888. 2-ème serie. P. 319-343; Lemaitre J. Le Chat Noir//Lemaitre J. Impressions de theatre. Paris, 1891. 5-ème serie. P. 347-354.

5 Plassard D. L "acteur en effigie. Lausanne, 1992.

6 Beauchamp H. La marionette, conscience critique et laboratoire du théâtre. Usages théorique et scénique de la marionnette entre les années 1890 et les années 1930. (Belgique, Espagne, France). These de doctorat en littérature comparée. Paris IV - Sorbonne. 2007.

studies puppet theater in France, Belgium and Spain at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries as a creative laboratory for theatrical experiments. The structure of Beauchamp's thesis is built in such a way that the same phenomena appear repeatedly in different aspects (in their relationship with religion, theatrical tradition, the sociocultural situation, etc.), which hinders the assessment of their overall contribution to the further development of the theater.

4. The most studied phenomenon of the “alternative” theatrical process at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries is the “horror theater” of the Grand Guignol. It is also the most schematic in terms of the type of presentation, since it marks the transition to mass culture. Leaving behind an impressive legacy and influencing the film industry, Grand Guignol has been the recipient of several monographs in the West1; A special contribution to its study was made by the French theater researcher A. Pieron, under whose editorship the fundamental anthology of Grand Guignol's drama was published2. The long creative life of this theater is recreated in the preface and detailed comments.

Among domestic scientists, E.D. Galtsov, in connection with the staging of “Notes from the Underground” by F.M. Dostoevsky3. In the center of scientific interest here is the text of Dostoevsky, staged for the first time on the French stage, the French interpretation of the Russian classic, the correlation of the staging with the original.

In modern French theater studies, interest in certain little-studied plots of the theater at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries is increasing: for example, it is presented from different angles in the collection of articles of 2006

1 Riviere F., Wittkop G. Grand Guignol. Paris, 1979; Hand R.J., Wilson M. Grand-Guignol: (The French theater of horror). Exeter, 2002.

2 Le Grand Guignol. Le Théâtre des peurs de la Belle Époque / Éd. Table par A. Pierron. Paris, 1995; See also: Pierron A. Petite scène à grands effets au Grand-Guignol // Le Spectaculaire dans les arts dans la scène: du Romantisme à la Belle Époque. Paris, 2006. P. 134-137.

3 Galtsova E.D. "Notes from the Underground" at the Parisian Horror Theater Grand Guignol // From Text to Stage: Russian-French Theatrical Interactions of the 19th-20th Centuries: Sat. articles. Moscow, 2006, pp. 29-47.

"The Spectacle of the Performing Arts: (From Romanticism to Belle Epoque)"1. Of particular interest are the following articles: "The Small Stage and the Great Effects of the Grand Guignol" by A. Pieron, "The Temptation of the Shadow Theater in the Age of Symbolism" by S. Luce, "The Song, the "Performance" of Belle Epoque" by O. Goetz, "Convulsions of the End of the Century . Spectacle outside the text of pantomime» A. Rikner. However, no attempt has yet been made to combine them and consider them in one plane. In Russian theater studies, until now, attention has been paid only to the cabaret and partly to the Grand Guignol (also due to the fact that at the beginning of the 20th century its analogue existed in St. Petersburg)2.

The practical significance of the study is determined by the fact that its results can be used in lecture courses on the history of the foreign theater of the 19th and 20th centuries, in special courses on the history of pop art, puppet theater; as well as in the further study of the French theater of the period under review. In addition, the dissertation may be of interest to stage practitioners whose interests lie in the field of experimental theater.

Approbation of the research results. The results of the dissertation research are published in a number of articles by the author in journals and scientific publications; also in reports at scientific postgraduate conferences (St. Petersburg, SPbGATI, 2010; Minsk, BGAI, 2010; Brno (Czech Republic), JAMU, 2011); at the International Conference "Art of the Doll: Origins and Innovations" (Moscow, STD RF - S.V. Obraztsov, 2013).

Discussion of the dissertation took place at meetings of the Department of Foreign Art of the St. Petersburg State Academy of Theater Arts.

Work structure. The dissertation consists of an Introduction, four chapters, a Conclusion, a list of references (more than 230 titles) in Russian, French and English, as well as two Appendixes:

1 Le Spectaculaire dans les arts de la scène: (Du romantisme à la Belle époque). Paris, 2006.

2 See: Tikhvinskaya L.I. Everyday life of the theatrical bohemia of the Silver Age. M., 2005.

the first contains the repertoire of theaters, translations of scripts and excerpts from plays, the second presents iconographic materials.

The Introduction substantiates the choice of the research topic and its relevance, determines the degree of development of the problem, formulates the main goals and objectives of the work, its methodological principles. An analysis of the literature on the issue published in Russian, French, and English is given.

The Introduction also examines the theatrical and general cultural situation in France at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries - Belle Epoque, when a global upheaval is taking place in all areas of culture, science and art. All types of art at this time enter the stage of "radical restructuring of their figurative structures"1. Fundamental changes in the field of theater were associated with the emergence of the director's theater, which developed in polemics with academicism and commercial tradition, asserting itself in parallel in two artistic directions - naturalism and symbolism. At the same time, the theatrical aesthetics of neo-romanticism and modernity are being formed.

The book by A. Aderé "Roadside Theatre", which is at the origin of this topic, is analyzed. Despite its informative nature, here for the first time an attempt was made to unite the disparate phenomena of the "near-theatrical" process. However, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the "roadside theater" turns into an independent artistic phenomenon that reflected and supplemented the director's reform of the theater. Further, the Introduction outlines the range of phenomena that will be considered in the dissertation and substantiates their choice, gives a general description of each of them.

In the first chapter - "Cabaret", which consists of three sections, the cabaret is explored as a new independent form of effective creativity, an alternative theatrical venue of Belle Epoque, which establishes its own

1 Bozhovich V.I. Traditions and interaction of arts: (France, late 19th - early 20th century). C. 4.

the laws of creating a stage image, the relationship between the stage and the audience, the conditions for the existence of the performer and the public.

Despite the fact that cabaret and director's theater emerged in France almost simultaneously, they did not intersect with each other. The French cabaret was not itself a theater; it proposed the path of theatricality as the basis of life and stage creativity, the essence of which will be formulated later in the concept of H.H. Evreinova: “Theatricality appears as a form-building mechanism, aimed not at representing the forms and phenomena of reality, but at the creation of original aesthetic forms, which life itself then adopts”1. In his 1908 Apology for Theatricality, Evreinov gave the following definition of the term: “By ‘theatricality’... I mean an aesthetic monstrosity of a clearly tendentious nature, which, even far from the theater building, with one delightful gesture, with one beautifully protonated word, creates stages, scenery and frees us from the shackles of reality - easily, joyfully and without fail. Such an understanding of theatricality belonged to the aesthetics of modernity; it is based on the thesis of the transformation of life with the help of art, which corresponds to the direction of development of the French cabaret. O. Norvezhsky defined his creative search as follows: “Less literary and more sparkling, painfully sharp and at the same time elegant reflection of the whole nightmare of everyday life”3. It is in the cabaret in France that the formation of theatrical modernity begins as a reaction to symbolism in the theater.

The section "Origins" gives the history of the creation of the most famous cabaret in Paris - Chas Noir (1881-1897). The aesthetic phenomenon of Montmartre, the cultural center of Belle Epoque, is shown. Cabaret masking the "tragedy

1 Dzhurova T.S. The concept of theatricality in the work of H.H. Evreinova. SPb., 2010. S. 15.

2 Evreinov H.H. Theater as such // Evreinov H.H. Theatrical demon. M.; SPb., 2002. S. 40-41.

3 Norwegian O. Cabaret // Theater and Art. 1910. No. 10. S. 216.

everyday life" festive theatricality, has become a symbol of Montmartre - the "free city" of a young artistic bohemia, a state within a state that lives by its own laws, in accordance with aesthetic taste and artistic logic. The following is an extraordinary personality of Rodolphe Saly (1851-1897) - the famous director of Chas Noir, the self-proclaimed king of Montmartre. Thanks to Sali's administrative talent and creative flair, Cha Noir becomes a cabaret model that has caused mass imitation throughout Europe. The aesthetic eclecticism that reigned in Sha Noir is projected onto the entire culture of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. During the period of art rethinking itself, the cabaret reconciled representatives of different artistic movements under its roof, becoming a symbol of creative freedom and a place of concentration of creative forces, their free interaction with each other. For the first time, letting the audience go behind the scenes of creativity, it united the traditions of the salon and the booth, gave impetus to experiments with theatrical forms and genres that until that moment belonged to the "grassroots culture".

The “Composition of the Evening” section analyzes the laws by which a cabaret performance is built, the significance of the figure of an entertainer, the principle of the existence of a performer on stage.

Momentum and improvisation were the main laws of the evening, irony and denial were the main direction; from the entertainer (the creator of this tradition was Sali) eloquence and wit, awareness of contemporary issues, the ability to combine the hall and the stage, to build the logic of the sequence of numbers were required. Own individuality, multiplied by the exact artistic calculation - this is the basic law of creating the image of a cabaret.

The performing tradition of cabaret was revealed especially brightly in the work of the chansonnier; cabaret becomes a kind of "chansonnier theater". “Being alone on the stage, the chansonniers were both performers and

directors of their performance. Less subject to change than the actors ... they developed an individual type and consistently improved physical data, manners, gestures, costume. Finally formed, this type turned into a frozen image, recognizable at first sight...”1. The image of the cabareteur was brought almost to the level of a mask, behind which a specific plasticity, manner of speech and behavior was assigned. In contrast to the theatrical tradition, the mask did not hide the performer; on the contrary, it was a stage-transformed portrait of a person in which natural features were exaggerated. At the same time, the cabarettiere became a hostage of the stage image he created once and for all. The tragic farcical nature of the cabaret, the individual mask as the basis of the performing tradition, are revealed through the work of the greatest chansonniers of the era - Aristide Bruant and Yvette Guilbert, who created a unique dramatic genre of the song-short story, as well as a vivid image of the performer, who provokes the audience with his work.

The “Creating the Atmosphere” section is devoted to life-creating actions and hoaxes, which were as important for the holistic image of each cabaret as well-thought-out style and interior details.

In general, the French cabaret offered a complete aesthetic model, which would later be mastered by the director's theater in Germany and Russia: with a new system of relations between the stage and the hall, which is based on theatricality - the cabaret abolishes the ramp and includes the viewer in the performance; a new performing style (cabareteer mask), a mixture of genres (tragifarce) and a shift in specific boundaries (song-performance). Over time, the cabaret moves towards the art of variety, to which it was originally akin; but the spread of theatrical laws within the cabaret also could not but lead him to independent theatrical experiments, as happened with Sha Noir.

1 Goetz O. La chanson, "spectacle" de la Belle Epoque // Le spectaculaire dans les arts de la scène (Du romantisme à la Belle Epoque). P. 152-153.

The second chapter - "Shadow Theatre", consisting of two sections, is dedicated to the shadow theater in the cabaret Chas Noir, which existed there for almost ten years (from December 1886 until the closing of the cabaret at the beginning of 1897), during which it was the main event for the public and the main business for the employees of Sha Noir, all artistic forces and all financial expenses were directed to it. The classification of the repertoire is given, the most significant performances are analyzed, the technical arrangement of the stage, the technology of making shadow figures are described.

Shadow representations have long been perceived by Europeans as the most appropriate form for children's perception. At the end of the 19th century, the popularity of the shadow theater was due to several factors, among which were an increased interest in the East (the performances of Sha Noir were directly influenced by Japanese engraving, which the founder of the theater Henri Rivière was fond of); proximity to symbolist theatrical aesthetics (the idea of ​​Plato's cave); finally, the rise of graphics during this period (among the creators of the shadow theater were famous graphic artists of the turn of the century: Rivière, Karan d "Ash, Adolphe Villette, Henri Somme). The basis of the first performances was a series of drawings and caricatures that were regularly published in the cabaret newspaper1. Thus, on the eve of the birth of cinematography, the art of animated images aroused a special interest of the audience.Thanks to the independence of the authors from the general theatrical process, their ease in dealing with tradition, Sha Noir managed to modify the European tradition of shadow theater: from a spectacle for children, it turned into a generalizing, philosophical art; technical innovations added color and perspective to the black-and-white plane of the screen canvas.

Sha Noir artists did not go deep into the history of shadow theater, they considered the surface of the screen as a picture, to which a change of composition was added, which in itself refers to the aesthetics of modernity. form

1 Following Cha Noir, almost every cabaret published its own newspaper.

performances of Cha Noir can be considered as the realization of the idea of ​​a “revived picture” - which, according to V.I. Maksimov, was "a typical for modernist implementation of the synthesis of arts"1. Rhythmic change of images, coherence of the collective movement of figures, combination of several plans, linear modeling of images, stylization are the shaping principles of modernity, which are embodied in the performances of Sha Noir.

The performances are divided into two groups: "Shadows of History" - large-scale compositions into historical, legendary, biblical stories; "Contours of Modernity" - sketches and sketches on modern topics, often published from the pages of a cabaret newspaper.

The section "Shadows of History" analyzes the creative biography of Henri Riviera - the initiator, leader, inventor of the Sha Noir shadow theater. The most significant performances are described: "The Epic" (1886), "The Temptation of St. Anthony" (1887), "Behind the Guiding Star" (1890), which were built on the correlation of the images of the crowd and the Hero towering above it, setting the direction of the path. Thanks to Karan d'Ash's Epic, a performance about the grandiose Napoleonic victories, the shadow theater receives public recognition. A noteworthy review is one of the reviewers, who wrote that Epic "gives the viewer a previously unknown impression, the impression of the image of the human masses on the stage"2 "... Over the past ten years, the most powerful shock from the reality of what is happening on the stage has not been received from real soldiers, armed with real guns and dressed in real cloth, but was created using artificial similitudes, the most fragile and least tangible of all"3 "Mass scenes" became the most memorable: the fundamental rejection of the individualization of characters, the coherence of their collective movement created a feeling

1 Maksimov V. Age of Antonin Artaud. S. 101.

2 Talmeyr M. La foule en scène: (A propos de l "Epopée de Caran d" Ache) // La Revue d "Art dramatique. 1887. 15 janv. P. 75.

3 Ibidem. P. 78.

that all these heroes are led by a single spirit and have immense possibilities.

In search of the "Super-Hero", the creators of the shadow theater turn to history ("The Conquest of Algeria", 1889), to the lives of the saints ("Saint Genevieve of Paris", 1893), to the national epic ("Roland", 1891), to mythology (" Sphinx”, 1896), even to the future (“The Night of Times, or the Elixir of Youth”, 1889). In the "Sphinx", a "legendary epic" in 16 paintings (drawings - Vignola, words and music - Georges Fragerol), presented a year before the closing of the theater, the hero became the story itself, which was personified by the Sphinx: "Centuries succeed each other, people come and leave; Egyptians, Assyrians, Jews, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs; Crusades, Napoleonic armies, countless ranks of British soldiers - they all pass by the majestically lying figure of the Sphinx, which in the end remains alone, cold and mysterious. The procession of peoples shown in 1896 no longer followed the “guiding star”, as it was in 1890, it did not look for a guide at all; the direction of movement was set by the course of History, in which the Sphinx literally acted as Doom.

Such a theatrical form made it possible to stage large-scale plots. Bringing the theme of fate onto the stage, revealing the historical course of events presented through the modern worldview - all this gave the theater a new level of generalization and conventionality. Shadow performances corresponded to the general theatrical trend set by the Symbolists and formulated by Pierre Quillard: “The theater will be what it should be: a pretext for a dream”2.

The Contours of Modernity section includes such performances as The Party in Whist (1887), The Golden Age (1887), Pierrot Pornographer (1893), as well as two performances based on the plays by M. Donne - Phryne and "Elsewhere" (both -

1 Cook O. Movement in Two Dimensions: (A study of the animated and projected pictures which preceded the dimension of cinematography). London, 1963. P. 76.

Cit. Quoted from: Maksimov V.I. French Symbolism - Entry into the Twentieth Century // French Symbolism. Dramaturgy and theatre. S. 14.

1891). Here the image of a modern hero was created - reduced, ridiculous, deliberately "not inscribed" in public life, which, with an ironic presentation, was recognizable and close to the viewer. In the spirit of cabaret, performances on contemporary themes were a commentary on the surrounding reality; they reflected the worldview of the turn of the century, combining extreme skepticism and yearning for the Ideal.

A feature of the shadow performances of Sha Noir was that the music and the word were aids, designed to enhance the effect of successive "animated pictures", forming a harmonious unity. The feeling of the authenticity of what was happening was created thanks to the stylistic integrity of the work, the dynamic coherence of all elements of the performance. The shadow theater became a reflection of the culture of the French cabaret, which did not support any of the artistic movements of the turn of the century, given them all: Sha Noir performances synthesized the meaningful mystery of symbolism, orientalism and sensuality of modernity, the objectivity of naturalism and academic scope, refracting them through the laws of the "parody theater and grimaces." At the same time, the shadow performances of Sha Noir became an independent theatrical phenomenon that went beyond the aesthetic concept of cabaret in search of a solution to the theatrical problems proper. The metaphorical nature of the silhouette, the shadow figure served as a resource for creating a modern stage language, the unit of which was the image on the screen.

The third chapter - "Puppet Theatre", which consists of two sections, analyzes the practice of the Petit Theater de Marionette (Little Puppet Theater, 1888-1894) and the theatrical experiment of Alfred Jarry with the guignol (cabaret Katz "Ahr, 1901) - a traditional type of puppet theater.

Sha Noir's experience revealed the artistic potential of traditional puppet theater forms and showed their metaphorical nature. J. Sadoul wrote that Cha Noir indirectly prepared the success of cinema, proving that "optical performances

can be as successful with the public as plays performed by flesh-and-blood actors. Thanks to Sha Noir, for the first time, the theatrical form appeared in the center of public interest, in which the actor was not the main bearer of meaning at all: the shadow figure in this case was only one of the elements of the performance, inscribed in the stage composition. Following the shadow theater, other puppet systems also attracted attention: at the turn of the century, the puppet theater began to be comprehended as an independent artistic language, the range of expressive means of which is capable of exceeding the capabilities of the theater of a live actor.

In the introductory section, short review history of puppet theater in France; the main technological systems are considered, each of which, until the 1880s, was a form of performance regulated by tradition (with a fixed repertoire, type of platform, method of controlling the puppet).

In 1888, two years before the first theatrical experiments of the Symbolists, the Petit Theater de Marionette opened in Paris, which in many ways anticipated the ideas of the Theater d "Ar (1890-1892). The initiative belonged to a group of writers and poets (the main ideologists are Henri Signoret and Maurice Bouchor ), who offered the public a new repertoire, consisting of masterpieces of world drama. art program in a season and a half, the theater staged the following plays: Aristophanes' Birds, Cervantes' interlude The Vigilant Guard (both May 1888), Shakespeare's The Tempest (November 1888), Molière's early farce Barboulier's Jealousy, and the medieval drama Abraham the Hermit » Hrothsvita of Gandersheim (April 1889). The authors of the performances strove to create an objective ideal image: in their opinion, it would be violated by the materiality of a living person. Petit theater not only influenced the further development of puppetry, but became

1 Sadul Zh. General history of cinema: In 6 vols. M., 1958. T. 1. S. 143.

a prototype of the impersonal theater model, the ideas of which will be developed in modernism.

Of all the puppet systems, the Petit Theater turned to the least dynamic, the automaton puppets, which inherited the tradition of crèches (literally, "manger"), Western European Christmas performances with mechanical figures. Dolls, modeled after classical sculpture, were miniature human models; at the same time, they were deprived of an emotional beginning, their plasticity was reduced to a fixed gesture. Statue, static mise-en-scenes, which, combined with unhurried melody, emphasized the majesty of the movement, created a special style of performance, in which contemporaries saw the embodiment of theatrical conventions. "Ideograms of the body, mechanical performers reduced the stage existence of the character to a minimum, to a few basic signs"1. Based on the analysis of the performances, the practice of the Petit Theater correlates with the theatrical concepts of M. Maeterlinck and G. Craig.

In 1890, the theater was headed by the poet Maurice Bouchor, who had previously translated The Tempest. Despite the fact that Bouchor "wanted to create a modern, new, author's theater"2, under him the Petit Theater made a turn to the model of the 19th century theater, and this was primarily due to his dramaturgy. In total, Bouchor staged six of his plays on religious subjects at the Petit Theater: Tobias (1890), The Nativity (1890), The Legend of St. Cecilia (1892), Hayyam's Dream, Adoration of St. 1892), "Eleusinian Mysteries" (1894). In "Tobiah", as in the earliest play, its shortcomings were already visible: Bushor eventually went along the path of habituation of dialogues and situations, trying to "humanize" the characters and introduce worldly logic into their actions.

Alfred Jarry went the opposite way to Bushor - from "marioning" the actors to turning to the puppet theater; his theatrical

1 Plassard D. L "acteur en effigie. P. 32.

2 Le Goffic Ch. Le Petit Theater des Marionnettes // La Revue encyclopédique. 1894. No. 85. 15 juin. P. 256.

the experiment is discussed in the section "Guignol and Ubu-King". Jarry also believed that the personality of the actor interferes with the perception of the work, but initially stipulated: "The play" King Ubyu "was written not for puppets, but for actors playing like puppets, which is not the same"1. After a succession of theatrical experiences (including a production of King Ubu at the Théâtre Evre in 1896), Jarry moved on to the guignol, a type of traditional puppet show with glove puppets (named for the protagonist). Jarry argued that the actor "should specially create for himself a body suitable for his role"2, and the puppet theater provided him with the opportunity to model the characters himself. He emphasized this discovery in a 1902 lecture given in Brussels: “Only dolls, the owner, master and Creator of which you are (since it seems necessary to make them yourself), dutifully and simply convey what can be called a scheme of accuracy - our thoughts” 3.

So, in November 1901, in the Parisian cabaret Katz "Ar (cabaret of the Four Arts), with the participation of the author, "King Ubu" was played in puppets; the text was specially shortened (in two acts) and adapted; the action was preceded by a prologue written in guignol a professional puppeteer from the Champs Elysées was brought in to direct the characters, and Papa Ubu's puppet was made by the author himself. immoral and illogical spectacle, where the protagonist deals with the rest of the characters with his club.In this case, the choice of the guignol form made the action even more illogical, reinforcing the grotesque images of the characters.

1 Cited. by: Plassard D. L "acteur en effigie. P. 43.

2 Jarry A. On the uselessness of the theater for the theater // As always - about the avant-garde: (Anthology of the French theatrical avant-garde). M., 1992. S. 19.

Jarry A. Conférence sur les Pantins // Les mains de lumière: (Anthologie des écrits sur l "art de la marionnette) / Textes réunis et présentés par D. Plassard. Charleville-Mézières, 1996. P. 205.

traditional theater and new dramaturgy, can be considered one of the pinnacles of "roadside theater".

As in the Petit Theatre, the philosophical content of the traditional puppet system set the perspective for the audience's perception. Sharpness, fairground rudeness, even the cruelty of the guignol organically combined with the farcical figure of a monster that entered the theatrical mythology of the 20th century - Papa Ubu. On the contrary, the slow motion, the majestic detachment of the puppets of the Petit Theatre, referring to religious performances, created an atmosphere of incomprehensible, ideal reality on the stage. The discovery was that the choice of form already created the stage content in itself. These puppet performances anticipate the beginning of the director's puppet theater, more broadly, they become an impetus for further freedom of modeling form in the theater in general.

The fourth chapter - "Grand Guignol" includes two sections and is devoted to the "horror theater" Belle Epoque. This theater was located in the building of the former chapel, in the center of the Pigalle quarter, the most criminal area of ​​Paris. Opened in 1897, the Grand Guignol "denoted both a place and a genre at the same time"1, survived two world wars with unflagging public interest, became one of the sights of Paris and ended its existence only in 1962, becoming a phenomenon of mass culture. The chapter describes the structure of the theater, gives the main characteristics of the genre, examines the personalities of the creators of the classic formula of the horror genre: theater director Max Moret, playwright Andre de Lorde and his co-author, psychologist Alfred Binet, master of special effects Paul Ratineau.

Grand Guignol - guignol for adults, presented on stage a criminal chronicle of the turn of the century. The absence of a category of morality in the nature of the traditional guignol, the trail of a criminal past that trailed behind the main character (guignol performances were controlled by the police), did not

1 Pierron A. Préface // Le Grand Guignol: (Le Théâtre des peurs de la Belle époque). P. II.

could not influence the choice of the name for the new theater, which, however, had absolutely nothing to do with the puppet theater. A. Pierron, summing up her research on the Grand Guignol, concluded that despite the historical and literary prerequisites, it was a completely new genre: "The theater of extreme situations and transcendent emotions"1.

The section "Drama of the Atmosphere" discusses the basic laws of constructing a grand guignol performance. Max Moret used what had already been found by his predecessor, the theatre's founder, Oscar Methenier, who, as a former collaborator of André Antoine, looked to the early Théâtre Libre. Moret sharpened every component of the performance: the dramas of the lower social strata gave way to stories of shocking human crimes. Having abolished the category of morality, Moret introduced the definition of “drama of the atmosphere”, achieving an exclusively emotional impact on the viewer - through increasing excitement and fear (with him, a full-time doctor appeared in the theater who was on duty during performances - in case the audience became ill). He translated the conciseness of the dramatic form into the concept of “timekeeping” (the play was supposed to last from ten to forty minutes), and the alternation of dramas and comedies into the “contrast shower” technique necessary for psychological relaxation and which became Grand Guignol’s signature style. Finally, under Moret, the naturalistic effect in the theater reached the highest degree development: if Antoine at one time shocked the audience with a demonstration of real meat carcasses on stage, then the audience of the Grand Guignol could observe the most realistic severed limbs, bloody wounds, dismembered corpses, faces doused with sulfuric acid ... “It is important to emphasize,” Pieron writes, - that the audience of the impasse Chaptal visited the theater for their own pleasure. She came out of there shocked, agitated, transformed. On the example of several characteristic

1 Pierron A. Préface // Le Grand Guignol: (Le Théâtre des peurs de la Belle époque). P. LXIII.

2 Ibidem. P. LXII.

guignol plays, the aesthetics of the performance, ways of influencing the audience are analyzed.

The second section of the chapter is called "Contrast shower" - a definition given by contemporaries and characterizing the style of theater productions. The main character in the Grand Guignol was the genre itself, and all elements of the composition of the performance, including the actor, dramaturgy, stage design and special effects, were subject to the mechanism of increasing horror in the auditorium. But the therapeutic effect was that the extremely naturalistic drama of horror, which reached the highest tension in the finale, was replaced by the buffoon comedy that followed it, in which the frightening effect suddenly turned into props. Gradually, Grand Guignol comes to hyperbole, bringing the atmosphere of horror and naturalistic techniques to the point of absurdity; to overcome these emotions and sensations in the mind of the viewer with the help of exposure to the verge of horror and laughter.

Grand Guignol was part of the topography and mythology of Belle Epoque, became its result: he used previous experience - the traditions of tabloid melodrama and the school of the “well-made play”, the rudeness and spectacle of grassroots culture; modern influences - exaggerated the techniques of theatrical naturalism, and to some extent symbolism (the principle of suggested action, most of which occurs in the mind of the viewer); used methods of director's theater in creating "atmosphere drama"; took into account the aesthetics of silent films. Grand Guignol marked the beginning of the study of the psychology of the viewer, the possibilities of emotional impact on him. Finally, Grand Guignol stood at the origins of the horror genre, which later became the property of the film industry.

In the Conclusion, the results of the study are summed up and the prospects for the development of the considered artistic processes are traced.

It is obvious that the new forms and genres of theater that emerged in France at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries were the result of theatrical reform associated with

the formation of the art of directing and the shift in emphasis in the performance from the actor to the artistic integrity of all means of expression.

The impulse to experiment with alternative theatrical forms and genres was the birth of the cabaret, which, however, was not a theater in itself. Cabaret and director's theatre, which arose in France almost simultaneously, did not interact with each other here, since they only formed as phenomena, and formed in parallel. Further, having spread in Germany and Russia already as a ready-made aesthetic model, the cabaret attracts the attention of professional directors and playwrights and is mastered by them as an alternative playground with its own stage laws.

The appeal of artists and playwrights at the turn of the century to the traditional forms of puppet theater, the application of new philosophical and artistic tasks to them revealed their content potential, their symbolic and figurative nature, while abolishing the rules of tradition and making the puppet an instrument in creating an artistic image, which provided the theater with an opportunity free form modeling.

With the advent of the "horror theater", the study of the psychology of the viewer and the possibilities of influencing him begins, which subsequently leads to the phenomenon of genre cinema.

The new forms and genres of theater that emerged in France at the turn of the artistic movements at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries demonstrate the close interconnection, interweaving and obvious similarity of creative searches associated with the process of becoming a director's theater and aimed at rethinking the concept of theatricality. The discoveries made here largely prepared the aesthetic base for the theatrical avant-garde of the 20th century; in parallel with this, the foundations of mass culture were laid here.

1. Kuzovchikova T. I. "Roadside theater" in France at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries // Scientific opinion. - 2013. - No. 11. - S. 116-121. (0.3 p. l.)

2. Kuzovchikova T. I. Guignol and "Ubu-King" // University Science Magazine= Humanities and Science University Journal. - 2013. - No. 6. (in production). (0.25 p. l.)

in other editions:

3. Kuzovchikova T. I. Parisian shadows of the "Black Cat" // Theater of Miracles. - 2010. - No. 1-2. - S. 34-40; No. 3-4. - S. 46-49. (1 p. l.)

4. Kuzovchikova T. I. Montmartre is a free city // Personality and culture. -2010. - No. 5. - S. 98-100. (0.2 p. l.)

5. Kuzovchikova T. I. The Little Puppet Theater of Henri Signoret: the negation of the actor // The phenomenon of the actor: profession, philosophy, aesthetics. Proceedings of the fourth scientific conference of graduate students April 28, 2010. - St. Petersburg: SPbGATI, 2011. - S. 118-123. (0.3 p. l.)

6. Kuzovchikova T. I. Dolls from Vivienne Street // Teatron. - 2011. - No. 1. -WITH. 38^19. (1 p. l.)

7. Kuzovchikova T. I. Cabaret in France at the end of the 19th century as a new form of theatricality. Sha Noir // Theatron. - 2012. - No. 2. - S. 82-94. (1 p. l.)

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