Skorodumov, Nikolai Vladimirovich

He studied at the Moscow Commercial School , then at the natural department of the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow University. One of the organizers and theorists of the peasant folk theater in Russia. One of the founders of the student group to study issues of rural folk theater. He worked in the Moscow branch of the Imperial Russian Technical Society (in the Section for the Promotion of the Settlement of Village, Factory and School Theaters created by the artist VD Polenov ). Author of books and articles on folk theater. In the preface to the book, “A New Method of Simplified Performances,” he wrote: “While working in the village for many years, I have repeatedly watched how the organizers' inability to properly organize the external side of the play is harmful to the development of the folk theater business: how to equip the stage in the most rational way, how to arrange scenery, how to make these or those lighting and sound effects, how to make costumes, etc. Dozens of wonderful plays are rejected only because the atmosphere is “very complicated,” and often they are replaced by “light in decor” but decisively unable to withstand any criticism either from the side of artistry or from the side of content. The author of these lines was sent abroad to get acquainted on the spot with how it was set up in the best rural and most “simplified” city theaters. performances, study literature on this issue, organize a series of experiments, both directly in rural theaters, and in the Section itself, and, finally, turn to artistic authorities to verify everything that has been gained from experience. The results obtained in this way constitute the material of our book. "

In 1906, as a student, he organized a folk theater in the village of Burmakino, Yaroslavl Province, which lasted until 1912. He staged here (together with the student and young actor of the Moscow Art Theater V.V. Gotovtsev ) the performances "Boris Godunov" by A.S. Pushkin , "The Power of Darkness" L.N. Tolstoy ; "Not all cats have Shrovetide" A.N. Ostrovsky and others. The main task of the organizers was "to bring the stage closer to the working people, to free the theater from the humiliating role of a resting place and fun of an educated society." "In Burmakino N.V. Skorodumov carried out an interesting experience of a folk open-air performance. In the summer of 1911, the comedy N.A. Popov on the famous folk tale "Shemyakin court." A performance took place at the forest edge, the scene, according to the example of the Shakespearean theater, was indicated by the inscription fastened on the pole: "The action takes place in the courthouse at the boyar Shemyaki." A "Night" M.A. Stakhovich played out in the late evening by the fire and moon. The naturalness of the situation, the real hut and bonfire, the forest background - all this gave the performance spontaneity and persuasiveness ” ^[1] .

The work of this theater was interested in prominent artists K.S. Stanislavsky , P.N. Orlenev , A.M. Vasnetsov et al. ^[2]

In 1909 he created a peasant theater in Big Vyazemy near Moscow together with V.V. Gotovtsev and resident Vyazem V.A. Ditsky. The repertoire of this folk theater was also composed of Russian drama. The repertoire included plays “Not All the Cat Shrovetide” by A.N. Ostrovsky, "Corrupted" peasant playwright S.T. Semenova , "In the Lowlands" A. Klepikova, "Mermaid" A.S. Pushkin. The peasant theater in Vyazemy has gained fame as one of the most prominent rural theaters. In the spring of 1910, actor Pavel Nikolaevich Orlenev staged charity performances in Vyazemy, which were attended by amateur artists. In his notes, he picturesquely portrayed these theatrical vicissitudes ^[3] .

On September 16, 1909, he visited Big Vyazemy at the invitation of the peasants L.N. Tolstoy, where he examined the fold-consumer society and visited the theater. His secretary V.G. Chertkov often visited the theater in Vyazemy, and later arranged a similar one on his estate in the Tula province. Theater artists and their leaders only in the first three years of existence from 1909 to 1912. 55 performances (38 paid and 17 free), 12 literary and dramatic evenings and 4 lectures were staged. During this time, up to 12 thousand people visited him. Of the 29 members at the foundation of the Vyazemsky Theater, he grew up to 260 actors before the First World War, with 40 percent of them being peasants. The annual expense of the theater grew to 1200 rubles. The theater existed not so much from the sale of tickets and membership fees as from the funds of the Vyazemsky warehouse-consumer society. In 1913, 11 similar theaters operated near Moscow. The latest information about the Bolshevik theater dates back to 1928 ^[4] .

Member of the Russian Bibliographic Society. Subsequently, the acting Director (1925-1926), chief bibliographer in the scientific library of Moscow State University. Gorky.

The owner of the largest in Moscow private collection of pornographic literature, which bequeathed to the library to them. Lenin ^[5] . The value of the collection was noted in the 1920s by the director of the Institute of Psychoanalysis, I.D. Ermakov : “Sexuality requires serious and thorough scientific expertise, especially because it played such a wide role in the evolution of culture and everyday life ... It is very important to keep the collection in its pure form as a socially valuable work.” There is a version that was familiar with the collection and the safety of the owner was provided by G. Yagoda.

“Among the treasures of Skorodumov was a portfolio of drawings and watercolors of avant-garde titan Mikhail Larionov . Made in the 1910s, they are no less scandalous today. One pencil sketch depicts a happily panting dog standing in front of a man who does much more than petting. Watercolor depicts two soldiers having an intimate meeting on a bench. " After Skorodumov’s death, a search of his home was arranged, and more than 40 thousand publications were discovered, 1,763 of which were erotic, and 5 thousand were of pornographic content. The government paid the widow, "citizen Burova," about 14 thousand rubles for the collection, but 6,173 publications (pornographic books, brochures, and posters) were not paid. At the same time, "the Lenin Library did not consider it appropriate to return literature of such a harmful nature to citizen Burova, since owning it in the house of a private citizen poses a significant danger" ^[6] .

• A new method of simplified productions (arrangement of stage and scenery). With adj. Art. and sketches of scenery Acad. V.D. Polenova. - Moscow: Т-in I.D. Sytin, 1914.

• Arrangement of stage and scenery in the folk theater, M., 1920.

• Viren V. In the village of Burmakino // Theater Life. 1959. No. 22.

• Rabinovich M.G. Notes of the Soviet intellectual. Publication and comment. O.V. Budnitsky; entry Art. L.A. Belyaeva, O.V. Budnitsky, V.Ya. Petrukhina. M .: New literary review; International Research Center for Russian and East European Jewry, 2005.