Grodno Regional Puppet Theater

The Grodno Regional Puppet Theater is unique in that it was born several times, namely: four times. And it can celebrate its birthday in the winter of February 2 , and in the autumn of November 1 and 11, and in the spring of May 25 ^[2] .

After the capture of Poland by the Nazis in Grodno came famous directors, musicians, artists. Among them were actors Vladislav Yarema and his wife Stephanie (Sofia ^[1] ), on whose initiative a troupe of a puppet theater was organized. In February 1940, the Central Puppet Theater of the talented artist Sergei Obraztsov showed performances in the same Belarusian city. And already February 2, 1940 is considered the birth of the Grodno State Puppet Theater. It was created with the assistance of Sergei Obraztsov , and headed the first creative puppet collective V. Yarema. The new theater debuted with the performance of the “Circus of Tarabumba” by V. Lyakh. Over time, his program was updated with the performances of “Three Sisters”, “Bear Borovik”, “Potapych”, “Gusenok” N. Gernet (the director of all the performances is V. Yarema, the artist is B. Sheskin, the doll artist is Z. Lesnevskaya). The final performance, “Aladdin's Magic Lamp” by N. Gernet, was staged with the participation of S. Obraztsov and artist B. Tuzlukov. But war soon broke out, and the puppet theater was forced to cease its activities ^[2] .

The rebirth of the puppet theater took place in the post-war period, in the summer of 1946 ^[2] . A small professional troupe began its tour in the House of Folk Art with performances of “Elephant” by G. Vladychina, “Santa Claus” by M. Shurinova and “By the Pike Direction” by E. Tarakhovskaya directed by Yu. K. Antonov and artist T. N. Kozlovsky. The overwhelming success of a talented team played a role. By the decree of the Grodno Regional Council of Deputies of November 11, 1946, the amateur theater acquired official status, and a little later, in 1947, received the status of the regional puppet theater ^[2] .

For the third time, the theater was born on November 1, 1980 according to the Resolution of the Grodno Oblast Executive Committee ^[2] . The troupe was formed from graduates of the Belarusian State Theater and Art Institute , the Leningrad Institute of Theater, Music and Cinema named after N. Cherkasov and graduates of the Grodno College of Culture. The troupe and the theater were directed by director Sergei Yurkevich and the oldest artist of the Belarusian Puppet Theater Leonid Bykov. On May 25, 1981, the Grodno Regional Puppet Theater made its debut with the premiere of the performance “Ludwig and Tutta” by V. Bogach and S. Khristovsky based on the work of Y. Ekholm directed by S. Yurkevich and scenography by L. Bykov. The basis of the classical repertoire of the puppet theater is the performances of “Vasilisa the Beautiful” E. Chernyak, “Sinbad the Sailor” by Y. Fridman and V. Shulzhik, “Cinderella” by E. Schwartz, which are currently popular with the modern audience ^[2] . Of particular interest to young spectators is “Kuzurkiyana” (“The Opera of the Boogers”) by the composer P. Kondrusevich based on the libretto by S. Klimkovich. Satirical originality, bewitching musical accompaniment immerse them in a fairy-tale world. Performances were created based on the famous fairy tales “Morozko” by M. Shurinova, “Beauty and the Beast” by Leprens de Beaumont, “The Road to Bethlehem” by S. Kovalev. Puppet circus show “Incredible Illusion” O. Zhyugd was enthusiastically met on the theater tour in many European countries - Poland , Germany , Lithuania , Ukraine , Russia ^[2] .

Shakespeare’s “trilogy” “The Tragedy of Macbeth”, “A Midsummer Night's Dream”, “Winter's Tale”; plastic-visual artifact “Poem without words” based on J. Kupala; the puppet cabaret “Tea for Two” (“Teafortwo”) by O. Zhyugd and “Tuteishyya” Y. Kupaly were highly appreciated by both the Grodno audience and the foreign one. One of the most popular performances is W. Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Macbeth, directed by O. Zhyugd. who successfully presented theatrical art of Belarus at more than 11 international festivals in 6 countries and collected 14 diplomas and awards ^[2] .

With the original performance of The Queen of Spades, the Puppet Theater in 2012 won the II National Theater Prize in four categories: Best Performance, Best Performance of Puppet Theater, Best Director and Best Actress. This performance received a huge number of awards at international festivals, including the Grand Prix of the VIII International Festival of Puppet Theaters SpectaculoInterese Ostrava (2011), VI International Festival of Puppet Theaters "Parsley the Great" in Yekaterinburg (2012), and the International Theater Festival " Vasara ”in Druskininkai (2013), the International Theater Festival of Chamber and solo performances“ LUDI ”in Oryol and the IV International Straw Lark Festival named after V. A. Volkhovsky in Chelyabinsk (2014), IV International Festival of Puppet Theaters “At a guest x at Harlequin ”in Omsk (2015) ^[2] .

Over the past five years, the puppet theater has toured the cities of Poland , Russia , Ukraine , Croatia , France , Germany , Lithuania , the Czech Republic , Hungary , Romania , Serbia , where it has shown its wonderful performances ^[2] .

The theater participated in international festivals, such as “Meetings in Russia” ( St. Petersburg , Russia ), the Shakespeare Festival ( Gdansk , Poland ), “Theater Confrontation” ( Lublin , Poland ), “Contact” ( Torun , Poland ), “ Vasara ”( Druskininkai , Lithuania ) ^[2] .

A special prize of the President of the Republic of Belarus to artists of culture and the arts “For Contribution to the Development of International Cultural Relations” was received by a talented puppet theater team in 2003 and 2014 ^[2] .

In recent years, namely in 2011-2012, significant changes have taken place in the theater. The stage, the auditorium were restored, communications were replaced, new sound equipment was installed, a museum, a chamber hall and the Shakespeare theater cafe appeared ^[2] .

The Grodno Regional Puppet Theater is located at: 230023, Republic of Belarus, Grodno, ul. Dzerzhinsky 1/1

• The official website of the theater
• The official website of the theater. Theater History
• Grodno Puppet Theater
• Looped story
• Grodno Regional Puppet Theater