Businesspeople prefer to pay for April Fool’s practical jokes to be played on their friends; college/university students have to make do with their own meager resources
Come April Fool’s Day, at least two-thirds of all Ukrainians rack their brains for pulling their friends’ leg, so as to have fun and not to incur their wrath. And it is true that April Fool’s Day is celebrated by two-thirds of the people in Ukraine. It is evidenced by polls and sociologists have succeeded in singling out a category of the population most given to such pranks, with college students topping the list (something well to be expected, of course), closely followed by small — and big-time businessmen. Those taking up the lead usually say they don’t have to invent anything out of the ordinary, mostly relying on time-tested practical jokes. Needless to say, no one is likely to respond to anyone saying something like sorry, friend, but the back of your suit is white, but a lively response is likely to follow, in a college environment, when hearing someone say that stipend is being paid, or that the dean wants to see such-and-such in his office forthwith.
As for businesspeople, they are the principal customers of the April Fool’s Advance Orders Department — and they place orders not only on the eve. Oleh Kyi, general producer of the OS Festivities Theater, is convinced that a practical joke, well planned and rehearsed, has never failed to add to festivities on occasions such as birthday or March 8 [International Women’s Day]. And this considering that placing orders for practical jokes is more complex than dialing a number and stating briefly what is required, then waiting impatiently for the actors to arrive. The theater’s experience shows that such jokes, with the customer playing the key part and actors providing the dramatic backdrop, are considerably more effective. Mr. Kyi recalls a March 8 celebration at a large firm. The male staff decided to discard the trite flowers-candies-champagne scenarios and to come out with something original. The theater suggested that the men dress up as pink elephants and supplied the dialogues, costumes, and stage props. Making the costumes in four days was difficult but possible. Rehearsing was another matter, as managers and chief executive officers had to be taught to dance tango and recite verse in a tragic voice. Rehearsals were held even during office hours. OS actors still laugh, recalling the experience, when the chief executives, clad in their expensive business suits, would use the interval between important business calls to dramatically identify themselves with the semitragic and semicomic pink elephant.
Of course, such practical jokes are not for April 1, they are probably good as pleasant surprises revealing the organizer’s secreted talent. People at the OS Theater believe that it takes something shocking, terrifying, making one gasp. Several years ago, on April Fool’s Day Eve, a company manager called to order a game show for the staff. Preparations were made quickly, and on the prearranged date a man wearing eccentric clothes, mildly speaking, visited the office. He identified himself as the new boss and ordered the staff assembled, whereupon he solemnly declared that innovations were forthcoming. First, he said, all on payroll would undergo attestation, to see who was to be entered on the redundancy list. Second, his subordinates would have additional duties from now on. For instance, the sales manager would from now on share a fresh joke with his subordinates every morning; the design department head would share only good news. Needless to say, the alarmed staff was overjoyed to greet the appearance of the true boss.
Plenty of scenarios could be mentioned, says Mr. Kyi, but the most important thing is to make every such practical joke an exclusive and well-rehearsed performance. When asked if he has ever encountered commissions that were absolutely impossible to carry out, Mr. Kyi replied in the negative, adding, “It’s just that we are faced with problems now and then. At times, they want a dance number on a two-day notice. We have to comply, even though we know that it takes at least four weeks of rehearsing to make this number look good.
“In a word, problems appear when you have a tight schedule. Every such practical joke calls for a number of resources. For example, a customer wants his wife to be greeted with her birthday and says she will be most impressed to see a man hanging upside down, from his own suspenders, holding a bouquet in his teeth. This means that we have to hire a hoisting crane, an operator, and a stuntman. The situation becomes even more complex when we have to make arrangements with property men and with people living next door. Neighbors tend to get curious, seeing stage props and fixtures being assembled on the landing, so we have to set up temporary partitions, at worse, or try to explain that the man living next door is having a very special celebration, and that his friends want him to wake up the next morning in, say, a royal palace.”
The largest-scale and most impressive practical joke was pulled off at a small village in Zakarpattia, a place marked perhaps only by a burnt-down boiler room, but which the theater turned into a small paradise on earth, complete with alleys, winter gardens, playgrounds, and excellent lighting. It took a 120-strong personnel to stage festivities for a hundred guests, but the result was gratifying.
It is true that ordering a practical joke like that is a costly affair. Few will undertake it for less than $10,000. Oleh Kyi, however, maintains that such services are in demand in Ukraine, that such services are sought on a stable yearly basis. Moreover, he says that the clientele has become rather choosy of late, in the best sense of the word. This, of course, has its effect on market supply. Modern festivities tend to be rendered in the real show format, with the cast and the audience being almost equally involved. Family and other celebrations with a single emcee offering trite jokes and toasts are no longer popular.
Oleh Kyi insists that we are approaching the European standard, even when holding different kinds of celebrations. Needless to say, the practical jokes and humor so very popular in Germany, for example, have little meaning or attraction for Ukrainians, but this is explained by the differences in mentality and humor. Otherwise, creativeness and spontaneity are the two pillars of celebrations held anywhere in the world. The SO Theater’s general producer believes that his company has both, and that their Ukrainian audiences will always appreciate them.
