Time to gather for a skit
Old theater tradition revived in Kyiv
It is no secret to anyone that the “time for gathering” is much more constructive than the “time of scattering.” The subject of gathering or scattering is of no importance. What is important is the goal. There used to be a fine tradition in the Kyiv theater community: actors’ skits, prototypes of those ancient comic performances of pre-revolutionary times, which were invented by actors of the Moscow Arts Theater (MKhAT).
In every theater group, skit performers lived off local material. But one day, the ruling organ — the Kyiv branch of the National Union of Theater Workers of Ukraine — took over this action and united the actors in the Ukrainian capital in a citywide skit. For many years this big theatrical family would gather to celebrate the Old New Year’s Day. United in humor, they joked heartily, forgetting about mutual slights and on-stage spats. They all loved each other on the Old New Year’s Eve and were sincerely pleased to belong to Melpomene’s “cohort.”
The time “to scatter” was 2001, the year that this merry tradition died and the theatrical skit disappeared. Time passed, and skeptics and cynics, not to mention normally oriented people of the theater, became sad, feeling the absence of an open, entertaining theater hangout. And voila, after the 2008 New Year arrived, the old tradition, flapping its wings like the Phoenix, was revived on the initiative of the Kyiv branch of the National Union of Theater Workers. Actors, experts, and all theater lovers gathered for the Old New Year’s Day Skit at the Operetta Theater. The head of the Kyiv branch, the ever-popular Oleksii Bohdanovych, came on stage to greet the audience. He then passed the baton to his famous colleague Anatolii Hnatiuk, and the skit performance was in full swing.
Can you imagine actors both on stage and among the audience members? With his energy, inventiveness, and humor Hnatiuk managed to stir up everyone on both sides of the footlights. The program, consisting of old standbys and miniatures, was interspersed with numbers performed by students of the Utiosov Municipal Academy of Variety and Circus Art, who impressed the audience with their mastery, and the members of the Puls Dance Theater. In general, it was a merry meeting of friends, an evening of relaxation with elements of “amateur performances by theater professionals.”
The skit was opened by a dance of gold and silver mice and rats, which is understandable because in the Chinese Year of the Rat rodents should be respected. You could hear hoary jokes about invitations to be filmed in Hollywood and actors’ refusals because they are busy at New Year’s parties. Members of TYuH showed their miniature of a “cultural outing”: the way a play is watched by young theatergoers, who are divided in their theater into those who love the theater and those who don’t like to read. Interesting details of backstage life were featured in the performances of the Sribny Ostriv and Atelier 16, Drama and Comedy Theater on the Left Bank. The young actors from the Lesia Ukrainka Theater adapted the well-known miniature by Roman Kartsev and Viktor Ilchenko on the way goods were obtained in closed shops in our recent Soviet past. Through the actors’ performance the closed shop turned into a theater institute, and this was the time for the audience members to laugh their heads off when the theater director was choosing actors to play various characters.
Political parallels were inevitable, all the more so as these collisions are well-suited to drama. The actors of the Operetta Theater “danced” the history of the complicated relationships among the representatives of the government’s highest echelons, their costumes displaying the colors that have now become Ukrainian historical brands. The satirical writer Oleksandr Volodarsky decided to modernize the old-fashioned drama of the Grimm Brothers, recasting their fairytale Little Red Riding Hood. He shared responsibility for the literary interference with the audience members, listening to their suggestions on remaking the plot. As a result of this joint creative experiment, Little Red Riding Hood turned into a poor girl named Yulechka, who is bringing a bankbook from the Oshchadbank to her grandmother.
During the finale the “heavy artillery” of humor came on stage: the leading figures of the Frankivsk skit movement, a group headed by Les Zadniprovsky. This is truly a “group with the power of truth, which has not been defeated by anyone.” The actors’ chorus roared songs about the difficulties and changing nature of today’s theater life. They did this in such a merry and witty way that I wanted to rush straight to the theater.
There was a lot more at this celebration of skits, even though a number of theaters did not take part. But the most important thing is that the skit has returned — a joint theatrical feast, a meeting, joint merrymaking, and a glass of horilka drunk at the after-party. Although some people are busy, others are skeptical, and still others criticize, the event has taken place. Long live the event! If anyone can do it better, please do.
