People and Puppets and Puppet-People in the Play Uncle’s Dream by the Irkutsk Puppet Theatre “Aistenok”

Download:

PDF
Author: Olga Yu. Yuryeva
Information about the author:

DSc in Philology, Professor, Department of Philology and Methodology, Pedagogical Institute, Irkutsk State University, Sukhe-Batora 9, 664003 Irkutsk, Russia.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8424-4202

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For citation:

Yuryeva, O.Yu. “People and Puppets and Puppet-People in the Play Uncle’s Dream by the Irkutsk Puppet Theatre ‘Aistenok’.” Dostoevsky and World Culture. Philological journal, no. 4 (20), 2022, pp. 220–236. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2022-4-220-236
Received: 05 Sept. 2022
Published: 25 Dec. 2022
Issue: 2022 no. 4 (20)
Department: DOSTOEVSKY ON STAGE
Pages: 220-236
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2022-4-220-236
EDN:

https://elibrary.ru/XVQMPG
UDK: 821.161.1.0+729.9
BBK: 83.3(2=411.2)+85.337
Keywords: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Uncle’s Dream, puppet theater, synthetic performance.
Abstract: The review examines the performance of the Irkutsk puppet theatre “Aistenok” Uncle’s Dream, staged on the occasion of the writer’s 200th anniversary. The author analyzes the expressive means that allowed the director and actors to examine in depth Dostoevsky’s idea, vividly and remarkably represent the characters, offer an original interpretation that does not destroy the author’s concept, leveraging the dramatic intentions implied in the novella, thanks to the synthesis of acting and puppet theatre. The puppet materializes and visualizes a person’s vices, masks, secret aspirations, and desires. The possibilities to express these elements that the puppet gives to the artist are indeed limitless. Therefore, the object of the stage performance is not the plot nor single characters, but Dostoevsky’s philosophy of life. The performance by the Irkutsk puppet theatre incorporates the experience of theatre during 20th and 21st centuries, modernist and postmodernist trends, transforming the puppet show into a truly theatrical action with deep philosophical content. This innovative reading became possible exclusively thanks to the synthetic actor-puppet nature of the performance.

References

1. Vasil’eva, E.V. “Kriterii stsenichnosti povesti F.M. Dostoevskogo ‘Diadiushkin son’” [“Criteria of the Scenic Character of Dostoevsky’s Novella Uncle’s Dream”]. Sovremennie problemy literaturovedeniia, lingvistiki i kommunikativistiki glazami molodykh uchenykh. Traditsii i novatorstvo: mezhvuzovskii sbornik [Current Problem of Literary Criticism, Linguistics, and Communication Sciences Through the Eyes of Young Researchers. Traditions and Innovation: Interuniversity Collection]. Ufa, Bashkir State University Publ., 2018, pp. 10−12. (In Russ.)

2. Vladimirtsev, V.P. “Diadiushkin son” [“Uncle’s Dream”]. Shchennikov, G.K., and Tikhomirov, B.N., eds. Dostoevskii: Sochineniia, pis’ma, dokumenty: Slovar’-spravochnik [Dostoevsky: Works, Letters, Documents. Reference Dictionary]. St. Petersburg, Pushkin House Publ., 2008. 470 p. (In Russ.)

3. Dostoevskii, F.M. Polnoe sobranie sochinenii: v 30 tomakh [Complete Works: in 30 vols]. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1972−1990. (In Russ.)

4. Zakharov, V.N. Sistema zhanrov Dostoevskogo. Tipologiia i poetika [Dostoevsky’s System of Genres. Typology and Poetics]. Leningrad, Leningrad University Publ., 1985. 208 p. (In Russ.)

5. Ivanova, N. “Ob otkrovenii khochetsia govorit’ intimno” [“One Wants to Talk about Revelation in an Intimate Way”]. Vostochno-Sibirskaia Pravda, 5 Oct. 2021. Available at: https://www.vsp.ru/2021/10/05/ob-otkrovenii-hochetsya-govorit-intimno/ (Accessed 15 Apr. 2022). (In Russ.)

6. Zlotnikova, T.S. “Filosofiia i drama zhizni: teatral’nyi opyt ponimaniia F.M. Dostoevskogo” [“Philosophy and the Drama of Life: The Theatrical Experience of Understanding Dostoevsky”]. Observatoriia kul’tury, vol. 18, no. 3, 2021, pp. 228–239. (In Russ.)

7. Kozhanovskaia, A. “Sentimental’nyi son” [“A Sentimental Dream”]. Oblastnaia. Obshchestvenno-politicheskaia gazeta, 27 Oct. 2021. Available at: https://www.ogirk.ru/2021/10/27/sentimentalnyj-son/ (Accessed 15 Apr. 2022). (In Russ.)

8. Podosokorskii, N.N. “Napoleonizm v povesti ‘Diadiushkin son’” [“Napoleonism in the Novella Uncle’s Dream”]. Dostoevskii i sovremennost’. Materialy XIX Mezhdunarodnyikh Starorusskikh chtenii 2004 goda [Dostoevsky and Contemporary Age. Proceedings from the 19th International Readings in Staraya Russa 2004]. Velikii Novgorod, 2005, pp. 187–195. (In Russ.)

9. Saraskina, L.I. “Arkadii Dolgorukii v kino i na stsene: debiutnye resheniia” [“Arkady Dolgoruky in Cinema and Theatre: Debut Decisions”]. Kasatkina, T.A., editor. Roman F.M. Dostoevskogo “Podrostok”: sovremennoe sostoianie izucheniia [Dostoevsky’s Novel The Adolescent: Current State of Research]. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2022, рр. 653−684. (In Russ.)

10. Safronova, E.Iu. “‘Diadiushkin son’: problema zhanra proizvedeniia F.M. Dostoevskogo” [“Uncle’s Dream: The Problem of the Genre of Dostoevsky’s Work”]. Filologiia i chelovek, no. 3, 2019, pp. 82–100. (In Russ.)

11. Solovei, A. “Iskusstvo pokaza. V kukol’nom teatre staviat ‘Diadiushkin son’ Dostoevskogo” [“The Art of Showing. Dostoevsky’s Uncle’s Dream Will Be Staged in the Puppet Theatre]. Seldon.news, 10 Sept. 2021. Available at: https://news.myseldon.com/ru/news/index/258450340 (Accessed 21 March 2022). (In Russ.)

12. Iurovskii, M. “Sentimental’naia komediia, ili Dostoevskii v kuklax” [“A Sentimental Comedy, Or Dostoevsky through Puppets”]. Baikal’skie vesti, 21 Sept. 2021. Available at: https://baikvesti.ru/new/sentimentalnaya_komediya__ili_dostoevskiy_v_kuklah (Accessed 16 Apr. 2022). (In Russ.)

13. Iakubova, R.Kh. “Literaturnaia transformatsiia balagannogo kukol’nogo teatra v povesti F.M. Dostoevskogo ‘Diadiushkin son’” [“Literary Transformation of the Farcical Puppet Theatre in Dostoevsky’s Novella Uncle’s Dream”]. Fol’klor narodov Rossii. Fol’klor i fol’klorno-literaturnye vzaimosviazi [The Folklore of Russian People. The Folklore and the Connections Between Folklore and Literature]. Ufa, Bashkir University Publ., 2000, pp. 130–140. (In Russ.)