Obraztsov Puppet Theater

History of the Theater

The Obraztsov Theatre is the largest puppet theater and puppetry teaching center in Russia. The center houses the theater as well as the Russian State Museum of Theatrical Puppets (containing over 3,000 puppets from over 50 countries, making it one of the largest puppet museums in the world), a library entirely devoted to the art of puppetry, and various manuscripts and documents related to puppetry in the center's pedagogical department.

The theater is named after Sergei Vladimirovich Obraztsov (1901-1992), the great Russian puppet master who established puppetry as an art form in the Soviet Union and who is considered to be one of the greatest puppeteers of the 20th century. Obraztsov was born in Moscow in 1901, the son of a schoolteacher and a railroad engineer, and began a life filled with fascination for art and performance. He studied painting at Moscow's Higher Art and Technical Studios and later became an actor and worked at the famous Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theatre (1922-30) and then at the avant garde Moscow Art Theatre (1930-31). Throughout his acting career he pursued a personal interest in puppetry and gave regular independent vaudeville-style puppet shows. In 1931 he was chosen by the Soviet government to be the first director of the State Central Puppet Theatre in Moscow and developed the theater's productions and performances over a period of some 60 years.

Puppetry has been a popular form of entertainment for centuries in Europe. During the 16th and 17th centuries puppet shows became popular amongst the European aristocracy and puppets were used extensively as vehicles for caricature and satire. It was only in the 19th century that puppets began to be used as a means of entertaining and amusing children in parks and theaters.

Repertoire

The theater presents shows for both children and adults, with matinee performances full of humor and ideal for children and evening shows more likely to be silent or mimed. The theater's repertoire consists of more than 10 productions for children and 5 for adults, and includes An Unusual Concert, Schtok's Divine Comedy, Livanov-Bardin's Don Juan, Pushkin's The Queen of Spades and The Tale of Tsar Saltan, Hoffmann's The Nutcracker, Gernet's Aladdin's Magic Lamp, and Mowgli based on Kipling's magical The Jungle Book.