«LIFE RAISED TO THE «N»-TH POWER»: KHARKIV THEATER SEASON OF Iu. OLESHA

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«LIFE RAISED TO THE «N»-TH POWER»: KHARKIV THEATER SEASON OF Iu. OLESHA

Journal Title: Проблеми сучасного літературознавства - Year 2017, Vol 0, Issue 25

Abstract

The legacy of Iu. Olesha, a prominent representative of the Odessa Pleiad of Writers, has been fragmentarily studied so far. In particular, drama and theater writings have been studied a little. The Kharkiv period of the writer’s creative work did not become a subject of special scientific studies. We have set ourselves the goal, with the use of materials of Kharkiv periodicals dated 1921/1922, to trace the formation of theatrical principles Iu.Olesha, one of the active «actors» of the 1921/1922 Kharkiv theatrical season on the basis of his early theatrical journalism, as well as to analyze the implementation of these theoretical principles in the play called «The Block Game». Methods. The following methods were used for theoretical research: comparative historical and structurally functional methods. Results.Careful study of the periodical press, first of all Kharkiv’s one, dated early 1920s, shows that during only one year in Kharkiv from June 1921 to May 1922, the writer makes his debut as a playwright and theater critic, and his play «The Block Game «was not only published in the Kharkiv literary and art magazine «The Coming World», but also it was included in the list of plays recommended by the scientific and repertoire council of the All-Ukrainian Music Committee for mandatory performance by the Kharkiv theaters on the anniversary of the revolution on March 12, 1922. This one-act play, the genre of which is designated as a tragicomedy, is conceived as foul action with comedians. Its events occur in an imaginary era in the large capital of the country, where the monarch is living out his last days. In the course of the play, with no roles assigned, in front of an extra-ambitious crowd (even cries for the King are audible), the real King is being executed, whose head is not chopped off by the real Executioner, but by the actor. The King was sentenced to death impromptu by three comedians. Iu. Olesha grounds his ideas about the dramatic art on the classical theatrical principles, dating back to the ancient theater and commedia dell’arte. However, if ancient masks act in the play, then the article of Iu. Olesha points out the possibility of theater of new masks. It is suggested that, by publishing the article «New Masks», Olesha, on the one hand, took the opportunity to prepare a potential viewer for the perception of «new» plays, including his own, on the other hand, he became involved in debates about the future of art and about «Theatrical today», which with new strength flashed on the pages of newspapers and magazines. The theatrical masks proposed by Iu. Olesha correspond to the poster style of the ROSTA Windows. His portrait descriptions are easily visualized, easily turning into in the list of characters of any play. The clash of their interests is the themes for pantomimes and comedies of a new theater of masks. Reflections of the young writer represent the search of the theater of that time Conclusions.The study shows that for Iu. Olesha, like many other young artists of the theatrical art of the «new» time, the Kharkiv theatrical season of 1921–1922 became an important milestone in the creative biography.

Authors and Affiliations

Valentina Borbuniuk

Keywords

EP ID EP392228
DOI -
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