The Arkhangelsk Puppet Theater was founded in 1933. Its creators
were young Leningrad actors and studio students at the Arkhangelsk
Theater for Young Spectators under the direction of A.N. Engelhardt
(K. Varakin, M. Bobrov, I. Kochnev and E. Furkova).
The
puppet theater was originally a puppeteer's studio. Experience and
professionalism appeared in constant rehearsals and first
performances. The first were glove puppets, which were made by the
artists themselves. The dolls were controlled by the hand of the
actor. The first performances - "Carousel", "Turnip", "Rag-trick" -
were staged for the youngest spectators. The performances could be
seen both in the theater and on the road (at playgrounds, in clubs).
In 1941-1945 the puppet theater turned into the "Variety and
Puppet Theater". He gave performances in hospitals and units of the
active army with puppet anti-fascist performances and concert
programs. 1940-1950s - a difficult period for the puppet theater,
associated with frequent tours, moving, the lack of its own
premises, the predominance of pop performances that moved puppet
shows, and the change of the head. The Arkhangelsk Puppet Theater
was revived in the 1960s. At that time, there was a general rise in
the art of puppet theaters in the country. Then the theater again
received its premises and was awarded a diploma from the Ministry of
Culture of the Soviet Union for the play "Silver Hoof" by P. Bazhov.
In the 1970s, the theater was replenished with young professional
puppeteers, graduates of the Leningrad State Institute of Theater,
Music and Cinematography (course of M.M.Korolev). Among other
things, the theater acquired the main director - Valery Shadsky and
the doll artist Elena Nikolaeva, whose dolls were recognized not
only by the audience, but also by art critics. The theater
repertoire was replenished with the first performances for adults:
"Love, Love! .." based on "The Decameron" by Giovanni Boccaccio and
others. There were also many performances of famous fairy tales of
the Russian people and fairy tales of foreign writers. The music for
the performances was composed by composers P. Koltsov, V. Sukhin, G.
Portnov and others.
In the 1980s, the Arkhangelsk Puppet
Theater under the direction of directors V. Deryagin and D. Lokhov
appears on the all-Union arena. Staged are "Petersburg Tales" by N.
Gogol, the story "Eerie Mr. Ay" by the Finnish writer H. McKel, the
novel "Les Miserables" by V. Hugo, works by B. Shergin. According to
the idea of the teacher M. Melnitskaya, in 1985 a society of
puppet lovers was formed at the theater, which united children and
their parents around the theater.
In 1986, the former Palace
of Pioneers became the home of the theater. In the same year he took
part in the international movement of puppet theaters and became a
collective member of the International Union of Puppet Theater
Workers. Also at this time Dmitry Lokhov becomes the chief director
of the theater. And after 3 years he was awarded the title of
Honored Artist of Russia. In the 1990s, the actors of the puppet
theater S. Mikhailova, A. Churkin, V. Nikitinskaya also received the
titles of Honored Artists of the Russian Federation.
In 1991
the theater organized the 1st International Festival of Chamber
Performances of Puppet Theaters "Snail". In 1997 he performed at the
International Theater Festival in Avignon (France). He has toured in
Sweden, Germany, Finland, Greece, Norway.
Since 1999, the
youth studio "Dur" ("Major") has been working at the theater, in
2000 a literary and theater living room appeared here, in which
theatrical actors present their own works.
Today the
Arkhangelsk Puppet Theater is one of the best Russian creative
groups. He twice became a laureate of the National Theater Prize
"Golden Mask" in 1996 and 2003, winner of prizes of the
International Festival "Nevsky Pierrot" in 1994, participates in
many Russian and European international festivals and is the
organizer of the International Festival of Chamber Performances of
Puppet Theaters "Ulitka" in Arkhangelsk.