“The whole world is a theater, and the people in it are actors,” W. Shakespeare rightly asserted in the comedy “As You Like It.” Well, each of us really plays our own specific role in this life. And not so little depends on our talent, skill and professionalism. That is why Theater Day is not only a worldwide, but also a universal holiday that knows no national or religious boundaries.
A little about the history of the theater
The first mention of the theater dates back to 497 BC. It was this year, according to written sources, that for the first time a holiday dedicated to the god Dionysus was held in Greece. Wooden stages were built especially for its holding, on which poets, musicians and singers performed for the audience. Just a few years later, the wooden stages were replaced by round arenas surrounded by multi-tiered spectator seats. As a matter of fact, the design of such a structure is very similar to appearance modern circus.
In 55 BC. The first one was built in Rome stone theater, on the stage of which actors performed, reciting poetry and performing short plays, such “rehash” ancient greek legends and myths.
Since ancient times, theatrical performances have been loved in Rus'. At first they were associated with pagan rituals and religious holidays. But already in the manuscripts of the 11th century one can find the first mentions of buffoons who entertained honest people at fairs and bazaars. The first theater (booth) in Russia appeared in the time of Peter 1: it staged small plays based on the most simple and sometimes even obscene plots. In 1795, the theater of Count Nikolai Sheremetyev opened in Moscow, which played a huge role in the formation of the Russian theater school.
The Russian theater reached a special peak in the 19th and 20th centuries, giving the world many great actors, directors, and playwrights. Russia is rightfully proud of such names as K.S. Stanislavsky, V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, A.P. Chekhov, A.N. Ostrovsky, V.E. Meyerhold, M.S. Shchepkin and many others.
History and traditions of World Theater Day
World Theater Day is celebrated on March 27th. The holiday was established on the initiative of the International Theater Institute in 1961. The first celebrations took place in 1962. Message to the leaders theatrical arts was written by the cult French artist, writer and playwright Jean Cocteau.
World Theater Day is a professional holiday for hundreds of thousands of people who have dedicated their lives to serving this great and beautiful art. In Russia, Theater Day is usually celebrated very cheerfully and solemnly. Concerts are a must creative meetings with your favorite artists, evenings, master classes. Premieres of performances in the country's leading theaters are also celebrated on this day. It is especially worth mentioning the famous “cabbage makers” who “gave a start in life” to many theater and cinema stars.
O wonderful people of the theatrical world!
For us, you are always demigods, idols!
Let me congratulate you on Theater Day,
We wish you well and glorify you from the heart!
Let there be moments of crazy happiness,
Awards, standing ovations, applause!
Joy in life, success at work,
Let there be enough great roles for everyone!
Theater is a special kind of art that you need to get into. But if a person has already fallen in love with going to performances, he is unlikely to give up this idea. Work in this direction is carried out huge amount people. These include actors, directors, lighting technicians, set designers, costume designers and dressers, ticket sellers and many others. It is impossible to list everyone, but it becomes clear that all these people should have their own holiday. We celebrate World Theater Day every year on March 27th.
History of the holiday
I must say that the theater itself originated a very long time ago. It is based on ritual and ceremonial actions, during which people often changed clothes, sang songs to the gods, and staged certain performances. All this was necessary in order to make life better, as well as to receive certain benefits from above. That is, initially this type of art did not have a purely entertainment function. But the ancient theater brought mankind many opportunities in terms of entertaining the public. By the way, it was precisely those times when such genres as tragedy and comedy were born.
The plays were performed exclusively by men, who performed all the roles. Women were not allowed to participate in this action. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the ancient theater began to decline. But the European one soon appeared - it began to use scenery, which had not been done before. Now not only men, but also women were allowed to participate in this type of art.
Many countries have their own rich history of the development of this institution. After all we're talking about about a very serious cultural layer that can be studied for a long time and with great interest. That is why at one of the UN congresses in 1961 it was decided to establish World Theater Day. The first holiday came the very next year, 1962.
The hall froze and listened to the actors,
The muse of a high start awaits.
Today I'm without a prompter
I’ll say - Happy World Theater Day!
Since ancient times, theater has occupied a special place in the history of human development, representing a reflection of the cultural level, values, traditions and morals of a particular time period. Therefore, we can say that Theater Day is not only a worldwide, but also a universal holiday. Librarian of the Department of Social and Humanitarian Literature Olga Sustretova will tell you more about the history of this holiday and the traditions of its celebration.
The theater existed at all times and in all corners of the earth, but only in 1961on the initiative of the delegates of the IX Congress of the International Theater Institute (MIT) at UNESCOInternational Theater Day was proclaimed, uniting representatives of the theater community from all over globe, whichCelebrated annually across the planet on March 27. This holiday is traditionally held under the motto: “Theater as a means of mutual understanding and strengthening peace between peoples.”
The holiday was first celebrated on March 27, 1962 at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Then the French writer Jean Cocteau addressed the theater community with an international message. Since then, the International Theater Institute annually invites one of the famous theater figures to write a speech on the topic “Theater and peace between nations.” The message is translated into two tens of thousands of languages and announced before the start of evening performances from the stages of theaters in different countries in front of tens of thousands of spectators.
In 2016, on International Theater Day, the famous Russian director Anatoly Vasiliev addressed the public. In 2017, the author of the message was the French theater and film actress Isabelle Huppert.
At the moment, there is no information yet from the International Theater Institute (MIT) about who will address the audience with a speech in 2018, but a request has already been published for national centers and collaborating organizations to send their celebration plans, which will form part of the virtual map of International Theater Day.
The MIT website reports that this day is celebrated quite widely around the world, but in each country the theater community decides for itself how to celebrate Theater Day.
This day is most significant for residents of Germany. Perhaps not all state theaters celebrate the holiday, but many private ones certainly do. If we talk about the Russian community living in Germany, then in 2016, for example, in the Berlin RDNK (Russian House of Science and Culture) there were performances based on the fairy tale by K. I. Chukovsky “Barmaley and Aibolit” and the parody play “A Choi- are you wearing a tailcoat? – opera and ballet for dramatic artists based on the work of A.P. Chekhov "The Proposal". Traditionally, on this day, theater groups invite their spectators backstage, where everyone can watch how the actors put on their makeup, go into the prop rooms and workshops. In addition, on this day, various celebrations are held throughout the country - festivals, exhibitions and round tables.
This day is widely celebrated in Israel. There are dozens of theaters in the Jewish state, and if you add constantly touring theaters (most of them from Russia), then we can talk about a record number of spectators and performances. So, this year in the city of Jaffa on March 27 the world premiere of the play “Macbeth - Version without Words” based on Shakespeare’s play will take place, staged by Russian director Sergei Zemlyansky.
In Spain, International Theater Day is celebrated with a procession and small rally of theater workers in the center of Madrid. On March 27, at exactly noon, a group of actors, directors, screenwriters, musicians and critics gathers on one of the central streets of the city to celebrate their professional holiday together. There are others in Spain interesting traditions dedicated to the celebration of this day. So, in the 2000s, on the eve of this day at the Club fine arts In Madrid, a “marathon of reciters” took place - several actors, replacing each other, recited the texts of 44 Spanish playwrights.
In some other countries, for example, in the USA, Theater Day is more of a family holiday and is celebrated only in certain cities due to the fact that few people know about the holiday and even for the employees of most theaters it is just an ordinary working day.
There are countries in which World Theater Day is not celebrated at all: for example, in the UK they stopped celebrating it in 2011, after the director of the British branch of MIT was not re-elected to his post, and after that a replacement was never found. And in Cyprus, this day is not a holiday for religious reasons - on the island located near Christian shrines, Lent is strictly observed.
Russia is one of the world's largest theater centers. She can be proud of the abundance of talented theater directors and world-class actors. It is no coincidence that a large-scale theatrical performance takes place every year in Moscow - “ Golden mask" This is a festival that lasts throughout March and brings together theater professionals from all over Russia and other 125 friendly theater countries. This is a wonderful opportunity to see both traditional, beloved performances and experimental productions by young promising theater troupes, the best of which are awarded a special prize of the same name.
As part of the holiday, hundreds of different events dedicated to the theater and everything connected with it are held throughout the country. After all, Theater Day is not only an event for professional artists, but also a great opportunity for spectators to join the beautiful, intimate world hidden behind the theater curtain. Any organization can come up with and hold an event as part of the holiday by adding information about the event to the “Unified Information Space in the Sphere of Culture” system and putting the tag “Theater Day”. All events with this tag will be included in a special project of the portal “Culture.RF”, which will broadcast live on the day of the holiday. social networks. Also throughout the country there is a project by Yandex.Afisha and the Radario company - “Theater.Go”: on March 27, ticket sales for Russian theater productions will open for a day at a discount. This action helps spectators become closer to the theater, and producers win new audiences.
Central Library named after. A. S. Pushkin also did not remain aloof from the festival of theatergoers. The library halls are decorated book exhibitions“On the stage”, “Under the shadow of the scenes”, which presents the best printed publications about the history of Russian and foreign theater, about the best theater groups Russia and the Southern Urals, memoirs, diaries, memories of famous and beloved actors, screenwriters, directors and theater workers.
When you come to the library, you will always be able to find something for yourself good book and touch the mysterious world of stage actors.
The following sources were used in preparing the material:
Borzenko, V. “For us this is an ordinary working day” / V. Borzenko, I. Kolesnikova, M. Mikhailova // Theater. – 2018. – No. 3. – P. 44-46
