“Near-Theatrical” Story on the Pre-Revolutionary Concert Estrada

Abstract

The article discusses the evolution of the genre of improvisational story on the pre-revolutionary concert estrada using the example of stories on theatrical themes. Such stories were many on the concert estrada, as the performers who presented them knew the theatrical environment well. In the first half of the 19th century, the simplest type of story (close to true story anecdotes, “byvalschina”) was established — stories about reliable events in which the narrator was sure to add something of his own, fantasizing and improvising. The actor to be famous for performing true story anecdotes and byvalschina was M.S. Shchepkin. In the creative work of P.M. Sadovsky, there appears a more complex story type — a “skaz” where the author is replaced by the narrator. For the first time in the improvisational story, Sadovsky introduced social types — a merchant, a soldier, and a craftsman on whose behalf the story was narrated. In such cases, the speech conveyed the peculiarities and social characteristics, depending on the image being presented. Today, this genre of stand-up is often called “monologue in character”. The most complex story type, a “scene”, is distinguished by a dialogue that takes place between two or more characters. The first to perform “scenes” on the concert estrada was I.F. Gorbunov. Usually, “scenes” on theatrical themes were polemical and expressed the narrator’s attitude towards theatrical and literary figures. The plot of improvisational stories on theatrical themes was deliberately kept to a minimum because the main thing was the skill of speech transformations and improvisation. The happy combination of the author and the performer in one person was also of great importance.

Keywords

• theatre
• estrada
• character monologue
• improvisational story
• i.f. gorbunov
• v.f. lebedev
• m.s. shchepkin
• p.m. sadovsky
• scene
• stand-up