Interesting facts about the theater. Unexpected and little-known facts about the theater

In fact, there will be only 10 facts about the theater. And the remaining 12 will be photos of cute cats. So you can be surprised and touched at the same time.

The public in ancient Rome always had a weakness for bloody spectacles. This was proved not only by gladiator fights, but by theatrical tragedies. For example, if in the course of action the actor was supposed to die, he could last moment replace with a criminal sentenced to death and kill right on the stage.

Series is not an invention of our time. In ancient times, performances were staged in Sicily, which lasted for a year. Every evening the audience gathered at the theater to watch the sequel.

Cruel morals were not limited to the stage. AT auditorium one of the Ionian theaters, great attention was paid to the opportunity to applaud. To do this, all one-armed spectators gathered in one place and bald slaves were planted in front of them, on the head of which they knocked with a hand.

The Japanese kabuki theater, in which all roles, including women, are played by men, was founded by a woman, a servant of the Okuni shrine. She and other women then played all the roles, including men's.

However, soon the country's leadership did not like the immoral atmosphere that often prevailed at such performances, and women in the kabuki theater were replaced by young men, and later by mature men.

The Englishman Horace de Veer Cole became famous as a dreamy prankster. One of his most famous jokes was the distribution of tickets in the theater. By handing out strictly defined places to bald men, he ensured that together these bald skulls from the balcony were read like a swear word.

Souffle and prompter come from the French "souffle" (exhalation, breath), although they have different meanings. The soufflé is so named because it is light and airy, and the prompter because it must prompt the actors very quietly.

On one of the Odessa cemeteries is the grave of the actor M.N. Mitrofanov with the inscription on the plate: “Many times I happened to play the dead, but I have never played them so masterfully.”

In July 2011, London's Barbican Theater hosted a unusual performance, which had speaking name"Lullaby". Spectators were asked not to sit in a chair, but to lie on single, double and triple beds, and main goal the show was to win people over good sleep. Morning breakfast was also included in the presentation program.

comedy theater Teatreneu in Barcelona has implemented a unique pay per laugh system. Tablets with installed program facial expression recognition.

Each fixed smile costs 30 euro cents, and the maximum cost of the performance is set at 24 €, that is, after the 80th smile, you can laugh for free. The system pleased both the audience, whose number increased, and the theater administration, whose income increased.

The Sleeper Underground musical by David Merrick was a fiasco in 1961. Not having received good reviews, Merrick decided to cheat. He found in New York the full namesakes of the seven most influential theater critics (Howard Taubman, Walter Kerr and others), invited him to the musical and bought permission from them to use the photo. Then Merrick put an ad in the papers that had the names of the "critics", these photos, and reviews like "One of the best musical comedies of the last 30 years" or "Great musical. I like it". Although the ad ran in only one issue of the New York Herald Tribune, it had the effect of continuing to run for another six months.

This kid is shocked that you have finished reading a boring article about some theaters there, when Night Watchmen are in the cinema.

Theater is unusual phenomenon, which in an instant takes you to a mysterious world. What is it, in fact, magic, fantasy, movement in temporary space? The theater is always a fascinating performance, both for an acting troupe, musical accompaniment, choreographers, and for the audience. Living hundreds of roles, feeling great amount emotional experiences, everything is transmitted to the fans, transferring them to another dimension.

Back in the time of Pushkin, chairs were installed only in the front rows of the theater hall. These places were intended for the rich and famous gentlemen. Next were standing places for commoners and workers. The cost of a ticket to this part of the hall was much lower. There were a lot of people who wanted to attend premieres and popular performances, in connection with this, the most avid theater lovers came several hours before the performance to take the best standing places.

The female actors in the Middle Ages were treated differently than in our time. Almost always, a woman could play the role of a servant or a slave. Such roles were invented as irony and mockery. Even wardrobe items theatrical costumes matched the meaning.

The now fashionable serial serials are by no means an invention of the 20th century. Even in ancient times, there were performances in Sicily that lasted more than one month. Every day, after the end of the working day, the audience hurried to the theater to see the long-awaited performance. Roland's enmity with the Moors was very popular for 8 centuries.

In ancient Rome, the audience with particular pleasure admired the bloody battles, not only watching the fights of gladiators, but also during theatrical performances. The scenes of the play where it was required to depict death, a real actor, were replaced by a suicide slave in order to deal with him in front of an enthusiastic audience.

An interesting fact about the theater is the belief that in no way should the script be dropped before the performance. But in case this did happen, it was necessary to immediately sit on it, and it does not matter where it fell, into the mud or into the water. After a short sitting, the script must be picked up, and only after such procedures could one get up. Whole cast I am sure that if all this is not done, then you always have to wait for trouble (the actors will forget the text, or the performance will fail miserably).

Words such as souffle and prompter are completely different in meaning, but come from the same French word"souffle" (exhale, breath). The soufflé is because it is as light as air, and the prompter is due to the fact that all hints to the actors must be made quietly and not noticeable from the viewer.

The phrase "Finita la commedia" has existed since ancient rome. All representations ended with this expression.

The most extraordinary symbolism of the theater is the clock on the facade of the Obraztsov Puppet Theater in Moscow. Every 60 minutes, the doors near the dial come off and 12 animals can be seen to the tune of “In the garden, in the garden”.

AT US state Virginia is the only "barter" theater of its kind, where tickets are purchased not for money, but for all kinds of products.

There is a theater of cruelty. But it is worth noting that there is no torture and violence. There, all performances are built on certain gestures and inarticulate sounds.

The Roman playwright Andronicus played all the leading roles in his own productions. Somehow, having torn his vocal cords, he entrusted the execution of all musical roles the boy standing behind him, while he himself only pretended to sing. This was perhaps the first use of a phonogram in front of an audience.

Another article on the same topic:

A few facts that you can tell your friends over a cup of coffee in a theater buffet.

Everything is for real

The ancient Roman public loved bloody spectacles not only at gladiator fights, but also at ordinary theatrical performances. If in the course of the action the actor was supposed to die, he could at the last moment be replaced with a criminal sentenced to death and killed right on the stage.

Season 5, Episode 20

Modern hundreds of serial films are not an invention of our time. In ancient times, performances were staged in Sicily, which lasted for a year. Every evening the audience gathered at the theater to watch the sequel.

Bravo, bald!

Much attention in one Ionian theater was devoted to the opportunity to applaud. To do this, all one-armed spectators (as a rule, warriors who lost their arm in battle) gathered in one place and bald slaves were planted in front of them, on whose head disabled people could knock with one hand.

Women started but didn't win

The Japanese theater "kabuki", where all the roles, even female ones, are played by men, was founded by a woman. Her name was Okuni and she was a shrine attendant in the 17th century. She and other women then played all the roles, including men's. However, soon the country's leadership did not like the immoral atmosphere that often prevailed at such performances, and women in the kabuki theater were replaced by young men, and later by mature men. In our time, traditions are no longer so strong, and in some troupes female roles women began to perform again.

Pirate Marcellus

Do you know that in English language the term "piracy" in the meaning of "copyright infringement" has been known since 1603? Then the pirated text of the play "Hamlet" was printed. good plays at all times there were few, and they were hunted by competing theater companies or publishers. That's why full text the play's author trusted himself honest man in the troupe - prompter. Each actor had only his own text on hand, which took only a few weeks to memorize and rehearse. Where could the pirate play come from? From stenographers sitting in the auditorium (but then there were no such specialists), or from artists who learned the text of the play by heart during rehearsals.
It is known that the actors who played the main roles in Shakespeare's theater were shareholders of Burbage's acting group, and selling the play would be unprofitable for them. The defendants are actors in small roles. Comparing the pirated text of "Hamlet" in 1603 and the one released by the troupe in 1604, scientists may have found such an actor, he played Marcellus. The text of the role of Marcellus himself completely coincides with the official one, and the correctness of the remaining texts depends heavily on what the thief could remember and how he understood. For example, in the monologue "To be or not to be", where Hamlet lists the disasters that fall on the head of every mortal, the pirate adds the suffering of orphans and hunger on his own.

And again bald in the hall

The Englishman Horace de Veer Cole became famous as a famous joker. One of his best jokes was the distribution of tickets in the theater. By handing out strictly defined places to bald men, he ensured that together these bald skulls from the balcony were read like a swear word.

Hush, prompter!

Souffle and prompter have little in common with each other, but both words come from the French "souffle" (exhale, breath). The soufflé is so named because it is light and airy, and the prompter because it must prompt the actors very quietly.

The king was pleased

The first theatrical performance in Russian lasted 10 hours and went without intermission. In October 1672, on the orders of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the first court theater was opened in the village of Preobrazhensky and the first performance of Artaxerxes Action was given. Future artists - men and teenagers - were selected from employees in shops and drinking establishments and taught, and the play was biblical story the pastor of the German settlement Gregory wrote about Esther and King Artaxerxes. In order to translate the play into Russian, it was handed out piece by piece to several interpreters from the Posolsky Prikaz. Each translator tried to the best of his talent, so the text of the play moved from prose to poetry and vice versa.

Given the duration of the performance, the beginning was scheduled for the morning. The performance was attended by the tsar, the boyars, and in a special box - the queen and court ladies. A lot of people didn't like the show. Still would! After all, all 10 hours the boyars stood on their feet! But the king watched to the end, was pleased and awarded the participants. The playwright and director Johann Gregory received a fee - “40 sables worth 100 rubles, and a couple of 8 rubles”, and after the performance the tsar “looked everyone in the eye”.

We believe!

In one of the Odessa cemeteries there is the grave of the actor M.N. Mitrofanov with the inscription on the plate: "Many times I happened to play the dead, but I have never played them so masterfully."

Fake critics

Producer David Merrick released the musical Metro for Sleepers on Broadway in 1961. The performance received not the most favorable reviews, which prompted Merrick to a clever publicity stunt. He found in New York the full namesakes of the seven most influential theater critics (Howard Taubman, Walter Kerr and others), invited him to the musical and bought permission from them to use the photo. Merrick then placed an ad in the papers that had the names of the "critics", these photos, and reviews like "One of the best musical comedies of the last 30 years" or "Great musical. I like it". Although the ad ran in only one issue of the New York Herald Tribune, it had the effect of continuing to run for another six months.

pay for laughter

Comedy theater Teatreneu in Barcelona implemented new system fees for laughter. In the backs of the seats in the auditorium, there are tablets with an installed program for recognizing facial expressions. Each fixed smile costs 30 euro cents, and the maximum cost of the performance is set at 24 €, that is, after the 80th smile, you can laugh for free. The system pleased both the audience, whose number increased, and the theater administration, whose income increased.

The best theater in the world

In July 2011, London's Barbican Theater hosted an unusual theatrical performance called "Lullaby" every evening. Instead of sitting in armchairs, viewers were offered to lie on single, double and triple beds, and the main goal of the show was to arrange people for a good sleep. Morning breakfast was also included in the presentation program.

A few facts that you can tell your friends over a cup of coffee in a theater buffet.

Everything is for real

The ancient Roman public loved bloody spectacles not only at gladiator fights, but also at ordinary theatrical performances. If in the course of the action the actor was supposed to die, he could at the last moment be replaced with a criminal sentenced to death and killed right on the stage.

Season 5, Episode 20

Modern hundreds of serial films are not an invention of our time. In ancient times, performances were staged in Sicily, which lasted for a year. Every evening the audience gathered at the theater to watch the sequel.

Bravo, bald!

Much attention in one Ionian theater was devoted to the opportunity to applaud. To do this, all one-armed spectators (as a rule, warriors who lost their arm in battle) gathered in one place and bald slaves were planted in front of them, on whose head disabled people could knock with one hand.

Women started but didn't win

The Japanese theater "kabuki", where all the roles, even female ones, are played by men, was founded by a woman. Her name was Okuni and she was a shrine attendant in the 17th century. She and other women then played all the roles, including men's. However, soon the country's leadership did not like the immoral atmosphere that often prevailed at such performances, and women in the kabuki theater were replaced by young men, and later by mature men. In our time, traditions are no longer so strong, and in some troupes, female roles have again been performed by women.

Pirate Marcellus

Did you know that in English the term "piracy" in the meaning of "copyright infringement" has been known since 1603? Then the pirated text of the play "Hamlet" was printed. Good plays were scarce at all times and were hunted down by competing theater companies or publishers. Therefore, the author trusted the full text of the play to the most honest person in the troupe - the prompter. Each actor had only his own text on hand, which took only a few weeks to memorize and rehearse. Where could the pirate play come from? From stenographers sitting in the auditorium (but then there were no such specialists), or from artists who learned the text of the play by heart during rehearsals.
It is known that the actors who played the main roles in Shakespeare's theater were shareholders of Burbage's acting group, and selling the play would be unprofitable for them. The defendants are actors in small roles. Comparing the pirated text of "Hamlet" in 1603 and the one released by the troupe in 1604, scientists may have found such an actor, he played Marcellus. The text of the role of Marcellus himself completely coincides with the official one, and the correctness of the remaining texts depends heavily on what the thief could remember and how he understood. For example, in the monologue "To be or not to be", where Hamlet lists the disasters that fall on the head of every mortal, the pirate adds the suffering of orphans and hunger on his own.

And again bald in the hall

The Englishman Horace de Veer Cole became famous as a famous joker. One of his best jokes was the distribution of tickets in the theater. By handing out strictly defined places to bald men, he ensured that together these bald skulls from the balcony were read like a swear word.

Hush, prompter!

Souffle and prompter have little in common with each other, but both words come from the French "souffle" (exhale, breath). The soufflé is so named because it is light and airy, and the prompter because it must prompt the actors very quietly.

The king was pleased

The first theatrical performance in Russian lasted 10 hours and went without intermission. In October 1672, on the orders of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the first court theater was opened in the village of Preobrazhensky and the first performance of Artaxerxes Action was given. Future artists - peasants and teenagers - were selected from employees in shops and drinking establishments and trained, and the play on the biblical story about Esther and King Artaxerxes was written by the pastor of the German settlement Gregory. In order to translate the play into Russian, it was handed out piece by piece to several interpreters from the Posolsky Prikaz. Each translator tried to the best of his talent, so the text of the play moved from prose to poetry and vice versa.
Given the duration of the performance, the beginning was scheduled for the morning. The performance was attended by the tsar, the boyars, and in a special box - the queen and court ladies. A lot of people didn't like the show. Still would! After all, all 10 hours the boyars stood on their feet! But the king watched to the end, was pleased and awarded the participants. The playwright and director Johann Gregory received a fee - “40 sables worth 100 rubles, and a couple of 8 rubles”, and after the performance the tsar “looked everyone in the eye”.

We believe!

In one of the Odessa cemeteries there is the grave of the actor M.N. Mitrofanov with the inscription on the plate: "Many times I happened to play the dead, but I have never played them so masterfully."

Fake critics

Producer David Merrick released the musical Metro for Sleepers on Broadway in 1961. The performance received not the most favorable reviews, which prompted Merrick to a clever publicity stunt. He found in New York the full namesakes of the seven most influential theater critics (Howard Taubman, Walter Kerr and others), invited him to the musical and bought permission from them to use the photo. Merrick then placed an ad in the papers that had the names of the "critics", these photos, and reviews like "One of the best musical comedies of the last 30 years" or "Great musical. I like it". Although the ad ran in only one issue of the New York Herald Tribune, it had the effect of continuing to run for another six months.

pay for laughter

The Teatreneu comedy theater in Barcelona has introduced a new pay-per-laughter system. In the backs of the seats in the auditorium, there are tablets with an installed program for recognizing facial expressions. Each fixed smile costs 30 euro cents, and the maximum cost of the performance is set at 24 €, that is, after the 80th smile, you can laugh for free. The system pleased both the audience, whose number increased, and the theater administration, whose income increased.

The best theater in the world

In July 2011, London's Barbican Theater hosted an unusual theatrical performance called "Lullaby" every evening. Instead of sitting in armchairs, viewers were offered to lie on single, double and triple beds, and the main goal of the show was to arrange people for a good sleep. Morning breakfast was also included in the presentation program.

It is hard to imagine life without a theater in which literature and choreography, music and art. Working on a theatrical product whole team: actors, directors, directors, artists, workers. The history of the theater begins from the time when our ancestors performed their ritual dances before the hunt. Folk festivals gradually developed into professional productions, without which it is unthinkable modern society any people.

We want to present to your court the most interesting, in our opinion, facts about the theater.

In Pushkin's times, not the entire theater hall was occupied by chairs, but only a couple of the first rows. These places were intended for noble and wealthy gentlemen. Behind them were standing places for ordinary people- students, clerks. Tickets to this area of ​​the auditorium were much cheaper in cost. A lot of theatergoers wanted to attend extremely popular performances, so the most avid ones came for a couple of hours before the start to take best places for standing.

In the Middle Ages, female theatrical characters were treated somewhat differently than they are now. Basically, women could only play maids. Such characters were created as a joke. The corresponding semantic load was traced in every detail of their toilets.

Modern hundreds of serial films are not an invention of our time. In ancient times, performances were staged in Sicily, which lasted for a year. Every evening after work, the audience gathered at the theater to watch the sequel. The most popular over the past 800 years has been Roland's struggle with the Moors.

The public of ancient Rome enjoyed bloody spectacles not only during gladiator fights, but also during theatrical performances. To depict the scene of the death of the character of the play, the actor at that moment was replaced by a suicide bomber in order to kill him in front of all the spectators.

To interesting facts about the theater can also be attributed to the superstition that in no case should you drop the script. But if this did happen, then you must definitely sit on it, and it doesn’t matter where the script fell, even in the mud, even in a puddle. After sitting on it for a while, take it with your hand, and only then get up. The actors are sure that if all these actions are not performed, then some kind of trouble will surely happen. Either the words of the role will be forgotten, or the performance will fail altogether.

The words souffle and prompter have little in common in meaning, but both come from the French "souffle" (exhale, breath). The soufflé is so named because it is light and airy, and the prompter because it must prompt the actors very quietly.

The expression "Finita la commedia" originated in ancient Rome. Then with this phrase the actors completed all the performances.

One of the most unusual symbols of the puppet theater in the world is the clock on the facade of the Obraztsov Theater in Moscow. Every hour, the doors in the little houses-boxes around the clock face are opened one by one and twelve animals appear to the music “In the garden, in the garden”. Together, the animals appear twice - at noon and at midnight.

In the state of Virginia (USA) there is a unique “barter” theater where the viewer can pay for a ticket not money, but food.

In the last years of her life, Tatyana Peltzer already forgot the words when she played in the performances of Lenkom. Once she played Clara Zetkin in the play "Blue Horses on Red Grass", where Oleg Yankovsky played Lenin. She went on stage and suddenly said: “Oh my God! My fathers! Well, I don't remember anything." Oleg Yankovsky was not at a loss and asked: “Klara, you probably want to say that the proletariat should unite?” Peltzer replied: “Yes, father, I want to!”. And the rest of the dialogue Yankovsky led himself.

When Bruce Willis became a high school student, he developed a stutter. Once in theater Club, he found that while playing on stage he stopped stuttering, which spurred Bruce to become more active in this direction.

Actor Konstantin Anisimov is a member of the troupe of the Leningrad Lenin Komsomol Theater, and also works as an announcer at home matches of the Zenit football club. In the early years of such a combination, matches and performances often overlapped each other, and the actor had to go to different tricks. For example, the role of Laertes in the play "Hamlet" meant going on stage only in the first and third acts, and between them Anisimov managed to go to the stadium and play a match.

The tradition of the presence of theatrical spectators, artificially providing an ovation, dates back to Nero, who considered himself a great artist, who was praised by soldiers from the stands. In Europe, cheering mercenaries, or clackers, became widespread in the 19th century. Their services were used by most theaters and opera houses, and over time, the clackers began to demand remuneration under the threat of booing the actors. Over time, almost everywhere, claks disappeared as a phenomenon, but they are still preserved in Bolshoi Theater.

AT theatrical performances"Peter Pan" the Tinker Bell fairy is offered to save the audience from death: they are asked to clap if they believe in fairies, and then the Tinker Bell comes to life. Therefore, the existence of things and phenomena only because people believe in them is sometimes called the Tinker Bell effect. There is also the reverse effect of Tinker Bell, when more people believe in something, the more likely it is to disappear. For example, when strengthening mass consciousness the stereotype that driving is safe, drivers start to drive more recklessly, thereby increasing the danger on the roads.

Peter Pan in theatrical productions is often played not by boys, but by petite women. One of the reasons for this was that in England in the early 20th century, when James Barry wrote the work, there was a law prohibiting children under 14 from working after 9 pm.

Since the time of Ancient Rome, the belonging of the clowns was a rattle from a bull's bladder, into which peas were poured. AT medieval theater jesters beat other actors and even spectators with such a rattle. When the tradition reached Russia, our buffoons began to additionally decorate themselves with pea straw, hence the expression “pea jester” was fixed in the language.

The Stars and Stripes Forever is America's most famous patriotic march. However, in American theaters and circuses, the orchestra will never play this tune just like that. It is reserved as a distress signal about emergency fire, for example, so that staff can start evacuating spectators without panic.

The comedy theater "Teatreneu" in Barcelona has introduced a new system of payment for laughter. In the backs of the seats in the auditorium, there are tablets with an installed program for recognizing facial expressions. Each fixed smile costs 30 euro cents, and the maximum cost of the performance is set at 24 €, that is, after the 80th smile, you can laugh for free. The system pleased both the audience, whose number increased, and the theater administration, whose income increased.

Producer David Merrick released the musical Metro for Sleepers on Broadway in 1961. The performance received not the most favorable reviews, which prompted Merrick to a clever publicity stunt. He found in New York the full namesakes of the seven most influential theater critics (Howard Taubman, Walter Kerr and others), invited him to the musical and bought permission from them to use the photo. Merrick then placed an ad in the papers that had the names of the "critics", these photos, and reviews like "One of the best musical comedies of the last 30 years" or "Great musical. I like it". Although the ad ran in only one issue of the New York Herald Tribune, it had the effect of continuing to run for another six months.

In ancient Rome, the senior clown from the theater, the archimim, was invited to the funeral of noble people. In the procession, the archimim walked immediately behind the coffin, and his job was to imitate the gestures and behavior of the deceased. To enhance the effect, the actor could dress in the clothes of the deceased and put on a mask depicting him.

In July 2011, London's Barbican Theater hosted an unusual theatrical performance called "Lullaby" every evening. Instead of sitting in armchairs, viewers were offered to lie on single, double and triple beds, and the main goal of the show was to arrange people for a good sleep. Morning breakfast was also included in the presentation program.

The Japanese kabuki theater, where all roles, even female ones, are played by men, was founded by a woman. Her name was Okuni and she was a shrine attendant in the 17th century. She and other women then also played all the roles, including men's. However, soon the country's leadership did not like the immoral atmosphere that often prevailed at such performances, and women in the kabuki theater were replaced by young men, and later by mature men. In our time, traditions are no longer so strong, and in some troupes, female roles have again been performed by women.

Among the whole variety of fans, there were special theatrical fans, which, in addition to their direct purpose, served as an assistant. Scenes from the performance, programs of performances, excerpts from plays were applied to the fans for the audience. And the actresses sometimes wrote down hard-to-remember texts on their fans.

The Englishman Horace de Veer Cole became famous as a famous joker. One of his best pranks was selling theater tickets. By handing out strictly defined places to bald men, he ensured that together these bald skulls from the balcony were read like a swear word.

The Italian comedian Bianconelli decided to play a funny pantomime in front of the audience with a large bottle in his hand. According to one version, after his failure, the word "fiasco" (in Italian - "bottle") got the meaning of "acting failure", and then "failure, failure" in general.

In the 19th century, actresses refused to play Sophia in Woe from Wit with the words: “I am a decent woman and do not play in pornographic scenes!”. They considered such a scene a night conversation with Molchalin, who was not yet the husband of the heroine.

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Interesting facts about the theater As you know, before, all the roles were played by men (there were such rules). In Shakespeare's time, when a performance was delayed, it was said, "Queen Elizabeth hasn't had time to shave yet." Theater originated over 5,000 years ago. The first signs of the birth of the theater were ritual ceremonies in ancient Egypt. In the time of Pushkin, not all the stalls of the theater were occupied by chairs. They were only in the first few rows for especially noble and wealthy gentlemen. Behind these rows was a standing stalls area, tickets to which were much cheaper. There were usually creative people, students, clerks - they were the most active part of the audience, setting the tone for applause and cries of "Bravo!" A lot of theater-goers crowded into the stalls for especially popular performances, the most inveterate of which came 2-3 hours before the start and occupied the best standing places. In the USA, in the state of Virginia, there is a unique "Barter Theatre". For entry here, the viewer can pay with food. Croatia is home to the oldest public theater in Europe. The female theatrical characters of the Middle Ages were very different from modern ones. Often, women appeared on the stage of the theater only in the roles of maids. Their characters were created for ridicule, so every detail of their dressing had its own characteristics. In one of the theaters of Ionia there was a special row for one-armed warriors. A row of bald-headed slaves was seated in front of them, hitting on their bald spots the former could applaud. World Theater Day was established in 1961 at the initiative of the delegates of the IX Congress of the International Theater Institute at UNESCO. For a long time, it was forbidden to show Roman citizens in a funny way in the ancient Roman comedy. That is why the Roman comedy portrayed the Greeks and Greek life. And so it happened that the Greeks and Romans showed touching unanimity: the Greeks laughed at themselves, the Romans also laughed at the Greeks. In the last years of her life, Tatyana Peltzer already forgot the words when she played in the performances of Lenkom. Once she played Clara Zetkin in the play "Blue Horses on Red Grass", where Oleg Yankovsky played Lenin. She went on stage and suddenly said: “Oh my God! My fathers! Well, I don't remember anything." Oleg Yankovsky was not at a loss and asked: “Klara, you probably want to say that the proletariat should unite?” Peltzer replied: “Yes, father, I want to!”. And the rest of the dialogue Yankovsky led himself. Sicily still exists today puppet show, a performance in which lasts ... a month! In ancient times, performances were also known that lasted for a year! True, during the day the spectators were engaged - as they are now - with their business as usual, and in the evenings watched the continuation of the same play. Recent years eight hundred, one and the same theme is being developed - the struggle of the knight Roland with the Moors. In 16th-century Italy, almost all the maids in theatrical productions were named Colombina, Smeraldina, or Franceschina. These were specially distorted female names which were very popular in the country at that time. Women's costumes were either the clothes of peasant women, or the clothes of maids. The Japanese kabuki theater, where all the roles, even female ones, are played by men, was founded by a woman. Her name was Okuni and she was a shrine attendant in the 17th century. She and other women then also played all the roles, including men's. However, soon the country's leadership did not like the immoral atmosphere that often prevailed at such performances, and women in the kabuki theater were replaced by young men, and later by mature men. In our time, traditions are no longer so strong, and in some troupes, female roles have again been performed by women. The ancient Greek playwright Phrynichus once presented his play "The Capture of Miletus" at the theater - about the ruin of a Greek city by the Persians. She so upset the audience that the whole theater burst into tears; as punishment, the authorities fined the poet a thousand drachmas and banned the production of his play. The ancient Roman public loved bloody spectacles not only at gladiator fights, but also at ordinary theatrical performances. If in the course of the action the actor was supposed to die, he could at the last moment be replaced with a criminal sentenced to death and killed right on the stage. One of the most unusual symbols of the puppet theater in the world is the clock on the facade of the Obraztsov Theater in Moscow. Every hour, the doors in the little houses-boxes around the clock face are opened one by one and twelve animals appear to the music “In the garden, in the garden”. Together, the animals appear twice - at noon and at midnight. The expression "Finita la commedia" originated in ancient Rome. Then with this phrase the actors completed all the performances. Dmitry Medvedev visited Omsk in February 2010. On the route of his cortege there was a poster children's play called "Waiting for you, cheerful dwarf", which the city authorities urgently dismantled. Philip of Macedon was killed in the local theatre. The Ukrainian puppet theater is called a nativity scene. At Christmas, the story of the birth of Christ was played out in dens. By the way, the very word "nativity scene" refers to the cave where Jesus was born. In one of the Odessa cemeteries there is the grave of the actor M. N. Mitrofanov with an inscription on the slab: “Many times I happened to play the dead, but I have never played them so masterfully.” A curtain appears in the Roman theater, which does not rise up and does not diverge to the sides, as it is now, but falls into a special slot in the floor. There is a so-called theater of cruelty. But do not think that they show torture and bullying. In it, just the whole performance is shown with gestures and inarticulate sounds. The Roman playwright Livius Andronicus himself played the main roles in his tragedies. When one day he lost his voice, he began to entrust the performance of all the songs to a special boy standing behind him, and he only opened his mouth. This is the first recorded case in history of the use of a phonogram. The Italian comedian Bianconelli decided to play a funny pantomime in front of the audience with a large bottle in his hand. According to one version, after his failure, the word "fiasco" (in Italian - "bottle") got the meaning of "acting failure", and then "failure, failure" in general. In the Roman pantomime, getters in transparent tunics participated, which they threw off along the way. Emperor Justinian married one of these dancers - Theodora.