Cabaret bat after the revolution. Cabaret Theater "The Bat"

G.S. Burdzhalov and other actors of the Art Theater. Initially, it existed as a club of actors of this theater.

Evenings of the Bat (first parody of the play Blue bird took place on February 29, 1908 in the basement of Pertsov's house on Prechistenskaya Embankment) were in the nature of improvisation and were designed for artistic and artistic bohemia. They consisted of comic performances by K.S. Stanislavsky, O.L. Knipper-Chekhova, V.I. Kachalov, A.G. Koonen, parodies of theater performances. The bat, a creature that neither birds nor animals recognize as their own, depicted on the curtain of the theater, also served as an ironic reference to the seagull the symbol of the Art Theater.

After the mysterious death of Tarasov in 1910, who was the soul and sponsor of the evenings, Baliev was forced to make the performances paid, which affected both the composition of the public and the repertoire (by that time, due to the flood of 1909, the theater had moved to B. Milyutinsky lane, 14 , now Markhlevsky street). The actors' night club, having separated from the Moscow Art Theater, turned into an independent repertory theater, focused on an educated wealthy audience. His new status finally took shape in 1912, when N.F.Baliev, remaining an entertainer, served as both director and artistic director of the theater.

The 1910s were the time of the "cabaret epidemic" in the theatrical life of Russia. Following the "Bat" the cabarets of B.K. Pronin "Lukomorye", "The Halt of Comedians" and "The Stray Dog", "The House of Interludes" by V. Meyerhold in St. Petersburg are opened. The emergence of the cabaret became a phenomenon in the art of the theater of the Silver Age, brought to life by the interest in parody and stylization, which was experienced by the Symbolists, the artists of the circle of the magazine "World of Art". "Bat" became the first swallow. Success was enjoyed by stylized miniatures the genre of animated paintings: Vyatka toys,Baba F.A.Malyavina,Japanese fan,Chinese porcelain; melodeclamation (verses by P. Beranger), staged romances ( Don't tempt,How good, how fresh were the roses), buffoonery ( Scandal with Napoleon). Actors of the Art Theater still willingly performed in a cabaret. Baliyev used the genre of amateur evenings: dances, jokes, puns, charades, songs. The audience was also attracted by Baliyev's witty entertainer, who built his performances on a "scandal", a clash of polar opinions. His sketches, reprises, parodies, witty announcements of numbers were the "highlight" of the evenings. The authors of the texts were: A.Z. Serpoletti, L.G. Munshtein (editor of the magazine “Rampa and Life”), T.L. Tolstoy, I.G. Erenburg. Being a theater of high taste, the cabaret easily caught the artistic fashion, made discoveries of great art accessible to the public.

A type of synthetic actor was formed in the theater: a reader, a dancer, a singer, an improviser. The troupe includes: V.A. Podgorny, Y.M. Volkov, V.Ya. Khenkin, Y.D. Yuzhny, K.E. Gibshman, T.Kh. Heinz, E.A. Khovanskaya and others. Directed by V.V. Luzhsky, I.M. Moskvin, E.B. Vakhtangov, Baliyev himself.

Since 1914, the theater, without changing its name, has approached the theater of miniatures in its type. From elegant, highly artistic trifles, the theater moved on to staging stage miniatures based on the classical operetta, vaudeville ( Six brides and no groom F. Zuppe, wedding by lanterns J. Offenbach), to dramatizations of the works of the classics: Queen of Spades and Bakhchisarai fountain A.S. Pushkin, Tambov Treasurer M.Yu. Lermontov, Nose,Overcoat,Stroller,Mirgorod N.V. Gogol, complaint book,Chameleon A.P. Chekhov, (director A.A. Arkhangelsky).

In 1915, the theater moved to the basement of a new apartment building E. Nirnsee in B. Gnezdnikovsky lane, 10. This was his third address (now the premises of the RATI Educational Theater). The foyer and curtain of the theater were painted by S. Sudeikin (later, in exile, he continued to cooperate with the theater along with M. Dobuzhinsky, N. Annenkov, whose wife, ballerina E. Halpern, was an actress of The Bat). Here the voice of V. Barsova sounded for the first time, R. Zelenaya, I. Ilyinsky appeared, the Satirical Chapel conducted by I. V. Moskvin performed, and V. I. Kachalov read poetry.

In February 1917, the review became a response to political events. Pages of Russian history, grotesque At 12 o'clock at night. Operettas by J. Offenbach Beautiful Elena and Orpheus in hell were the last productions of the theater under Baliyev (1918). The aesthetics of the cabaret, elegant but inconsonant with the revolution, did not fit well with the new time.

In 1919, Baliyev, who was wary of the revolution, took the troupe on tour to Kyiv, then returned, but in 1920 he left with part of the troupe to emigrate to Paris, then to New York, where he revived the theater.

In Russia, the rest of the troupe continued to work under the direction of director K. Kareev. Without Baliev's leadership and entertainer, it was already a different theater, although the repertoire has not changed. Attempts to revive the former glory of the theater was the invitation of directors A. Arkhangelsky, N. Evreinov, V. Mchedelov (the latter staged the play by A. Remizov Tsar Maximilian, season 1921-1922). The performance was the success of the theater against the backdrop of a number of boring evenings and a half-filled auditorium. The remaining part of the troupe in Moscow was jokingly called "candied mouse". In 1922, for non-payment of the rent of the premises, the theater left the Nirnsee house forever, where the crooked Jimmy cabaret (the future Moscow theater of Satire) took its place. Part of the "Bat" troupe joined this team. And although the genre of the new theater was related to Baliev's theater, his style was sharper, rougher, more primitive than the subtle, lyrical, filigree manner of The Bat, the brainchild of the Moscow Art Theater.

In 19892001 G. Gurvich revived the theater of miniatures under the legendary name on the stage of the Film Actor Studio (the authors of the idea were M. Zakharov and G. Gorin).

Elena Yaroshevich

GRIGORY GURVICH AND THE FATE OF HIS THEATER.
2003
The heyday of the musical in Russia had its beginning. And at the origins of the revival of the genre was a specific person. He had his own tragedy: at first he was ahead of his time in creativity, then life treated him cruelly and unfairly, not according to his talent. The name of this person is Grigory Gurvich, Grisha Gurvich. In 1989, he created the cabaret theater "The Bat" in Moscow. Such a theater was at the beginning of the century and died under the Soviets. So, Gurvich made an amazing synthetic theater where everyone could speak, sing, and dance. In fact, he was a musical to himself: he organized skits, staged performances and films, and was the soul of society. He was respected as a professional and loved as a person. But he fell ill with a blood disease and died in Israel. Elena Polyakovskaya will tell you about our friend, whom we remember and love, and about his brainchild.

VMZ - Elena Polyakovskaya.

Correspondent: After the death of Grigory Gurvich, his offspring - the Bat Theater - was predicted to die soon. The main argument: this theater rested on one person.

Maya Gurvich, mother of Grigory Gurvich: When all this happened, a tragedy, Grigory Izrailevich Gorin said that he wished the theater well-being, success, happiness, life extension, but he did not see this. He, as it were, from his own experience, believed that when the leader leaves, the theater usually quietly disappears.

Correspondent: Three years have passed since the death of Grigory Gurvich. There have been no performances by the Bat Theater for almost a year. The theater has not officially closed - its artists have been sent on indefinite unpaid leave. The order issued by Gurvich's widow, Lyubov Shapiro, lists two reasons: the first is an increase in the rent of the Kosmos concert hall, and the second is the unprofessionalism and unethical behavior of the artists. As for unprofessionalism, there is a special discussion. After the actual closure of The Bat, most of the theater artists successfully work in many troupes, including productions of popular musicals. Even today they talk about the fantastic school that they went through at the Grigory Gurvich Theater. Lamenting only that with the death of the head of the "Bat" the atmosphere of love and creativity left. However, despite the fact that the rights to the name of the theater, scenery and costumes belong by right of inheritance to the widow of Grigory Gurvich, the artists do not lose hope for the revival of some productions.

Margarita Eskina, director of the Actor's House: So I think about it all the time - you have a terrible, on the one hand, shock that you had it - how many of you had nothing like it! And on the other hand, of course, this is the best time, which is already ... But still, something will be necessary.

Correspondent: For Grigory Gurvich's mother Maya Lvovna, the situation with the "Bat" is a personal drama. When she comes from Israel to Moscow, the artists certainly gather with her. These are family gatherings of close people.

Maya Gurvich: These are my relatives, these are my children from Grishenka, Moscow. I feel very warm with them. They are all wonderful - not for nothing that he always admired them.

Correspondent: We filmed this material three days after the birthday of Grigory Gurvich. There should have been twice as many artists of The Bat visiting Maya Lvovna, but just in those days the tragedy of Nord-Ost happened, and among the hostages in the hall on Dubrovka were those who worked in the theater of Grigory Gurvich.

Maya Gurvich: I sat in front of the TV for days. The first I saw the subject was Grishenka's student, I was happy. There were still five left. Then they told me about some more that went down over their coats, which means three. Worried about the others. But now he is alone in the hospital. So the acting group, here are 6 people, they survived. But among the musicians we have a tragedy: we cannot find one, and the other, unfortunately, died.

Correspondent: On October 24, the artists of the Bat Theater went on stage at the Actor's House, knowing that their friends were being held hostage. Already once they had to perform in a similar state - three years ago, half an hour before the performance "100 Years of the Cabaret", the theater troupe was informed of the death of Grigory Gurvich. Artists adored him, and he adored them. There were no stars in The Bat, everyone here was very beautiful and very talented, as Grigory Efimovich himself said. The viewer could not always determine where the ballet dancers sing and where the singers dance - Grigory Gurvich created a theater where the actors were professionally universal. Gurvich generally knew the value of talent and, like a magnet, attracted talented people. He dreamed of the theater since childhood and believed that someday he would have his own team.

Maya Gurvich: Of course, I remember how he told me: Mom, I will have a theater - do you believe in that? And I couldn't believe it. Moscow, only relatively recently there was GITIS, and all the failures were theatrical, something didn’t work out, it didn’t work out with someone. Have your own theatre? I didn't really believe in it. But it turned out that indeed, here in Gnezdikovskoye, in the old premises of the "Bat", all this worked out.

Correspondent: The theater was his life, but Grigory Efimovich's talent was enough for everything. His "Old TV" is still remembered, and skits and elegant jokes are constantly quoted. Films and television programs remain on film; theatrical performances, even captured on film and video, live as long as they are played on stage. Much of what Grigory Gurvich did in the theater, I, unfortunately, did not have time to see, and therefore I, like many admirers of The Bat, would like this theater to revive, contrary to pessimistic forecasts. This is what the artists want, which means that the idea is worth it. At least in memory of the bright and talented man Grigory Gurvich, his offspring should not die.

Elena Polyakovskaya, Eduard Gorborukov, Echo TV Company, Moscow.
Gr. Gurvich and actor Valery Borovinsky. Bows.

Gr. Gurvich on the set of the film "Starry Night in Kamergersky"

Sp. "Great Illusion"

Maya Lvovna, mother of Gr. Gurvich

Near the Cathedral of Christ the Savior there is a red brick building, which stands out for its exotic beauty.

The Fairytale Castle is Pertsova's apartment building. In the people it is called the "fairy tale house".

The house was built at the beginning of the last century:

It is located at the intersection of Soymonovsky passage and Prechistenskaya embankment.

From the side of Kursovoy Lane, a wonderful view of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior opens up:

In 1931 the temple was demolished. During the war, the neighboring building was also destroyed. Surprisingly, Pertsova's house has been preserved in a fabulous way. How did the building manage to survive, having survived both the war and the Soviet regime? Perhaps the whole point is in the "dragons" supporting the balconies, which, as it were, guard it.

These monsters are not the only mythical creatures "inhabiting" the facade of the house

The bull and the bear "under the gaze" of the sun deified by the Slavs:

Wall panels are also full of images of birds:

Right above the front doors you can see the "bird of paradise" Sirin:

“A four-story box with small window openings” leaves some kind of fabulously epic image. This is no coincidence. After all, the building was erected according to the sketches of the artist Malyutin, who, according to some sources, is the author of the painting of the first Russian matryoshka.

The House-Fairy Tale entered not only the architectural, but also the theatrical history of Moscow, becoming the birthplace of the famous Moscow cabaret The Bat. Its founders were the artist of the Moscow Art Theater Nikita Baliev (later - the first Russian entertainer) and the rich oilman Nikolai Tarasov, who passionately loved the theater. They decided to arrange comic evenings for the artists of the Art Theater, and for their holding they rented the basement of Pertsov's house. According to legend, when Baliyev and Tarasov first went down to the basement, a bat flew out to meet them. This is how the cabaret got its name.

The opening of "The Bat" took place on February 29, 1908, a parody of the play "The Blue Bird", which premiered at the Moscow Art Theater a week earlier.

Very soon, the cabaret gained great fame in the theatrical environment, but did not last long. In the fall of 1910, Nikolai Tarasov, patron of the Bat, committed suicide. Having lost their livelihood, The Bat began to give paid performances for the general public, and in 1912 Nikita Baliyev, having separated from the Moscow Art Theater, formed his own theater under the same name. The address of the "Bat" has changed: since 1915, the theater has settled in the "theatre basement" of the famous lady Nirnsee in Moscow in Bolshoy Gnezdnikovsky Lane. Currently, Pertsov's house is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In Bolshoi Gnezdnikovsky Lane there is an old nine-story house built about 90 years ago according to the design of the famous architect Nirnsee. This is a unique building in architectural, historical and cultural sense. Episodes of many famous Soviet films were filmed on the roof of the house, such as: "Tales, Tales ... Tales of the Old Arbat", "Office Romance", "Courier"

"- a pre-revolutionary theater of miniatures, one of the very first and best chamber theaters in Russia, which arose from the parody and comic performances of the actors of the Moscow Art Theater under the direction of Nikita Baliyev.

Initially, "The Bat" was conceived as an intimate artistic circle of artists of the Moscow Art Theater and their friends - the community of actors of the Moscow Art Theater.

Theatrical enterprises should focus on the audience and sell tickets, otherwise they will go bankrupt. But the actors of the Moscow Art Theater wanted to hide from prying eyes in a cozy place where you can come after the performance and relax from academic theatrical traditions and the outside world. The creation of this kind of club became a necessity for acting solitude, where in a narrow circle it was possible to analyze performances and, with gentle irony, compose a couple of sketches about your favorite theater.

The idea of ​​​​creating an acting club was not designed for the public, but for its complete absence. Actually, the public should not see their theatrical heroes in everyday life.

The "closed" club included actors from the Art Theater: Olga Leonardovna Knipper-Chekhova, Vasily Ivanovich Kachalov, Ivan Mikhailovich Moskvin, Georgy Sergeevich Burdzhalov and Alisa Koonen.

The charter of the circle "Bat" was submitted for registration to the city's presence, which was later reported by the newspaper "Russian Word".

Such charter was signed by Nikita Baliev, Nikolai Tarasov and Vasily Kachalov. 25 actors became co-founders, and another 15 members of the club were proposed to be elected by voting. But this plan "failed". It was precisely the closeness that attracted attention, as soon as Baliyev announced that “it would be a club of the Art Theater, inaccessible to others, and it would be insanely difficult to become a member of it,” soon “completely extraneous elements poured in” and the “supposed” intimacy of the theater was destroyed . The basement was filled with bohemian musicians, artists, writers and regulars in Moscow theaters.

“When it became clear that there was a need for a special hall for young people, a basement was attached, in which at one time a circle of artists of the Moscow Art Theater called “The Bat” was located, arranging their closed intimate meetings at night after the end of the performances. The soul of these meetings was N. F. Baliev, who later organized his own troupe for public performances of The Bat, which soon became so popular in Moscow. For the arrangement of the dance hall, the room was deepened by me by arshin and oak parquet was laid for asphalt preparation. ”The owner of the house later recalled”

On February 29, 1908, Baliev and Tarasov went down to the dimly lit basement of Pertsov's house (opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Savior). A bat fluttered towards them. This is how the name of the theater was born, and the bat became its emblem, parodying the Moscow Art Theater seagull on the curtain.

Thus, there was a need for the birth of a theater club, and the prospect of its development was revealed later. The creators of the theater did not even think about it.

In the theater of miniatures, the time of action is calculated in minutes, not hours, and in his ten-year biography, Nikolai Efimovich Efros brought to our days the history of the evolution of the chamber theater "The Bat" from the moment the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bcreating an acting club in 1908 to its heyday, when it became artistic and theatrical attraction of the city choked in revolutionary chaos.

“The Art Theater is the most serious theatre, with heroic tension, in the seething of creative forces, resolving the most complex stage problems. But the actors of this theater have a great love for humor, a great taste for jokes. They have always loved laughter. “The Bat” should give a way out for this, these are the moods, thoughts and goals with which N. F. Baliyev and N. L. Tarasov, having grouped their comrades in the theater around themselves, rented a basement and hung a bat from its gray vaulted ceiling. The resting place for people is the realm of a free, but beautiful joke, and away from the outside public.

Wrote N. E. Efros in the biography of the theater, published for its tenth anniversary, 1918.

The condensed eclectic forms of "little art" were especially close to Tarasov's aesthetic taste. A brilliantly educated co-owner of oil fields and a cotton factory in Armavir, he was an aristocrat in spirit, and Tarasov was a poet in his soul. He loved brightly lit halls, in which he certainly chose a dark corner for himself. He loved the war of witticisms, but he himself was stingy with words. This young man simultaneously combined sarcasm, tenderness and sadness, piquancy and understatement. But, he could not know the joy of life and appreciate the generosity of all these gifts. Tarasov could easily sketch couplets and put together a "song on the topic of the day" or a sharp epigram. He composed a well-aimed parody of the production of "Mary Stuart" at the Maly Theater and was the author of buffoonery about the great Napoleon and his missing chauffeur. The comic miniature, in which the audience was deftly fooled, was called "The Scandal with Napoleon, or an unknown episode that happened to Napoleon in Moscow." Napoleon was cold, he wanted to leave and asked: - Where is my driver? They shouted from the hall: - Under Napoleon there were no cars!

Having fulfilled his dream of owning his own theatre, Nikita Baliyev turned the acting cabaret, the intimate club of the Moscow Art Theater actors, into a publicly accessible commercial theater, at the same time preserving the atmosphere of the former haven of artistic bohemia. Performances began to attend Konstantin Sergeevich Stanislavsky. Baliyev was a shareholder of the Art Theater and secretary of Vl. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko. In theatrical performances, he created several juicy images: the Bull and Bread in M. Maeterlinck's "The Blue Bird", Rosen in A. Pushkin's "Boris Godunov", the Man's Guest in the play "The Life of a Man" by L. Andreev. He was very artistic, but for his acting type there were not many roles in the repertoire of the academic theater.

The leading actors of the theater were V.A. Podgorny and B.S. Borisov (Gurovich), as well as Y.M. Volkov, K. I. Kareev, A.N. Salama, G.S. , Doronin (1911/14).

The actresses of the theater were N. A. Khotkevich, A. K. Fekhtner, E. A. Khovanskaya, V. V. Barsova, E. A. Tumanova, Rezler, E. A. Marsheva (Karpova), T. Kh. N. V. Meskhiev-Kareeva (Alekseeva), Heinz, Vasilenko

A month and a half later, in April 1908, the water level in the Moscow River rose, and the water overflowed its banks. In some of the lowest places in the city center, all the cellars were flooded with water.

“Two or three warm days in a row and several rains at once so unanimously promoted the melting of snow and loosened the ice that the rapid and high-water flood of the Moscow River was already beyond doubt”

After the flood, the cozy basement of Pertsov's house had to be restored, and Baliyev's troupe resumed their performances.

“The bat lasted one and a half short theatrical seasons in its original premises, having experienced devastation in the spring from the raging waters of the Moskva River”

For the second season, the theater began its performances at 21:30 in the evening.

The official opening of the "basement" took place on October 18, 1908, a parody of the premiere (October 13, 1908) performance of the Moscow Art Theater "The Blue Bird", in which Konstantin Sergeevich Stanislavsky and Nemerovich-Danchenko were looking for this bird. The theater was ready to receive 60 guests, as announced by the Russkoye Slovo newspaper:

"Intimate" zucchini "friends of the art theater opens on Sunday." - "Russian word"

I must say that the performance of the Art Theater itself was a huge success. For a whole century, the legendary performance did not leave the stage and was shown at least four and a half thousand times. The right of the first use of the fairy tale was granted by the author to Stanislavsky; the design of the performance had a complex lighting score.

In April 1909, the Moscow Art Theater "The Blue Bird" was seen by the St. Petersburg public on the stage of the Mikhailovsky Theater.

“The theater had a festive look. Each picture of Maeterlinck's fairy tale was accompanied by applause. "Land of Memories" and "The Kingdom of the Future" exceeded all expectations and were recognized by the most strict theatergoers as the height of stage skill and art" - "Moskovskiya Vesti"

On January 14, 1909, the theater hosted a celebration of the founder of the "Mouse" Baliyev. Ms. Jan-Ruban and Mr. Kamionsky sang in the joke-parody program, Ms. Balashova danced, and Mr. Lebedev narrated skits.

The Bat celebrated its anniversary in one year on March 19, 1909, simultaneously with the 20th anniversary of the stage anniversary of Alexander Leonidovich Vishnevsky. Nikita Baliev divided the history of the theater into "antediluvian" and "post-flood" periods. Among the guests were V.A. Serov, N.A. Andreev and A.V. Sobinov, who was escorted to Buenos Aires the next day.

One of the "trees" arranged in the cabaret "The Bat" on December 23, 1909, was remembered by the guests for a long time. The program of the evening included The Inspector General, performed by a troupe of puppets, and gifts were distributed for three hours, and the holiday ended by seven in the morning.

On the night of February 9-10, 1910, the theater gave its first paid performance. The first paid performance was for the benefit of theater artists in need. Since that time, "The Bat" has become a night cabaret theater for a paid public. The repertoire of the theater included parodies, miniatures, various divertissements.

On the night of November 5-6, 1910, an evening was held with the performance of Tarasov's parody of the performance of the Maly Theater "Mary Stuart". Alexander Ivanovich Yuzhin, Vladimir Ivanovich Nemerovich-Danchenko and Felor Chaliapin in the costume of Mephistopheles took part in the staging of The Brothers Karamazov. The quartet fit into the action: Leonid Sobinov, Sergey Volgin, V.A. Lossky and Petrov. I read stories by V.F. Lebedev.

On a gloomy Sunday afternoon, November 13, 1910, Nikolai Tarasov relieved himself of the burden of unending longing with a shot in the chest.

“Tarasov is a graceful young man with velvety eyes on a beautiful matte face. He had a delicate taste and a happy appearance. Fate was extremely merciful and generous to him. But Tarasov carried in himself a thirst for the joy of life, but he could never quench it, he could not experience it.

N. E. Efros

The performance at the Art Theater was cancelled.

After the death in 1910 of Nikolai Tarasov, who funded The Bat, the theater had to earn its own money.

On March 20, 1911, Humperdinck's opera was shown, translated and staged by Nikolai Zvantsev. The night was full of fun. Still lifes by Vladimir Tezavrovsky were presented at the vernissage: Baliyev in the form of a watermelon, Mardzhanov in the form of a pineapple, Leonidov is represented by a melon. Sobinov painted a picture with mustard and soybeans. "Cranberry Revolution" - written by Lebedev.

Since 1912, The Bat has become a theater of miniatures with a large program every night, consisting of caricatures, dramatizations of songs, romances, theatrical aphorisms by Kozma Prutkov, miniatures by T.L. Lermontov, Ivan Turgenev, Anton Chekhov, Guy de Maupassant. Excerpts from the works of Mozart, Dargomyzhsky, Borodin, Tchaikovsky were performed. The performances were brilliantly commented on by the witty "owner of the evening" Baliyev, who conversed resourcefully with the audience and harmlessly touched on the "topics of the day."

In August 1912, Baliyev presented a version of the play "Peer Gynt", in the program of which it was written: "A dramatic and musical poem in 36 scenes, of which, due to the difficulty of staging, only ten were made, the rest either did not pass censorship, or were already staged in the Artistic theater ”, and among the episodes of the production were the titles“ At the trolls ”and“ In a madhouse ”.

One of the cabaret parodies was titled "Review of the Theatres: The Biggest Failures of the Recently Started Season." This was followed by a caustic parody of the play by Leonid Andreev "Ekaterina Ivanovna" and a parody of "Sorochinsky Elena" - on the premieres of the Free Theater "Sorochinsky Fair", staged by K. Mardzhanov and "Beautiful Elena", staged by A. Tairov, 1913.

Over time, aestheticism, the desire for refined sophistication, began to manifest itself more and more in the theater programs.

In 1913, the architect F.O. Shekhtel designed the building of the Scientific Electrotheatre in Kamergerovsky Lane, which provided premises for the Bat. However, the project was not implemented.

The walls of the cabaret theater were hung with caricatures and caricatures on the theatrical themes. Above the entrance to the theater hung the inscription “Everyone is considered familiar to each other”, and the welcome guests of the “Bat” could sign in the famous book next to the autographs of K.S. Stanislavsky himself, V.S. Kachalov, O.L. Knipper-Chekhova, Rachmaninoff and Isadora Duncan. "Near theatrical audience" immediately fell into the thick of the backstage life full of events. As if entering the theater from the service entrance, the viewer made an exciting journey into the world of theatrical scenes, feeling intimately involved in the artistic sphere.

Performances at the Bat started at 11:30 p.m. The spectators sat down in their places, the lights were extinguished, and the actors were stealthily heading to the stage from the stalls. Dressed in black hoodies fluttering like bat wings, they, in time with the flickering of red lights, sang in a whisper: “The mouse is my flying animal, the mouse is light as a breeze.” Already involved in the process, the public felt on an “equal footing” with famous artists. The improvisations of Vera Nikolaevna Pashennaya, Nikolai Fedorovich Monakhov and even Marie Petipa, who “accidentally” found themselves in the basement of the Bat, were actually thought out and even paid for by Baliev. Thus, a complete fusion of the auditorium and the stage was achieved. Bohemia consisted of merchants, respectable officials and a prosperous intelligentsia, who played "artists" and "actors".

The enterprise switched to a commercial basis, money poured into the budget like a river. Tickets were sold, performances were announced, reviews were published in newspapers and magazines. From that moment on, the atmosphere of the variety show disappeared, there were no tables, the clink of glasses and the rattle of knives on plates disappeared; and "The Bat" was transformed into a theater. The entrance fee, in those days, was high, expensive champagne was given in the buffet. Baliyev’s entreprise turned out to be very successful, and soon the capital of the “Bat” society amounted to 100,000 rubles. Thanks to the large number of fans of the cabaret theater and the success of the performances, in 1915 “The Bat” moved to a specially adapted theater with a functional stage, an auditorium and a buffet . The performances were played in the basement of apartment building No. 10 on Bolshoy Gnezdnikovsky Lane, called the "First House of Nionese", which at that time seemed like a skyscraper.

Kasyan Yaroslavovich Goleizovsky embodied his creative ideas for ballet performances at the cabaret theater "The Bat" by presenting divertissement departments. The first production on the new stage was the comic opera "Count Nulin" to the music of Alexei Arkhangelsky. It was followed by the original production of The Queen of Spades, designed in a minimalist style of symbolism: a card table, a light on silk from a lonely candelabra, then a mourning candle, a piece of heavy brocade and “fantasy completed the hearse and a magnificent coffin”; instead of a ball - shadows, silhouettes waltzing outside the window, powdered with snow.

The repertoire included operettas and vaudevilles. "Song of Fortunio" to music by J. Offenbach (20-minute miniature, 1918); "Italian salad"; “About hetaera Melitis” (stylized mystery play, 1919); "Lev Gurych Sinichkin" - vaudeville by D.T. Lensky; “What happened to the heroes of The Inspector General the day after Khlestakov's departure” (parody number); "Wedding by Lanterns" (1919); "The Duck with Three Noses" (three-act operetta by E. Jonas, (1920).

But time gave rise to "a mood of nostalgic sadness for the passing past and tired confusion before an incomprehensible future."

In the 1920s, Baliyev went on a European tour with a part of the "Bat" troupe. Until 1922, they somehow tried to preserve the repertoire, but The Bat died in Russia.

Back in 1918, Efros wrote a wish for the theater's tenth anniversary:

“Let what happened happen again. Let reality again surpass all dreams and desires.

Efros, 1918

The cabaret repertoire was a humorous take on the productions of the Art Theatre; in his position of the “person from the outside”, which makes it possible to detect with particular acuteness the comic nature of phenomena and situations in which the “person from the inside” could see an unshakable pattern. The many-sided actors changed images and characters several times a day. At first, the repertoire of the "theater of improvised parodies" included humorous miniatures and sketches for productions of the Art Theater. Nikolai Baliyev was one of the most witty entertainers, his reprises created a special brightness of the theater evenings of The Bat. Then the repertoire was filled with musical and dramatic performances. The performances began to gravitate towards sophistication and elitism, designed for a wealthy audience. The theater lived in its own premises with all the necessary workshops for decorators, and the theater already had a permanent troupe.

The repertoire of the theatrical cabaret included miniatures:

"The Blue Bird" (1908, a parody of the performance of the Moscow Art Theater)

Miniature "Clock" - from the collection of French porcelain performed by T. Oganesova and V. Seliverstova

"Under the gaze of the ancestors" - an old gavotte was performed by T. Oganesova, Y. Volkov, V. Selivestrova

"Constanz Cathedral" to music by A. Arkhangelsky and words by A. Maikov, performed by Y. Volkov, A. Karnitsky, M. Efremov, B. Vasiliev, A. Sokolov, N. Sokolov, B. Podgorny

"Treasurer". Scenes after M. Yu. Lermontov. Participants: Treasurer - I. I. Lagutin, Staff Captain - Y. Volkov, Treasurer - E. A. Tumanova

Zarya-Zaryanitsa to the verses by Fyodor Sologub and music by Suvorovsky. Performed by T. Oganesova, L. Kolumbova, N. Khotkevich, S. Tumanova, A. Sokolov, V.V. Barsova, N. Vesnina.

"Moon Serenade", actress N. V. Meskhiev-Kareeva (N. V. Alekseeva - Meskhiev)

Staged painting by Malyavin "Whirlwind". "Women": E. A. Tumanova, T. Kh. Deykarkhanova, L. Kolumbova, V. V. Barsova, V. Seliverstova, A. Sokolova

The Inspector General, 1909 (short, light, concise, apt, evil, witty)

"Mary Stuart" - N. Tarasov's parody of the performance of the Maly Theater, 1910.

“The scandal with Napoleon, or an unknown episode that happened to Napoleon in Moscow” (about the great Napoleon and his missing driver) - buffoonery by N. Tarasov, 1910.

Dramatization of The Brothers Karamazov (in the play Nemerovich-Danchenko and Alexander Sumbatov sit at a table and drink cognac, with the participation of Fyodor Chaliapin, 1910)

Scenes based on Pushkin's poem "The Fountain of Bakhchisaray" to music by A. Arkhangelsky. Roles were played by: Maria - N. Khotkevich, Zarema - T.Kh Deykarkhanova, Khan - V.A. Podgorny

“In the moonlight” (French song), performed by A. K. Fekhtner, N. A. Khotkevich, V. Seliverstova, T. Oganesova, N. Vesnina

"The knight who lost his wife to the devil." A play by M. Kuzmin, in which this wife was played by N. A. Khotkevich, L. A. Gatova, T. Kh. Deykarkhanova

"Russian toy Posada Sergiev". Music by A. Arkhangelsky. A. K. Fekhtner, M. Borin, K. Korinkt (?)

"Brigan Papa" or "evil beaten misalian". Vaudeville M. Dolinova with singing. Performers: N. A. Khotkevich, I. Lagutin, A. Fekhtner, Y. Volkov

"Madame Bourdieu's shop" - scenes of leaving Moscow. Actors: N. Milatovich, A. Fekhtner, V. Barsova, I. Lagutin, T. Oganesova

"Charity concert in Krutogorsk" - Performers: N.Baliev, E.Zhenin, N.Khotkevich

"Mother", scenes after M. Gorky with the participation of V. A. Podgorny in the role of Timur Lench

"Caprice of Vogdykhan". According to the story of A. Ronye. Performers V. A. Podgorny, A. Sokolov, Y. Volkov

“Serenade of the Faun” to the music of Mozart, the roles were performed by V.V. Barsova, E.A. Tumanova and A. Sokolova

"Crocodile and Cleopatra", in which the role of Cleopatra was played by E. A. Tumanova, then N. M. Khotkevich, V. K. Seliverstova

"Katya". Forgotten polka 80s. The roles were performed by V. V. Barsova, A. K. Fekhtner, M. Borin

Opera (?) by Humperdinck, translated and staged by Nikolai Zvantsev, 1911

"Peer Gynt" (dramatic and musical poem by Baliyev in ten scenes, 1912)

"Sorochinsky Elena" - a parody of the performances "Sorochinsky Fair", K. Mardzhanova and "Beautiful Elena", A. Tairova, 1913

"Theatre Review: The Biggest Failures of the Recently Started Season".

"Ekaterina Ivanovna" - a parody of the play by L. Andreev, 1913

"Count Nulin" to music by Alexei Arkhangelsky, 1915.

The Queen of Spades, 1915. With the participation of T. Kh. Deykarkhanova

Gogol's "Overcoat", in the role of Akaki Akakievich V. A. Podgorny, A. Sokolov, A. Milatovich, Efremov, I. Lagutin, E. Zhenin, M. Borin

"The Art Theater is the most serious theater, with heroic tension, in the seething of creative forces, resolving the most complex stage problems." "The Bat" should become a place of constant rest for the people of the theater, the realm of "free, but beautiful jokes, and away from the outside public." Thus wrote the critic N. Efros, close to the Art Theatre, who became a witness and adviser to the first, still preparatory steps of the cabaret. “Away from the outside public” - these words, a kind of motto of The Bat, became the first and main point of its Charter, which proclaimed the strictest intimacy and non-publicity of the cabaret of the Moscow Art Theater actors.

“It will be,” shared N. Baliev shortly before the opening of the "Bat", - a kind of club of the Art Theater, inaccessible to others. It's extremely difficult to get into a circle." The founding members of The Bat - and they were all the main actors of the Art Theater: O. L. Knipper, V. I. Kachalov, I. M. Moskvin, V. V. Luzhsky, G. S. Burdzhalov, N. F. Gribunin, N. G. Aleksandrov and, in addition, N. F. Baliev and N. L. Tarasov - developed the most complicated ballot system for "outsiders" who could be included in the members of the circle only by unanimous election. “At the very first ballot, not a single new member was elected, because everyone had at least one “chernyak”.” This system had to be quickly abandoned.

The close circle of "artists" was expanded only by musicians, artists, writers, people close to the theater. After the first "executive meeting" - as the cabaret evenings were called - the newspaper chronicle reported that L. Sobinov, V. Petrova-Zvantseva, the director of the Maly Theater N. Popov and the artist of the New Theater A. Kamionsky were among the "outsiders".

The mystery of what is happening in the closed club of the Art Theater inflamed the curiosity of the audience around the theater. Rumors - one more tempting than the other - teased the imagination and excited "the whole of Moscow." Performances in the night actors' pub were like nothing else.

It was said that Stanislavsky himself was dancing the can-can with Moskvin; they said that the majestic Knipper hums a frivolous chansonette there, and Nemirovich-Danchenko, who had never held a conductor's baton before, leads a small orchestra, to which they dance a polka or a stormy-fiery mazurka Alisa Koonen with Kachalov ...

"Jokes of the Gods" - this is how a correspondent who admitted a year after the opening in the cabaret of the Art Theater will call his note.

Actors jealously guarded their intimacy.

Acting is the most public of professions, moreover, its whole essence, its whole meaning is in publicity - and suddenly it slams the doors in front of the audience! The Moscow public could not comprehend this paradox.

Meanwhile, the actors of the Art Theater, perhaps without suspecting it, were to some extent reviving the idea that had once inspired the creators of the first cabarets in France. The organizers of cabarets, different in style, distant for tens of years and thousands of kilometers, were brought together by common goals: to create their own, special world in the world of commercial civilization, where one could hide from the intolerable vulgarity and prosaism of life.

The “leaving” of artists into the world they created was carried out in the most literal way. The "Bat" should not have been entered from the front door Pertsova at home , which began with a luxurious hall in murals and stucco, where the doors of the elevator, finished with dark wood and mirrors, swung open, and from the alley, through a narrow, Gothic-shaped door, going down the stairs. Ten steps leading to the dungeon separated the actors' haven from "earthly" life. The basement came alive after midnight. The congress of guests was scheduled for twelve at night. Night life - quite natural for the actors (day and evening hours are busy for them) - also had a hidden meaning, intelligible only to the initiates. The mysterious night, opposed to the rational, dull-prosaic day, has long been known as an ally of artists.

Flying around like a bat

Among the night lights

We will embroider a motley pattern

Against the backdrop of dull days, -

So half-seriously-half-ironically sung in the hymn "The Bat". It was not at all by chance that the actors took the bat as patrons of their nightly vigils (as it is not accidental black cat on the sign of the Montmartre cabaret Rudolf Saly or a black owl on one of the St. Petersburg literary taverns) - a creature with a rather dubious reputation, as sane people know. "Sane" in the cabaret had nothing to do.

Kasyanov's day was deliberately chosen for the opening of the Bat, February 29, an “extra”, some not quite legal and not quite serious day of the year (the anniversary was therefore celebrated only on leap years. The last anniversary of the Bat was arranged in 1920, when there was no time for jokes with the “Reverend” Kasyan).

In the club of "artists" everything strove to look different than in everyday life, everything emphasized the peculiarity, exclusivity of the world created for themselves by the creators: walls painted by artists K. Sapunov (brother of the famous Nikolai Sapunov) and A. Klodt, from floor to ceiling covered with an exquisite patterned ornament. And the house itself - the famous Pertsov House in Moscow, recently rebuilt near the Cathedral of Christ the Savior on the Moskva River embankment, was a bizarre and very fashionable architecture at that time, reminiscent of a medieval castle and an old Russian tower at the same time.

The cult of refined decoration reigning in the cabaret had little in common with the arrogant luxury of Russian bourgeois salons at the beginning of the century. The penetrating cabaret spirit of composition was ironically shaded - and supplemented! - the utility of a heavy unpainted table, stretching the entire length of the basement, firmly knocked together benches, on which the night brethren crowded - the atmosphere of the tavern vividly resembled an artist's workshop.

There was a buffet counter against the wall opposite the stage. There were no waiters in the artistic tavern. Everyone approached the bar, put sandwiches on their plate, left money and returned to the common table.

All sorts of covert and overt polemics with the life that took place outside the cabaret walls gave its atmosphere a special attraction and poignancy: the community of policemen and townspeople was opposed here by the community of artists, the artistic brotherhood; bureaucratic stiffness, dull decency of bureaucratic officialdom - the naturalness and ease of behavior, the liberty and authenticity of communication between people.

Invited to the "Bat" certainly passed the rite of initiation into the "cabarete": the founder of the cabaret on duty, "wearing," N. Efros remarked in passing, "by the way, the All-Russian name" (by the way, that evening it was Kachalov), hoisted on him a paper cap. The jester's cap - a sign of involvement in a special world - seemed to free its wearer from the norms established in life "above". The one crowned with it thereby made a vow to leave tension, seriousness, vain vanity beyond the threshold of the "Bat" - the cabaret had its own, special laws enshrined in the Charter of the "Bat". The text of this peculiar document has not come down to us, but it can be assumed that the spirit of the charter came to life in it Theleme Abbey that said, do whatever you want.

In the cabaret, the hierarchical barriers that separated people in official life broke down, and the masks necessary for everyday life flew off here. “Faces that we are accustomed to seeing important and businesslike, moaned from a spasm of uncontrollable laughter. Everyone was seized by some kind of carefree frenzy of laughter: the professor of painting crowed like a rooster, the art critic grunted like a pig. This can only be found at an ebullient carnival in Italy or France, which is cheerful in its specialty, ”N. Efros wrote. century, embodied mainly in cabaret - turned out to be one of the few forms in the 20th century where, of course, in a narrowed, impoverished form, the remnants of carnival culture were preserved.

Free "outrages" did not exhaust the content of cabaret pastime. The unconstrained joy of the artists, their complete inner freedom were colored with a special lyricism, hidden poetry of unfettered spiritual communication. The spirit of the cabaret of the Art Theater was determined by close people who understood each other perfectly, talented, significant people, united by the service of genuine art. Perhaps that is why their gaiety was especially sincere and captivating. “We spent the night in the Bat,” O. Knipper wrote to M. Lilina, “there were only our own, they honored Vladimir Ivanovich ... From the old guard there were Luzhsky, Moskvin, Alexandrov, Burdzhalov and I - only. A military band was playing... a throne for the heroes of the day was erected in the corner near the curtain... The absence of strangers was pleasant. Sang glory. Baliev successfully wit. Zvantsev read poems on "Karamazovs". Everyone warmed up, dispersed, spoke kind words, remembered Konstantin Sergeevich; Vladimir Ivanovich gave everyone his attention, sat with everyone, talked, got tipsy, was sweet, as he had not been seen for a long time, conducted an orchestra, even walked with a lezginka ... A Bulgarian sang some wild songs native, another played the piano, whispered in one corner Koreneva with Luzhsky about a new role, Deykarkhanova flirted with Tarasov, Koonen with Tezavrovsky they danced the oira, Bravich the mazurka...”.

In fact, what happened in bat ”, there were no representations in the usual sense. Performances for them, as a rule, were not specially prepared; light improvisations - companions of actors' gatherings and feasts - were not designed for strangers. Here everyone - or almost everyone - a second before his performance did not suspect about him, electrified by the previous performer, he flew up to the stage slightly raised above the floor, so that later, after his improvisation, he would return to the common table. In the cabaret, the spirit of artistic competition revived again, that excitement of merry rivalry, which once gathered ancient singers, musicians, storytellers for creative battles. The kabotin, savagely expelled from the walls of the theater-temple, was again reborn in the actors. (This was the attitude of the directors and actors towards the Moscow Art Theater.) The concert here returned to its original meaning: competition.

Someone brought the fruits of independent creative efforts to the stage of The Bat, finding a way out for those artistic possibilities that were not used in performances.

Here, talents were discovered that no one even suspected, often their owners themselves - the authors of talented improvisations.

The life of impromptu, born in a cabaret, lasted only those few moments while they were performed. Something was fixed later, but it turned out to be completely different - improvisations were alive only by the cabaret atmosphere and died with it.

But the actors cared little for the ephemerality of their cabaret creativity. Not because it was for them something frivolous, not worthy of attention. Improvisation helped to create what was the soul of the cabaret: the atmosphere of a holiday spilled throughout the hall, the freedom of easy communication.

And yet, for many actors, The Bat was something much more important than just a place of carefree pastime. Creative pranks, free play of forms led the actors beyond the limits of the usual expressive means, established professional techniques. Here L. Sobinov, the idol of Moscow, the romantic Lensky, sang comical Little Russian songs, funny dressed up and made up, playfully played in the popular popular duet of Dargomyzhsky "Vanka-Tanka"; here V. Luzhsky performed with verses, O. Gzovskaya - with chansonettes, I. Moskvin foolishly conducted the comic Russian choir, and K. Stanislavsky, posing as a prestidigitator, showed the wonders of white and black magic - with the help of his hands he took off the shirt from "anyone who wanted" without unbuttoning his jacket and vest. Of course, these numbers were performed in parody, and special poignancy arose because the simple tricks of a provincial magician were demonstrated by the great Stanislavsky, and one of the best and most significant actresses of the Art Theater, O. Knipper, portrayed a frivolous chansonette.

actors , however, they not only scoffed at simple pop couplets or farce tricks - they gave themselves up with pleasure to unrestrained acting, immersed themselves in artless, but requiring special virtuosity art - different than in modern everyday psychological theater. Improvisation brought the actors back to the roots of theatrical art.

The cabaret world is a special world, where its own laws reign, governing the behavior of people, their relationships with each other, where everyone acts in an unusual role, in an unusual role for him; world, demonstratively emphasizing its difference from life outside. And yet the cabaret is in a special way connected with the "day" life, art. Special -because this connection is negative, parodic.

In The Bat, almost all the "great" Art Theaters, starting with Stanislavsky, Nemirovich-Danchenko, Knipper, discover the gift of stage caricature. V. Luzhsky possessed an outstanding talent. His famous travesty "shows" by F. Chaliapin, L. Sobinov, K. Khokhlov were described by V. Kachalov, himself an outstanding parodist. “Vasily Vasilyevich,” writes Kachalov, “of course, had no Chaliapin bass, no Sobinov tenor, no Khokhlovsky baritone, in general there was no real singing voice. But with what excitement we listened to these singers from the lips of Luzhsky, in his program. How extraordinarily wonderfully he was able to convey both Chaliapin's power, and Sobin's tenderness, and Khokhlov's beauty of timbre. And then we no longer laughed, here we only thanked Vasily Vasilyevich with excited smiles and approving nods of our heads. We didn't laugh because it happened that, at our request, at our "orders" V.V. would begin to "give" Chaliapin - in "Boris Godunov" or "Mephistopheles", or Sobinov in "Lohengrin", or Lensky.

He will start, joking and chuckling, slightly exaggerating the sweetness of Sobinov's pianissimo, suddenly hook the "live Sobinov", give a hint of the sound of his unique timbre - and immediately everyone around will hold their breath and Vasily Vasilyevich continues to seriously and excitedly sing "Sobinov to the mute". In the same way, joking and mischievous, he will begin to parody Chaliapin - "And you, flowers, with your fragrant-m, thin poison-m-m", parodically emphasizing these double and triple "m" at the ends of words - this famous Chaliapin "stamp", but when V.V., having reached "and pour into Margarita's heart," he began to inflate in the "seeeeerd" in Chaliapin's way, he was suddenly really captured by Chaliapin's temperament, a wave of spontaneous Chaliapin power rolled over.

The uniqueness of the "Bat" was that she ridiculed, first of all, the theater in which she was born. The "Crooked Mirror" of the Moscow Art Theater - the so-called "Bat" - was sent to its theater. “This semi-mysterious animal,” wrote one of the constant reviewers of The Bat, a few years later, “trained by the young actor of the Moscow Art Theater N.F. Baliyev, bared his sharp teeth and, in malicious parodies, poisonous and well-aimed jokes, made fun of his patron - the Art Theater.”

The "Performing Evenings" of the Moscow Art Theater cabaret always opened with parodies of the performances of the Art Theater - "The Blue Bird" (1909), "Anatema" (1909), "The Brothers Karamazov" (1910), "The Living Corpse" (1911), "Hamlet" (1911) ) and others. Moreover, the premieres of "satire dramas" cabarets immediately followed their prototypes. It even happened that parodies were played the night after the first performance. In 1909, Russkoye Slovo reported: “On September 19, the Moscow Art Theater will open with Anatema by Leonid Andreev, in The Bat on the same evening after the main performance, Anathema will go inside out” (this time the intention was not carried out: the premiere of Anathema ", as you know, had to be canceled at the request of the Synod. In the previous year, 1908, The Bat played its Blue Bird a week (October 5) after the premiere of Maeterlinck's play (September 30).

According to all the rules of travesty and burlesque, the “laugh understudy” adopted everything that was possible from his original: in his “Blue Bird” the same 7 paintings, arranged in the same order as in the Moscow Art Theater performance (he even restored the scene “in the cemetery ”, shortened in the stage version of the play by the Art Theater); the parody of Anatema, like the performance itself, consisted of a prologue, five scenes and an epilogue, repeating, of course, in a grotesquely inverted reflection, the structure, details, and rhythmic structure of the original.

The texts of these parodies have not been preserved, which is not accidental. They did not claim to be literary. These are instantly fixed impromptu, full of improvisational spirit, hastily collected jokes from inside theatrical folklore, responses to events that were currently occupying theatrical and near-theater Moscow. They went right after the life of the Moscow Art Theater and were designed for one single performance.

And yet in the parodies of "The Bat" one can detect purposefulness. One of the main "lines" of the Moscow Art Theater in those years - "the line of symbolism and impressionism", as Stanislavsky defined it, which found implementation in the performances "The Blue Bird", "Anatema", "Hamlet" - became the objects of their comic retellings.

"The Bat" arose in a rather difficult period in the history of the Moscow Art Theater. Theater directing made experiments in the field of a different theatrical expressiveness, trying to take the theater beyond the already familiar "Chekhovian" methods of acting and staging decisions or to expand the range of their influence on non-domestic forms of the theater. Many actors did not understand and did not accept these searches.

Here, to some extent, the actor's conservatism, the desire to gain a foothold in the usual methods, and the quite understandable resistance of the "Chekhov" actor to the sometimes alien demands of the directors revealed themselves. “Troup X.T. met the production of "The Blue Bird" very hostilely, - A. Mgebrov recalled, - the actors were angry that they were forced to portray some inanimate objects. Irony, ridicule was not the end. But they were on the sly, somehow around the corner. The actors were annoyed by the ecstatically intense nature of symbolist performances - Hamlet, Anathema.

The parodies of The Bat played a kind of role of "satire dramas", served as the valve through which the destructive energy of discontent came out.

One of the cabaret evenings, arranged in the autumn of 1909, was entirely devoted to Anatema. First, “in the form of an introduction, N. Zvantsev read the “libretto” of the play, composed with great wit. Homeric laughter stood in the tavern all the time while this joke was being read. The parody of the performance, which after the introduction was played in puppets by its author and the only performer N.Baliev, was built on some details and phrases of Andreev's play cleverly translated into a cartoon - in the last picture of the parody, the shadows of Byron, Goethe, Hugo, Lermontov, Voltaire creep to Andreev and many others (from whom, as the parody hints, the author borrows) "and they cry out: give us back what is ours, give back what has been taken away." After the parody performance, narrators spoke: Maly Theater actor V. Lebedev “summed up the idea of ​​the play from the point of view of a merchant who saw Anatema: “And this is the kind of lisurtat I received,” the merchant philosophized, “you should never give to the poor” ”; writerV. Gilyarovsky, who conveyed the impressions of a peasant who, by chance, thanks to his acquaintance with the stage worker, got to the rehearsal of "Anatema": "And this very Anathema stands, growing huge, all iron, terrible," the man, who mistook the guard-angel for Anatema, narrated with sacred horror. Gilyarovsky, however, parodied not only the inexperienced spectator, on the contrary: simple-minded sanity ironically set off the grandiloquence, pretentious mysticism of the Andreev tragedy.

"Hamlet" by Nikita Baliyev, played at another "performing meeting", touched upon those key points around which disputes flared up both in the Art Theater itself and on the pages of newspapers: the famous Crag screens, Claudius' courtyard flooded with gold and V. Kachalov - Hamlet. The evening began with an introduction written by Lolo (L. G. Munshtein, editor of the weekly Rampa and Life). Vakhtangov, disguised as Kachalov-Hamlet, imitating his voice with incredible resemblance, read the monologue "To be or not to be" ... to Craig's screens. “Kachalov complained that he had to play Hamlet in Crag style in screens, bitterly recalled how he played in Kazan, how he felt, how he wanted to.” After Vakhtangov's performance in The Bat, a comic performance began (unlike the previous ones, which were staged in puppets, Hamlet was played by young artists of the Moscow Art Theater and the Adashev school). Claudius (played by an actor disguised as Stanislavsky) and Gertrude (actor A. Barov in the guise of Nemirovich-Danchenko) sat on a tiny stage, dressed in sparkling robes and crowns in the form of a samovar and a coffee pot. The outburst of laughter that the reviewer writes about is quite understandable: in one of the articles about Hamlet in the Moscow Art Theater, it was written that Claudius and Gertrude in their golden robes resemble the above-mentioned household items. Using the same method of realized metaphor, the posters hung, as always, on the walls of the cabaret. They depicted the successive transformation of the Tula samovar and teapot into the king and queen. Craig screens were parodied with canvas cubes - extras sat in them, and at the most inopportune moments they began to randomly move around the stage. The parody was very evil. "Craig had enough time to feel the wings of the Bat, hurting him painfully." The parody ended with a "sepulchral word", which was pronounced by the actor who portrayed Fortinbras - A. Stakhovich. After the parody, there were, as usual, separate numbers, V. Lebedev, on behalf of his constant hero - the merchant - shared his impressions of Hamlet; B.Borisov and N.Baliev in costumes and make-up of a boy and a girl sang verses about Hamlet to the motive of the children's song "There are two hens on the street".

Of course, the theme of the Bat parodies was not exhausted by mockery of the symbolism. With merry passion, the cabarettes attacked all the explicit and implicit opponents of the Art Theater. In one of the paintings of the "flying" "The Blue Bird", wandering in the "land of memories", Tiltil and Mitil found themselves in ... the Maly Theater. "How are you, kids?" - asked the "malo-theatre" grandparents. “Yes, every evening a full house,” answered the “MKhAT” children. “What is it, kids? We don't remember that." In the film "Night" among all the horrors, the most terrible was theatrical criticism. Moscow newspapers were represented by hostile to man "trees of the forest", the trunks of which - ribbons with the headlines of periodicals - ended with crowns - portraits of theatrical observers of this newspaper. (The audience recognizes them instantly: each of those sitting in the hall knows any of them by sight.) The trees sway and rustle, argue about the merits of the Moscow Art Theater "The Blue Bird", build various intrigues with reviewers' pens, revealing their bestial temperaments; they explain their unwillingness to give Tiltil and Mitil success, based on very vulgar and banal considerations - "because then there will be no sweetness with them."

Parodic performances that began after midnight, with dashing mischief, overturned what was surrounded by reverence and reverence during the day - here the authorities, given over to blasphemous and cheerful scolding, flew head over heels. Everyone known and respected by everyone became the comic heroes of parody reviews, quotations from symbolist dramas, philosophical tragedies were used to discuss purely worldly, human, too human affairs.

In the parody "The Brothers Karamazov" (consisting of episodes named the same as in the Moscow Art Theater), in the scene "For cognac" instead of Dostoevsky's characters (but in their guise), they peacefully sipped cognac, discussing the right to stage the first production of "The Living Corpse" (this delicate issue at that time exaggerated everywhere), A. Yuzhin and Vl. Nemirovich-Danchenko; the scene “Another Lost Reputation”, where Chaliapin was depicted in the costume of Mephistopheles, who was chasing the “Tyrolean cows” who were running away from him - chorus girls of the Bolshoi Theater, hinted at an incident that happened to F. Chaliapin and became a newspaper parable.

The grotesques, travesty and burlesques of The Bat, which turned the performances of the Moscow Art Theater inside out, gave their patron a merciless test - a test of viability. After all, the "uncovering of the device", which involuntarily occurred in parody, for the Art Theater as a psychological theater should have been tantamount to death. But a parody of the art of the Moscow Art Theater could not cause any damage. The essence of the art of the Art Theater, its core remained intact. Moreover, the constant presence inside the theater of its parody double, the sly mockingbird, proved that it was a living theater capable of constant renewal, that its corefei were young and full of creative powers. Laughing at themselves is a sign of their spiritual health. In the Art Theatre, as V. Shverubovich shrewdly noted, they did not like anything that was not to be laughed at.

The spirit of the comic in "The Bat" was determined by the atmosphere of festivity, full of creative joy and freedom.

The “mouse” did not place itself outside the ridiculed phenomenon, did not lose spiritual contact with it. It is precisely in this that her parodies differ from many other parodic forms that rapidly emerged on Russian soil at the beginning of the century.

In the basement of Pertsov's house, "Mouse" did not stay long. The spring flood in 1908 was stormy. The Moskva River overflowed its banks and flooded the refuge of cabareteurs. When the water subsided, they saw that the painting, the stage and the furniture had perished. The basement had to be abandoned. "The Bat" moved to a new building in Milyutinsky Lane.

The “official opening” of the cabaret of the Art Theater took place here on October 5, 1908.

The evening began with the famous parody of the "stupid circus", described by K. Stanislavsky in the book "My Life in Art". Stanislavsky himself played the role of a circus director in it. “I appeared in a tailcoat,” wrote Stanislavsky, “with a top hat worn on one side for chic, in white leggings, white gloves and black boots, with a huge nose, thick black eyebrows and a wide black goatee. All the servants in red liveries lined up in tapestries, the music played a solemn march, I went out, bowed to the audience, then the chief of the ringmaster handed me, as expected, a whip and a whip (I studied this art throughout the week on all days free from performances), and a trained stallion flew onto the stage, which was portrayed by A. L. Vishnevsky.

But the score of the role of the director, preserved in the Moscow Art Theater Museum, written by Stanislavsky's hand, allows us to see that this number did not concern the circus, which was only a comic device of parody, but the Art Theater itself: the barriers over which the trained horse jumped - Vishnevsky, denoted the names of the Moscow Art Theater performances .

The comedy of parody arose from the travesty likening of the Art Theater to a circus, its performances to circus barriers, actors to dumb trained animals, the head of the theater to a formidable director. Wasn't there a hidden hint in this about the "tyranny and bourbonism" of the leader of the theatre, against which the actors murmured "quietly, from around the corner"?

The cabaret parodies of the Art Theater thus had a therapeutic effect: they brought out - and thus filmed - hidden conflicts.

It can be said that the parodies - without any conscious intention of their authors - were aimed at preserving and preserving the living soul of the Art Theater, just as at the end of the triumphal processions of the ancient Roman generals there were soldiers who scolded and made fun of the heroes in every way - the only thing to curse with laughter and save them from the envy of the gods. Let this comparison not seem violent and too academic, far from the unpretentious amusements of the acting theatre. For in the intimate art of the cabaret - let us once again refer to M. M. Bakhtin - paradoxically, the ancient traditions of ritual laughter were resurrected, in accordance with which festive blasphemy is part of the sacred rite.

Only in this context can the parody of the anniversary of the Moscow Art Theater be understood, shown two weeks later (October 27, 1908) after the celebrations dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the Moscow Art Theater. The parody anniversary of the Moscow Art Theater in "The Bat" repeated step by step almost word for word the one that took place on the stage in Kamergersky on October 14th.

An exact copy of the stage of the Art Theater on that significant day was presented on the miniature stage of the cabaret. As well as there, the gray-green curtain, pushed back into the depths of the stage, served as a backdrop for the anniversary action. As well as there, chairs for Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko were placed near the stage.

Only the atmosphere that reigned here was completely different. On October 14, M. Savitskaya wrote about the anniversary celebration, when Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko “appeared in the hall, our choir and almost everyone who was there began to sing Glory and shower them with flowers. And such a tremendous excitement seized us that we wept like children. Vladimir Ivanovich and Konstantin Sergeevich kissed and hugged everyone and also could not hold back their tears.

At the anniversary in The Bat, tears came out from incessant laughter. Everything that was touching, spiritually sublime at that anniversary was then noticed by the parodists and repeated with mocking laughter. Instead of a soaring seagull, they put a sprawling black bat on the curtain. Instead of solemn and respectable representatives of theaters and various cultural institutions, “deputations” were held in front of the heroes of the day from ... the “Union of Moscow bath attendants”, who recognized their brothers in the leaders of the Art Theater, who care about the purity of the soul just as they care about the purity of the body; from the Society of Poultry Breeding, which highly appreciated the activities of the theater in the field of breeding birds - the domestication of such a delicate bird as the "Seagull", the capture of the "Blue Bird", although it noted the failure of turning the "Wild Duck" into a domestic one.

If at the solemn anniversary the actors of different theaters read serious poetry and prose, the opera singers sang a whole cantata in chorus, then here the famous doctor performed a dashing chansonette. Instead of Chaliapin, who on that solemn day sang a musical joke specially written by S. V. Rakhmaninov for the anniversary, in which the church motif "Many Years" was elegantly combined with the accompaniment of the polka by I. A. Sats to "The Blue Bird", the actor N. A. Znamensky and, hilariously copying the great singer, performed a humorous musical greeting letter to the hero of the day from Sats. “There was a lot of well-aimed and even evil,” N. Efros recalled, “but talent and artistry made all the pills so golden that their bitterness seemed pleasant.”

Parody anniversaries "Bat" will arrange throughout its short history.

Here, the hero of the day was not glorified, they did not smoke incense for him, on the contrary, they bullied him, showered him with a hail of ridicule and familiar jokes. At the celebration of L. Sobinov (1909) - one of the regular participants in the evenings of "The Bat", - V. Luzhsky read a greeting from the Moscow Art Theater, written in a deliberately ugly style under Trediakovsky. Evening in honor of B. Borisov - an artist of the Korsh Theater and a permanent participant in the "performing meetings" of the "Bat" - began with the opening of a monument to the artist.

When, to the sound of the carcass, they pulled off the cover, under it a huge image, in the whole scene, was revealed ... the bald head of the hero of the day.

Far from solemnity, the atmosphere that reigned at parodic anniversaries did not in the least detract from the merits of the hero of the occasion. Against. Parodic decline to shreds tore the official uniform of state anniversaries. Solemn words and lofty feelings, “worn out and compromised,” as B. I. Zingerman wrote on another occasion, “in their serious and official existence, having passed through the system of clownish stick blows,” were reborn to a new life, “rejuvenated and prettier.” One of the journalists wrote about the parodic honoring of O. O. Sadovskaya: “A hot, deep admiration for the great artist (or rather, it would be written like this: thanks to a joke and laughter) made its way through the joke and laughter, expressed in playful veiled words, ironic music, it sounded fuller than in all the solemn doxologies. Parody destroyed, debunked not genuine idols, but fell upon clichés and falsehood, on inflated swagger. Sincere feeling, subjected to a test of laughter, she released, real values, passing them through the crucible of the comic, returned their former brilliance.

The soul of the cabaret was one of its main founders, Nikita Fyodorovich Baliev, a born entertainer and cabaret.

“The round face smiled broadly, closely mixing good-naturedness with irony, and one felt in it the joy of what was still new for him, retaining all the exciting charm of original creativity.

Happy are those who have guessed their calling,” N. Efros wrote about him. Baliyev, however, did not immediately guess his vocation.

A gifted amateur, an ardent admirer of the Art Theater, who was friends with its actors, in 1907 he was accepted into the troupe of the Moscow Art Theater. The history of his invitation to the Art Theater is also unusual. When the theater went on its first European tour in 1906, two young men - rich Moscow man N. Tarasov and his distant relative N. Baliyev - followed their favorite theatre, moving with it from city to city. And in the evenings, together with the actors, they sat in the famous cabaret. The artistic success of the Moscow theater was enormous. But the fees could not recoup the gigantic expenses associated with the tour. To return home, the theater needed an amount that was nowhere to get. And then Tarasov gave indefinitely and without interest 30 thousand rubles. In gratitude, the theater leaders offered him to join the shareholders of the Moscow Art Theater, and Baliyev was first accepted as the secretary of the directorate, and after a while - into the troupe.

However, his acting fate in the theater was not happy. He failed one after another the small roles entrusted to him, “having discovered, as V. Luzhsky considered about the Kister played by Baliev in Brand, a complete lack of dramatic talent.” His talent really did not suit the theater - not only the Artistic, everyone. His talent was exclusively pop. His appearance did not succumb to any make-up. Through any of its layers, a completely round, cunning physiognomy with sly eyes-slits showed through, barely looking at which, the audience, no matter what happened on the stage, was already beginning to have fun. “My face is my tragedy,” Baliyev wrote in despair to V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, seeking the role of Purikes in Andreev’s “Anatem”, “a comedy is coming - they say Baliev cannot be given (Bobchinsky) - he will put the whole theater down, there is a drama - too. I start to think tragically why God punished me so<...>. I will play the role of Purikes<...>and maybe I can: show you tragic humor in this role. Believe me once in your life, dear Vladimir Ivanovich, otherwise, by God, my situation is tragic. Either a southern accent, or a too comical face. What to do? Shoot? Especially if you love theater. I believe, Vladimir Ivanovich, that this year you will give me a role. Oh my God, this is necessary. I will not disgrace you, dear, dear Vladimir Ivanovich. Moreover, a good episodic role is yours. You promised it to me, and I know you keep your word. A letter like this would make anyone's heart tremble. And in any other case, the heart of Nemirovich-Danchenko would probably tremble if it were not for the art of the Art Theater. If Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko were a little less demanding and strict, the theater would have acquired a mediocre dramatic actor for a long time, and the stage would have forever lost one of its most talented directors, the artist who became the founder of the Russian entertainer.

The role of Purikes, about which Baliyev worked hard, he never got. In "Anatem" he played an organ grinder. "Lamp and Life" immediately posted a photo of Baliyev in this role. She did this, most likely, not because the organ grinder was a great achievement for the artist, but because by this time Baliyev, as an entertainer and chief cabaret performer of The Bat, was becoming one of the most popular people in Moscow.

Luzhsky, in response to Baliev's complaints about Purikes, promised him that he would be busy in the performance where "his comic gift, resourceful jokes and belly would suit." Having already mastered the lessons of art theater quite well, Baliyev understands that this is a diplomatic refusal. Gradually, he begins to realize that he has nothing to do at the Moscow Art Theater. He had a role where he already used his data - Bread in "The Blue Bird" (it is curious that in many years another future entertainer - M. N. Garkavy) will play the same role. Funny and not very good-natured Bread rolled around the stage like a kolobok on short legs. His role turned into an insert number, in the general performance he played his little performance, hopelessly breaking out of the ensemble. He tried to draw attention to himself with all sorts of tricks, various funny tricks, trying to prove that his “comic gift, resourceful jokes and belly” could be useful in the Art Theater. He argued so diligently that Stanislavsky, as L. M. Leonidov recalls, “once, as if by chance, asked Baliyev if he liked the circus.

Oh yes, Baliev answers.

And the clowns? asks Stanislavsky.

I love it, - continues Baliev.

It can be seen, you have a solid farce ... ".

However, this characteristic, which is deadly for a dramatic actor, was almost a praise for a variety actor. The theater was not Baliyev's vocation. He was born for the stage. Only here he turned out to be talented, bright and interesting. He couldn't play different roles. But then all his life he brilliantly played one and only - the owner and entertainer of the "Bat" Nikita Baliyev. Everything that interfered with him in the theater became here not only appropriate, but necessary. And a characteristic face that was instantly remembered, and a peculiar personality.

Baliyev did not fit into the rigid framework of a rehearsed, verified and forever built performance. An unknown force tore him out of the measured course of the performance, pushed him to the forefront, face to face with the audience, one on one with the audience. He was by nature an actor-soloist, a "single-owner", here, on the spot, in front of the public, creating his own performance, independent of anyone and not connected with anyone, all parts of which are fluidly changeable, subtly mobile. Performance-improvisation. It is no coincidence that his gift as an entertainer was revealed at impromptu cheerful evenings. He supported, slightly directing, the general course of fun, at the same time dissolving in it. It was at these evenings that those techniques were spontaneously born that will be included in the arsenal of artistic means of the future entertainer. “His inexhaustible fun, resourcefulness, wit - both in essence and in the form of presenting his jokes, courage, often reaching impudence, the ability to hold the audience in his hands, a sense of proportion, the ability to balance on the border of impudent and cheerful, offensive and playful, the ability to stop in time and give a joke a completely different, good-natured direction - all this made him an interesting artistic figure of a new genre for us, ”K. Stanislavsky wrote about him. Baliyev’s success as an entertainer grew in inverse proportion to his success as a dramatic actor. Barely passed the day of the “executive meeting” of the cabaret or the annual “skit”, which, as L. Leonidov wrote, N. Baliev came up with on Monday in the first week of Great Lent to arrange in the Moscow Art Theater, where “he showed a lot of wit, ingenuity, taste”, where “Stanislavsky, Nemirovich-Danchenko with the whole troupe and workshops gave themselves under his control”, Baliyev again found himself out of work. His position in the theater was getting worse and worse, in the performances he was almost not occupied - in the 1911/12 season he played two small episodic roles, one without words. There was no hope for any change. “Maybe, in fact,” Baliyev wrote shortly before his departure to Nemirovich-Danchenko, “The Art Theater, where fate pushed me, is not my theater. I am rude, unintelligent for him. And then, no matter how hard it is, no matter how ideals collapse, you have to make up your mind and leave - until they say: leave, we don’t need you, but this can also be.

Baliyev has long had plans related to the "Bat". It remained to take the last step. And Baliyev does it. In the spring of 1912, newspapers reported for the first time that from next season Baliyev was leaving the troupe of the Moscow Art Theater and arranging a large cabaret with the right of wide access to the public.

This, in fact, everything went. Back in 1910, the cabaret began to issue tickets, they were called merchant tickets - they cost from 10 to 25 rubles and so far were bashfully called back marks, and were distributed according to notes among friends. But the trouble is the beginning - at first, only slightly opening the doors to the outside public, it was soon forced to throw them wide open. And already in 1911, the journalist ruefully notes that “the best places are occupied by representatives of the largest commercial firms in Moscow. But there is neither Stanislavsky, nor Nemirovich-Danchenko, nor Knipper. From the refuge of artists, the Bat turned into a commercial enterprise. The evolution of the Moscow cabaret was no exception. It was a natural and logical path that all cabarets - Russian and European - went through sooner or later.

The history of the artistic cabaret of the Art Theater is over.

The history of the theater of miniatures "The Bat" began.