Nicolay Gumilyov. Article Alexander Blok Theater

Four the plays of alexander Blok represent a whole epoch in the history of the Russian theatre. And it does not matter that only two of them, and then somehow by chance, saw the stage, it has long been known that the soul of the theatre is not the director or the actor, but the author, and only he. This what we say: the theater of Stanislavsky, Komissarzhevskaya.
At some distance, we will already say: the theater of Shakespeare.
Blok;s Theater covers ten twilight-dawn (в значении «сумеречно-рассветных») years from the small revolution to the Great War. This is the new repertoire which, in spite of the important directors of the theatres, admires of Ryshkov and Trachtenberg, went straight from the heart of Russian society to the heart of each of its individual representatives.
And the victories and defeats of the poet and his audience are the same. Blok’s strength lies in his sense of rhythm, which moves the masses. As if gathering strength for the great trials ahead of her, the soul of the country was dozing. There was no action that gave rise to drama, no memory of the action from which the epic would be born. One lyric soared inseparably. Feeling, powerless to go beyond its limits, lit up with all the colors of the rainbow, like the soap bubble on the sun, and our eyes were enriched by the contemplation of hitherto unknown shades. Blok was the first poet of this period and he even had enough energy to stage his own lyrical poems. In fact, - the theater is the property of a few heroic epochs, while the stage and the actors on it are the property of all. And so the poets stage their lyrical and epic ideas, creating not genuine works of arts, but surrogates for dramatic creativity. About how this is done and how it could be done, I will talk elsewhere, but for now I sincerely ask you to pay attention to the fact that «Puppet show» came out from the «Unexpected joy» (there is even a poem with the same name), «King of the square» from «The Earth in the snow» and «The stranger» from «The snow mask». These pieces  are dear to me, as variations on unforgettable images, but I would also welcome (в значении «приветствовать») an album of drawings on the same themes and musical compositions.
About how this is done and hoe it could be done, I will talk in another place, but for now I ask you to pay attention to the fact that «Balaganchik» came out of «Unexpected joy».


There is nothing theatrical in them, except for the fashionable at that time breaking the forms of relations crystallized for centuries between the two sides of the ramp, which turned out to be beyond the power of the then actors and authors.


2022.