Cabaret bat. Bat cabaret theater. "Bat" - an attempt at revival

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

Bat Evenings (the first is a parody of the play Blue bird- took place on February 29, 1908 in the basement of the Pertsov 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 recognizes as its own, depicted on the theater curtain, also served as an ironic reference to the seagull - the symbol of the Moscow Art Theater.

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

The 1910s were the time of the "cabaret epidemic" in the theatrical life in Russia. Following the "Bat" BK Pronin's cabaret "Lukomorye", "Halt of Comedians" and "Stray Dog", "House of Interludes" by V. Meyerhold in St. Petersburg were opened. The emergence of cabaret became a phenomenon in the art of the Silver Age theater, caused by the interest in parody and stylization, which was experienced by the Symbolists, artists of the circle of the magazine "World of Art". "Bat" became the first swallow. Stylized miniatures, a genre of paintings that came to life, were a success: Vyatka toys,Women F.A. Malyavina,Japanese fan,Chinese porcelain; melodeclamation (verses by P. Beranger), staged romances ( Do not tempt,How good, how fresh were the roses), buffoonery ( Scandal with Napoleon). The actors of the Moscow Art Theater continued to perform eagerly in the cabaret. Baliev used the genre of amateur evenings: dances, anecdotes, puns, charades, songs. The audience was also attracted by Baliev's witty entertainer, who based his performances on a "scandal", clashing 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. Shchepkina-Kupernik, N.A. Teffi with her daughter, poetess E. Buchinskaya, A.N. Tolstoy, I. G. Ehrenburg. Being a theater of high taste, cabaret easily grasped artistic fashion and made discoveries of great art available to the public.

A type of synthetic actor has formed in the theater: a reader, a dancer, a singer, an improviser. The troupe includes: V.A. Podgorny, Ya.M. Volkov, V. Ya.Khenkin, Ya.D. Yuzhny, K.E. Gibshman, T.Kh. Deikarkhanova, E.A. Marsheva, A.F. Heints, EA Khovanskaya and others. Directed by VV Luzhsky, IM Moskvin, EB Vakhtangov, Baliev himself.

Since 1914, the theater, without changing its name, in its type approached the theater of miniatures. From graceful, highly artistic trifles, the theater moved on to staging stage miniatures based on the classical operetta, vaudeville ( Six brides and no groom F. Zuppe, Lantern wedding J. Offenbach), to stage performances of the classics: The 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. Chekhova, (directed by A.A. Arkhangelsky).

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

In February 1917, a review of 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 Baliev (1918). The elegant, but out of tune with the revolution, cabaret aesthetics did not fit well with the new era.

In 1919 Baliev, wary of the revolution, took the troupe on tour to Kiev, then returned, but in 1920 left with a 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 did not change. Attempts to revive the former glory of the theater were 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 a success for the theater against the backdrop of a series of boring evenings and a half-filled auditorium. The rest of the troupe in Moscow was jokingly called the "candied mouse." In 1922, for non-payment of the lease of the premises, the theater left the Nirnzee house forever, where its place was taken by the cabaret "Jimmy's Curve" (the future Moscow theater of Satire). Part of the Bat troupe joined this group. And although the genre of the new theater was related to Baliev's theater, its style was sharper, rougher, more primitive than the subtle, lyrical, filigree manner of The Bat, the brainchild of the Moscow Art Theater.

In 1989-2001 - 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

"The art theater is a very serious theater, with heroic tension, in the seething of creative forces, it solves the most difficult stage problems." "The Bat" should become a place of constant rest for the theater people, the kingdom of "a free but beautiful joke, and away from outside audiences." So wrote the critic N. Efros, close to the Art Theater, who witnessed and advised 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 clause of its Charter, which proclaimed the strictest intimacy and non-publicity of the cabaret of the Moscow Art Theater actors.

“It will be,” he shared N. Baliev shortly before the opening of The Bat, it was a kind of Art Theater club, inaccessible to others. It is incredibly difficult to become a member of the circle. " 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 a very complicated system of balloting for "outsiders" who could be included in the circle members only by unanimous election. “During the very first ballot, not a single new member was elected, because everyone had at least one" black man "." And 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 present from the "outsiders".

The mystery of what was happening in the closed club of the Art Theater inflamed the curiosity of the near theatrical public. Rumors - one more tempting than the other - teased the imagination and excited "all of Moscow." The performances in the nightclub actor's tavern were like nothing else.

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

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

The actors jealously guarded their intimacy.

Acting is the most public of the 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 unaware of it, to some extent revived the idea that once inspired the creators of the first cabaret in France. The organizers of cabaret, 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 artists' "departure" into the world they created was carried out in the most literal way. The Bat was not to be entered from the main entrance. Pertsov at home , which began with a luxurious hall in painting and stucco molding, where the doors of an elevator, decorated 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 underground separated the actors' refuge from the "earthly" life. The basement came to life after midnight. The guests' congress was scheduled for twelve nights. Nightlife - quite natural for actors (daytime and evening hours are busy with them) - also had a secret meaning, intelligible only to initiates. The mysterious night, opposed to the rational, depressingly prosaic day, has long been known as an ally of artists.

Spinning a bat

Among the night lights

We will embroider the pattern

Against the background of dull days, -

So it was sung in a semi-serious, semi-ironic way in the anthem of The Bat. It was no accident that the actors took the bat as patrons of their night vigils (if not by accident black cat on the sign of the Montmartan cabaret of Rudolph Sali or a black owl on one of the Petersburg literary zucchini) - a creature with a rather dubious reputation, as sane people know. There was nothing for the "sane" to do in the cabaret.

For the opening of The Bat, Kasyanov's day, February 29, was deliberately chosen, an “extra”, some not entirely legal and not entirely serious day of the year (therefore, the anniversary was celebrated only in leap years. The last anniversary of the Bat was staged in 1920, when it became no longer up to jokes with the "Reverend" Kasyan).

In the club of "artists" everything tried to look different from in everyday life, everything emphasized the peculiarity, the exclusivity of the world created for themselves by the creators: the 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 embankment of the Moskva River - was bizarre and very fashionable at that time architecture, at the same time reminiscent of a medieval castle and an ancient Russian tower.

The cult of sophisticated decoration that reigns in cabaret had little in common with the arrogant luxury of the Russian bourgeois salons of the beginning of the century. The spirit of composition penetrating the cabaret was ironically emphasized - and complemented! - by the utilitarianism of a heavy unpainted table, stretching the entire length of the basement, tightly hammered benches on which the night brethren were crowded, - the setting of the tavern vividly reminded the artist's workshop.

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

Various kinds of latent and overt polemics with the life that took place outside the cabaret walls made its atmosphere particularly attractive and poignant: the community of policemen and townspeople was contrasted here with a community of artists, an artistic brotherhood; bureaucratic stiffness, dull decency of bureaucratic officialdom - naturalness and ease of behavior, liberty and authenticity of communication between people.

Invited to the "Bat" by all means passed the rite of initiation into the "cabaretier": the founder of the cabaret on duty, "wearing," N. Efros remarked in passing, "by the way, an 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 liberate its bearer from the norms established in life "above". The one crowned with him thus vowed to leave the tension, seriousness, and vain vanity behind 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 reached us, but it can be assumed that the spirit of the charter revived in it. Thelem Abbey , which read: do what you want.

In the cabaret, the hierarchical barriers that separated people in official life were broken, masks necessary for everyday use were flying here. “The faces we used to see important and businesslike moaned with a spasm of uncontrollable laughter. Everyone was seized by some kind of carefree madness of laughter: the professor of painting crowed like a rooster, the art critic grunting like a pig. This can only be found at a seething carnival in Italy or a fun-filled France by profession, "wrote N. Efros. The critic's last remark, subtle and shrewd, thrown in passing, anticipated M. Bakhtin's later thought that the life of artistic bohemia began in Russia. century embodied mainly in cabaret - in the XX century it turned out to be one of the few forms 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 unrestrained emotional communication. The spirit of the cabaret of the Art Theater was determined by people close, who understood each other perfectly, talented, significant people, united by the service of true art. Perhaps that is why their gaiety was especially sincere and captivating. “We spent the night at The Bat,” wrote O. Knipper to M. Lilina, “there were only our own people, they honored Vladimir Ivanovich ... From the old guard there were - Lugsky, Moskvin, Aleksandrov, Burdzhalov and me - only. A military orchestra was playing ... in the corner near the curtain a throne was erected for the heroes of the day ... The absence of strangers was pleasant. We sang the glory. Baliev made a good joke. Zvantsev read poetry on the "Karamazovs". Everyone warmed up, dispersed, spoke warm words, remembered Konstantin Sergeevich; Vladimir Ivanovich gave everyone his attention, sat with everyone, talked, got drunk, was sweet, which they had not seen him for a long time, conducted an orchestra, even walked a lezginka ... The Bulgarian sang some wild songs, the other played the piano, in one he muffled Koreneva with Luzhsky on a new role, Deikarkhanova fluttered with Tarasov, Koonen with Tezavrovsky they danced oira, Bravich danced a mazurka ... ".

Actually, what happened in " Bat ”, There were no representations in the usual sense. Speeches 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 even suspect about him, electrified by the previous performer, he took off on a 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 cheerful rivalry that once gathered ancient singers, musicians, storytellers for creative battles. In the actors, the cabotin was revived again, fiercely expelled from the walls of the theater-temple. (This was the attitude of the directors and actors to the Moscow Art Theater.) The concert here returned to its primary meaning: competition.

Someone brought the fruits of independent creative efforts to the stage of The Bat, finding a way out for those artistic opportunities 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 the impromptu, born in the cabaret, lasted only those few moments while they were performed. Something was then recorded, but it turned out to be completely different - the improvisations were alive only in the cabaret atmosphere and died with it.

But the actors did not care much about the ephemerality of their cabaret work. Not because it was something frivolous for them, not worthy of attention. Improvisation helped to create what constituted the soul of the cabaret: the atmosphere of a holiday spread throughout the hall, the freedom of easy communication.

And yet, for many actors, The Bat was more than just a carefree spot. Creative pranks, free play with forms took the actors beyond the usual expressive means, well-established professional techniques. Here L. Sobinov, the idol of Moscow, romantic Lensky, sang comic Little Russian songs, ridiculously dressed up and made up, pretentiously played in Dargomyzhsky's popular duet "Vanka-Tanka"; here V. Luzhsky performed with couplets, O. Gzovskaya - with chansonnets, I. Moskvin foolishly conducted the comic Russian choir, and K. Stanislavsky, posing as a prestige, showed the wonders of white and black magic - only with the help of his hands he removed the shirt from “anyone who wanted” without unbuttoning his jacket and waistcoat. Of course, these numbers were performed in a parody, and a special acuteness arose because the great Stanislavsky demonstrated the simple tricks of the provincial magician, and one of the best and most significant actresses of the Moscow Art Theater, O. Knipper, portrayed the maneuver chansonette.

Actors , however, they not only mocked at unpretentious pop couplets or farce stunts - they gave themselves up to unrestrained acting with delight, plunged into art that was artless, but requiring special virtuosity - different from that in modern everyday psychological theater. Improvisation returned actors to the origins of theatrical art.

The world of cabaret is a special world, where its own laws reign, governing the behavior of people, their relations with each other, where everyone acts in an unusual role, in an unusual role; a world that demonstratively emphasizes its difference from outside life. And yet cabaret is in a special way associated with the "day" life, art. Especially because this connection is negative, parody.

In The Bat, almost all of the “greats” of the Moscow Art Theater, starting with Stanislavsky, Nemirovich-Danchenko, Knipper, have the gift of stage caricature. V. Luzhsky possessed an extraordinary 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, did not have a Shalyapin bass, a Sobinov tenor, or a Khokhlov baritone, and in general there was no real singing voice. But with what excitement we listened to these singers from the lips of Luga, in his program. How he unusually wonderfully knew how to convey both Shalyapin's power, and Sobin's tenderness, and Khokhlov's beauty of timbre. And here we no longer laughed, here we only thanked Vasily Vasilyevich with excited smiles and approving nods of the head. We didn’t laugh because, at our request, according to our “orders,” V.V.

He starts jokingly and laughing, slightly exaggerating the sweetness of Sobinov's pianissimo, suddenly hooks on "living Sobinov", gives a hint of the sound of his unique timbre - and at once everyone around will shut up their breath and Vasily Vasilyevich continues to sing Sobinov under sardine seriously and excitedly. In the same way, joking and mischievous, he will begin to parody Shalyapin - "And you, flowers, with your own fragrant, subtle poison,", parodying these double and triple "m" at the ends of words - this famous Shalyapin "cliche", but when V.V., having reached "and merge into Margarita's heart", began to inflate in the "seeerdts" in a Shalyapin way, he was suddenly really captured by the Shalyapin temperament, a wave of spontaneous Shalyapin power rolled over him.

The uniqueness of "The Bat" lay in the fact that it mocked, first of all, the theater inside which she was born. The "Crooked Mirror" of the Moscow Art Theater - the so-called "The Bat" - was directed at its own theater. “This semi-mysterious animal,” wrote one of the regular reviewers of The Bat a few years later, “trained by the young actor of the Moscow Art Theater NF Baliev, bared sharp teeth and, in evil parodies, poisonous and well-aimed jokes, made fun of his patron - the Art Theater”.

"Performing evenings" of the Mkhatovsky cabaret always opened with parodies of the performances of the Art Theater - "Blue Bird" (1909), "Anatema" (1909), "The Brothers Karamazov" (1910), "Living Corpse" (1911), "Hamlet" (1911 ) and others. Moreover, the premieres of "satire dramas" cabaret followed immediately after their prototypes. It even happened that the parodies were played on the night after the first performance. In 1909, the Russkoe Slovo reported: “On September 19, the Moscow Art Theater will be opened by Leonid Andreev’s Anatema; ", 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 "laughing understudy" adopted everything that was possible from his original: in his "Blue Bird" the same 7 paintings are arranged in the same order as in the Moscow Art Theater play (he even restored the scene "in the cemetery ", Abbreviated in the stage version of the Moscow Art Theater play); the parody of Anatema, like the performance itself, consisted of a prologue, five paintings and an epilogue, repeating, of course, in a grotesque inverted reflection, the structure, details, and rhythmic structure of the original.

The texts of these parodies have not survived, which is no coincidence. They did not pretend to be literary. These are instantly recorded impromptu acts, full of an improvisational spirit, hastily collected jokes from within theatrical folklore, responses to events that currently occupy theatrical and near-theatrical Moscow. They followed the life of the Moscow Art Theater and were designed for one single performance.

Yet there is purposefulness to be found in The Bat parodies. The objects of their comic revisions were one of the main "lines" of the Moscow Art Theater in those years - "the line of symbolism and impressionism", as Stanislavsky defined it, which was realized in the performances "Blue Bird", "Anatham", "Hamlet".

"The Bat" arose in a rather difficult period in the history of the Moscow Art Theater. The theater directors undertook experiments in the field of other theatrical expressiveness, striving to bring the theater beyond the already familiar "Chekhov's" methods of acting and staging decisions, or to expand the range of their influence on non-everyday forms of 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 “Chekhovian” actor to the sometimes alien requirements of the directors, were revealed. "Troupe X. T. met the production of "Blue Bird" very hostilely, - recalled A. Mgebrov, - the actors were angry that they were forced to portray some inanimate objects. Irony, there was no end to the ridicule. But they were on the sly, somehow from around the corner. " The actors were irritated by the ecstatically tense nature of the symbolist performances - "Hamlet", "Anatema".

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

One of the cabaret evenings, held in the fall 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 this joke was being read. " The parody of the play, which after the introduction was played in puppets by its author and the only performer N. Baliev, was built on some of the details and phrases of Andreev's play cleverly translated into caricatures - in the last picture of the parody to Andreev, the shadows of Byron, Goethe, Hugo, Lermontov, Voltaire creep and many others (from whom, as the parody hints, the author borrows) "and yell: give us ours, give us what you took away." After the parody performance, the storytellers spoke: the Maly Theater actor V. Lebedev “summarized the idea of ​​the play from the point of view of a merchant who saw“ Anatema ”:“ And this is what lizurtat I received, ”the merchant philosophized,“ you should never give to the poor ”; writer V. Gilyarovsky, who conveyed the impressions of a peasant who accidentally, thanks to his acquaintance with a stage worker, ended up at the rehearsal of “Anatema”: “And this very Anathema is standing, huge, all iron, terrible,” - narrated with sacred horror the man who mistook the guardian angel for Anatema. Gilyarovsky, however, parodied not only an inexperienced viewer, on the contrary: simple-minded common sense ironically set off the pompousness, pretentious mysticism of Andreev's tragedy.

Nikita Baliev's “Hamlet”, played at another “performing meeting”, touched upon those key points around which controversy flared up both in the Art Theater itself and on the pages of newspapers: the famous Craig screens, the gold-filled courtyard of Claudius and V. Kachalov - Hamlet. The evening began with an introduction by Lo1o (L. G. Munshtein, editor of the weekly Rampa and Life). Vakhtangov, made up by 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 should play Hamlet in Craig style in screens, with bitterness he recalled how he played in Kazan, how he felt, how he wanted." 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 from the Moscow Art Theater and the Adashev School). Sitting on a tiny stage were Claudius (played by an actor disguised by Stanislavsky) and Gertrude (actor A. Barov in the guise of Nemirovich-Danchenko), dressed in sparkling robes and crowns in the form of a samovar and a coffee pot. The burst of laughter, about which the reviewer writes, is quite understandable: in one of the articles about "Hamlet" at the Moscow Art Theater, it was written that Claudius and Gertrude, in their golden robes, resemble the aforementioned household items. At the same reception of the realized metaphor, posters were solved, which were hung, as always, on the walls of the cabaret. They depicted the successive transformation of the Tula samovar and teapot into a king and queen. Craig screens were parodied with canvas cubes - they were statistically seated, and at the most inopportune moments they began to move arbitrarily across the stage. The parody was very angry. "Craig had enough time to feel the Bat's wings painfully grazing on him." The parody ended with the "gravestone", which was uttered by the actor who portrayed Fortinbras - A. Stakhovich. After the parody, as usual, separate numbers followed; V. Lebedev, on behalf of his permanent hero, the merchant, shared his impressions of Hamlet; B. Borisov and N. Baliev in costumes and make-up of a boy and a girl to the tune of a children's song "Two Chickens on the Street" sang couplets about "Hamlet".

Of course, the themes of the Bat parodies were not limited to mockery of symbolism. With gleeful excitement, cabareteres fell upon all the obvious and implicit opponents of the Moscow Art Theater. In one of the paintings of the "volatile" "Blue Bird", wandering in the "land of memories", Tiltil and Mityl found themselves in ... the Maly Theater. "How are you, kids?" - asked the "malteatrovskie" grandmother and grandfather. “Why, there is a full house every evening,” the “Moscow Artists” children answered. “What is it, kids? We won't even remember that. " In the film "Night" among all the horrors, the theatrical criticism turned out to be the most terrible. Moscow newspapers were presented by hostile to man "stoerosovy trees", the trunks of which - ribbons with the headlines of periodicals - ended with crowns - portraits of theatrical observers of this newspaper. (The audience will recognize them instantly: each of those sitting in the hall knows well in the face of any of them.) The trees sway and rustle, argue about the merits of the Moscow Art Theater "Blue Bird", build various intrigues with reviewer's feathers, revealing their bestial temperaments; they explain their reluctance to give Tyltil and Mityl their success, proceeding from very vulgar and banal considerations - "because then they will not be easy with them."

The parody performances that began after midnight, with dashing mischief, overturned what was surrounded by reverence and reverence during the day - here the authorities flew headlong into blasphemous and merry desecration. All known and respected people became comic heroes of parody reviews, quotes from symbolist dramas, philosophical tragedies were used to discuss matters of a purely everyday, human, too human.

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

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 vitality. After all, the "exposure of the reception", which occurred involuntarily in the parody, for the Art Theater as a psychological theater should have been tantamount to death. But the parody of the art of the Moscow Art Theater could not cause any damage. The essence of the art of the Moscow Art Theater, its core remained intact. Moreover, the constant presence inside the theater of his parody double, a sly mockingbird, proved that this is a living theater, capable of constant renewal, that its peers are young and full of creative powers. Laughing at themselves is a sign of their spiritual health. In the Art Theater, as V. Shirubovich shrewdly remarked, they did not like things that could not be laughed at.

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

The "mouse" did not put itself outside the mocked phenomenon, did not lose emotional contact with it. It is 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 cabaretier refuge. When the water subsided, they saw that the painting, stage and furniture were lost. The basement had to be left. "The Bat" has moved to new premises in Milyutinsky Lane.

It was here that the "official opening" of the Art Theater cabaret took place 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 to the side for chic, in white leggings, in white gloves and black boots, with a huge nose, thick black eyebrows and with a wide black goatee. All the servants in red livery lined up with trellises, the music played a solemn march, I went out, bowed to the audience, then the chief equestrian 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, portrayed by A. L. Vishnevsky, flew onto the stage. "

But the score of the director's role, preserved in the museum of the Moscow Art Theater, 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, Vishnevsky, jumped, designated the names of the performances of the Moscow Art Theater ...

The comedy of parody arose from the travesty assimilation of the Art Theater to a circus, its performances to circus barriers, actors to wordless trained animals, the head of the theater to a formidable director. Was this not a hidden allusion to the "tyranny and bourbonism" of the leader of the theater, which the actors murmured "quietly from around the corner"?

The parodies of the Art Theater cabaret thus had a therapeutic effect: they brought out - and thereby removed - 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 mocked the heroes in every way - the only thing is, to curse with laughter and save them from the envy of the gods. Let this assimilation not seem violent and too academic, far from the unpretentious amusements of the acting theater. For in the intimate art of cabaret - let us once again refer to MM Bakhtin - the ancient traditions of ritual laughter were paradoxically revived, in accordance with which festive blasphemy is part of the sacrament.

It is only in this context that the parody of the anniversary of the Art Theater, shown two weeks later (October 27, 1908) after the celebrations dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the Moscow Art Theater, can be understood. The parody jubilee of the Moscow Art Theater in The Bat, step by step, almost literally repeated the one that took place on October 14 on the stage in Kamergerskoye.

On the miniature stage of the cabaret, an exact replica of the stage of the Art Theater on that momentous day was presented. As well as there, the gray-green curtain, pushed back to the back of the stage, served as the background for the jubilee action. Just like there, chairs were placed near the stage for Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko.

Only the atmosphere prevailing 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 gripped us that we cried like children. Vladimir Ivanovich and Konstantin Sergeevich kissed and hugged everyone and could not hold back their tears either.

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

If at the solemn anniversary actors from different theaters read serious poetry and prose, opera singers sang a whole cantata in chorus, 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. Rachmaninov for the anniversary, in which the church motive "Many Years" was gracefully combined with the accompaniment of the polka by I. A. Sats to "The Blue Bird", 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 so golden all the pills that their bitterness seemed pleasant."

Parody anniversaries "The 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. The evening in honor of B. Borisov - an artist of the Theater Korsh and a permanent participant in the "performance meetings" of the "Bat" - began with the opening of a monument to the artist.

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

The atmosphere, far from solemnity, prevailing at parody anniversaries, did not in the least detract from the merits of the hero of the occasion. Against. The parodic decline tore apart the official uniform of state anniversaries. Solemn words and lofty feelings, "worn out and compromised," as B. I. Zingerman wrote on another occasion, "in his serious and official life, having passed through the system of jester's stick blows," were revived to a new life, "rejuvenated and rejuvenated." One of the journalists wrote about the parodic celebration of OO Sadovskaya: “Through the joke and laughter, a hot, deep admiration for the great artist (or rather it would be written like this: thanks to joke and laughter), expressed in humorous veiled words, ironic music, sounded fuller than in all solemn praises. " Parody destroyed, debunked not genuine idols, but fell upon cliches and falsehood, on inflated arrogance. Having tested her sincere feelings with laughter, she released real values, passing them through the furnace of the comic, and returned their former brilliance.

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

“The round face smiled broadly, closely mixing good-naturedness with irony, and one could feel in him the joy of something new for him, retaining all the exciting charm of a kind of creativity.

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

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 story of his invitation to the Art Theater is also unusual. When the theater went on its first European tour in 1906, two young men - Moscow rich man N. Tarasov and his distant relative N. Baliev - followed their favorite theater, moving with him from city to city. And in the evenings they sat together with the actors in the famous cabaret. The artistic success of the Moscow theater was enormous. But the box office couldn’t offset the enormous touring costs. To return home, the theater needed a sum that was nowhere to be found. And then Tarasov gave 30 thousand rubles indefinitely and without interest. In gratitude, the directors of the theater invited him to join the Moscow Art Theater, and Baliev was initially 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 assigned to him, "having discovered, - as V. Luzhsky believed about the Kister played by the Baliev in" Brand ", - a complete absence of dramatic talent." His talent really did not fit the theater - not only the Art Theater, everyone. His talent was extremely pop. His appearance did not give in to any makeup. Through any of its layers, a completely round, sly face with crafty little eyes-slits appeared, barely looking at which, the audience, no matter what was happening on the stage, was already starting to have fun. “My face is my tragedy,” Baliev wrote in despair to V.I. - too. I begin to tragically wonder why God punished me so<...>... I will play the role of Purikes<...>and maybe I will succeed: to show you the tragic humor in this role. Believe me once in my life, dear Vladimir Ivanovich, otherwise I swear - after all, 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. By golly, this is necessary. I will not disgrace you, dear, dear Vladimir Ivanovich. Moreover, a good episodic role is yours. You promised her to me, and I know you keep your word. " Any person's heart could tremble from such a letter. And in any other case, the heart of Nemirovich-Danchenko would probably tremble if it were not for the art of the Moscow Art Theater. If Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko were a little less demanding and strict, the theater would acquire a mediocre dramatic actor for a long time, and the stage would forever lose one of its most talented directors, an artist who became the founder of the Russian entertainer.

The role of Purikes, about which Baliev worked hard, did not get him. In "Anatham" he played the organ grinder. Rampa and Life instantly featured a photograph of Baliev in this role. She did this, most likely, not because the organ-grinder was a great achievement of the artist, but because by this time Baliev, as an entertainer and chief cabaretier of The Bat, had become 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 play where "his comic gift, resourceful jokes and belly are suitable." Having already managed to master the lessons of art theater quite well, Baliev understands that this is a diplomatic refusal. Gradually, he begins to realize that he has nothing to do in the Moscow Art Theater. The role where he already used his data, he had - Bread in "The Blue Bird" (it is curious that many years later this role will be played by another future entertainer - MN Garkavi). The funny and not very good-natured Bread was rolling around the stage like a bun on short legs. His role turned into a plug-in number, in the general performance he played his little performance, hopelessly knocking out of the ensemble. He tried to attract attention 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 too. He argued so diligently that Stanislavsky, as LM Leonidov recalls, “once, as if by chance, asked Baliev if he loved the circus.

Oh yes, - Baliev answers.

And the clowns? Stanislavsky asks.

I love it, - continues Baliev.

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

However, this characterization, which was deadly for a dramatic actor, was almost a praise for the pop actor. The theater was not Baliev'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 only one - the owner and entertainer of "The Bat" by Nikita Baliev. Everything that hindered him in the theater here became not only appropriate - necessary. And the characteristic face, which was instantly remembered, and the peculiar individuality.

Baliev did not fit into the rigid framework of a rehearsed, verified and permanently constructed performance. An unknown force pulled him out of the measured course of the performance, pushed him to the stage face to face with the audience, face to face with the audience. He was by nature an actor-soloist, an "individual peasant", here, on the spot, in front of the audience, creating his own performance, independent from anyone and not connected with anyone, all parts of which are fluidly changeable, elusively mobile. Performance-improvisation. It is no coincidence that his gift as an entertainer and opened at impromptu fun evenings. He supported, slightly guiding, the general course of fun, while dissolving into it. It was at these evenings that the techniques that will be included in the arsenal of artistic means of the future entertainer were spontaneously born. “His inexhaustible fun, resourcefulness, wit - both in the very essence and in the form of presenting his jokes, courage, often reaching insolence, the ability to hold the audience in his hands, a sense of proportion, the ability to balance on the border of cocky and funny, offensive and humorous, 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 in our country, "Stanislavsky wrote about him. Baliev's success as an entertainer grew inversely proportional to his success as a dramatic actor. Barely passed the day of the "performance meeting" of the cabaret or the annual "skit", which, as L. Leonidov wrote, N. Baliev came up with the idea of ​​organizing at the Moscow Art Theater on Monday in the first week of Great Lent, where "he showed a lot of wit, ingenuity, taste", where “Stanislavsky, Nemirovich-Danchenko with the whole troupe and workshops gave themselves over to him,” Baliev again found himself out of work. His position in the theater was getting worse and worse, in performances he was hardly occupied - in the 1911/12 season he played two small episodic roles, one without words. There was no hope for any changes. “Perhaps, in fact,” Baliev wrote shortly before his departure to Nemirovich-Danchenko, “the Art Theater, where fate has pushed me, is not my theater. I am rude, unintelligent to him. And then, no matter how hard it is, no matter how the ideals collapse, you have to make up your mind and leave - until they said: leave, we do not need you, but this may also be. "

Baliyev has long had plans related to The Bat. The last step remained. And Baliev does it. In the spring of 1912, newspapers reported for the first time that Baliev would leave the Moscow Art Theater troupe starting next season and organize a large cabaret with the right of wide access for the public.

To this, in fact, everything went. Back in 1910, cabaret began to issue tickets, they were called merchants - they cost from 10 to 25 rubles, and so far they were bashfully called counter-tickets, and were distributed according to notes among friends. But the trouble was the beginning - at first, only by opening the doors to the outside public, it was soon forced to open them wide. And already in 1911 the journalist sadly 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 a haven for artists, The Bat has evolved into a commercial enterprise. The evolution of the Moscow cabaret was no exception. It was a natural and logical path, which sooner or later all cabarets - Russian and European - went through.

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

The history of the Bat miniature theater began.

Theater-cabaret N.F. Balieva "The Bat" changed several addresses in Moscow:

• the theater began in a small basement of the house of Z.A. Pertsova at 1. Soimonovsky proezd, after the performances in 1908-1912. the artists of the Moscow Art Theater (MHT) gathered;
• then for three years, from 1912 to 1915, the "Bat" theater was held in the basement of a house at Milyutinsky, 16 C1;
• From here, for the new season in 1915, the Bat Theater moved to the basement of the newly built Nirnzee house at B. Gnezdnikovsky, 10. The third refuge turned out to be the last: in 1922 the Bat Theater in Russia was closed.

In addition to the Moscow Art Theater artists - Kachalov, Stanislavsky, Knipper-Chekhova - many invited celebrities performed on the stage of the Bat Theater. Among them were Fedor Chaliapin and Leonid Sobinov.

The emblem of the Bat Cabaret Theater

The caprice emblem "The Bat" on the curtain of the cabaret theater appeared in opposition to the academic "The Seagull" on the curtain of the Moscow Art Theater. I wanted to take a break from "The Seagull".

"Bat" - an attempt at revival

On June 12, 1989, Grigory Gurvich's cabaret theater "The Bat" was opened with the performance "Reading a New Play". It did not last long. After the sudden death of Gurvich (1957-1999), the theater lasted for two years: on December 30, 2001, it stopped giving performances.

“When Russia laughs, the heavens shake with her laughter; when she cries, her tears rush through the countries like a storm "NF Baliev

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the theater-cabaret "The Bat" N. Baliev. The opening took place on February 29, 1908 as a parody of the play "The Blue Bird", which premiered at the Moscow Art Theater a week earlier. Then the cabaret hymn was first sung:
Spinning a bat
Among the night lights
We will embroider the pattern
Against the backdrop of dull days.

The main rule of the comic charter of the "Bat" was: "Do not be offended."

BALIEV, NIKITA FEDOROVICH (real name and surname Balyan, Mkrtich Asvadurovich) (1877, according to other sources 1876 or 1886-1936), Russian actor, director, theater worker. Honorary Citizen of Moscow.

Born in 1877 in Moscow (according to other sources, in October 1876, region. Don Cossacks, or in 1886 in Nakhichevan). From a merchant family. Graduated from the Moscow Commercial (Practical) Academy. During the first foreign tours, the Moscow Art Theater (1906) provided financial support to the theater. In 1906 he joined the Moscow Art Theater as a shareholder, was the secretary of Vl.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko. Since 1908 - actor of the Moscow Art Theater, played cameo roles: Kister (Brand H. Ibsen), Rosen (Boris Godunov A. Pushkin), Guest of Man (Life of Man L. Andreev), Bull, Bread (Blue Bird M. Meterlinka), Organ Grinder (Anatema L. Andreeva), Leibovich (S. Yushkevich's Miserere), Cousin Theodore (At life in the paws of K. Hamsun), Passer-by (A. Chekhov's Cherry Orchard). A hindrance to Baliev's stage career was his non-artistic appearance. In 1912 Baliev left the troupe, remaining a shareholder of the theater.

He was one of the initiators and participant of the “skits” of the Moscow Art Theater, which gave rise to the Moscow Art Theater “The Bat” cabaret: together with the Moscow Art Theater patron N. Tarasov and some theater artists, Baliev rented a basement for the cabaret in Pertsov's house opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The opening took place on February 29, 1908. It was a club for recreation and communication of people of art, V. Kachalov, I. Moskvin, O. Knipper-Chekhova, V. Luzhsky and others performed in the cabaret. In 1909, The Bat moved to Milyutinsky Lane, 16. Paid performances were occasionally given here. Baliev hosted the entertainer, sang couplets, staged theatrical parodies of the Moscow Art Theater performances.

Gradually "The Bat" turned into an open theater-cabaret, performances with ticket sales began to go. Baliev invited artists from Moscow and St. Petersburg theaters to the troupe of T. Deikarkhanova, E. Khovanskaya, E. Marsheva, V. Podgorny, Y. Volkov and others. Lyrics were written by L. Munshtein, B. Sadovskaya, T. Schepkina-Kupernik, dances were staged by .Goleizovsky, the music was composed by A. Arkhangelsky, V. Garteveld. In 1912 the theater made its first tour - Kiev, Dnepropetrovsk, Rostov. Tours to St. Petersburg have become an annual event. In 1914 the theater was housed in the Nirnzee House in Bolshoy Gnezdnikovsky Lane.

In his productions, Baliev used everyday dances, anecdotes, puns, charades, riddles, impromptu, songs, romances, etc. Baliev's directorial principles found their completeness in stage miniatures. He staged performances based on classical works: Treasurer M. Lermontov, Count Nulin and The Queen of Spades A. Pushkin, Overcoat and Nos N. Gogol, stories by A. Chekhov, poems by I. Turgenev.

After October 1917, the theater was unable to adapt to the new conditions. Soon after the next anniversary of the "Bat", solemnly celebrated on March 12, 1920, Baliev went on a tour of the Caucasus, and from there he went abroad with a small group of artists. The Bat was reborn in Paris. For the first time, the performances were held at the Fellina Theater in Paris. This was followed by a tour in Spain, England. From February 1922 Bali's "The Bat" toured New York, followed by performances on the west coast of the United States - Hollywood, Los Angeles. Old programs were played at first. Gradually updating the composition of the troupe and repertoire, playing in English and French, the theater toured European countries, the USA, Latin and South America. The Great Depression of 1929 ravaged Baliev. In 1931 "The Bat" moved to Europe and soon ceased to exist.

Baliev took an active part in the cultural life of the Russian diaspora. In Paris he tried to create a "Theater of the Russian Fairy Tale". In 1934 he returned to the USA, where he performed as an entertainer in major revues. He attempted to film in Hollywood, worked in a small cabaret in the basement of the New York St. Moritz Hotel.

LITERATURE
Efros N. Theater "The Bat" NF Baliev. M., 1918
Rakitin Yu. Nikita Fedorovich Baliev. In memory of a friend. - Illustrated Russia, 1937, No. 45-57
Kuznetsov E. From the past of the Russian stage. M., 1958
Tikhvinskaya L. "The Bat". - Theater, 1982, no. 3
Bessonov V., Yangirov R. Bolshoy Gnezdnikovsky lane. M., 1990
A wreath for Baliev. - Moscow Observer, 1992, No. 9
Tikhvinskaya L. Cabaret and miniature theaters in Russia. M., 1995

"BALIEV, NIKOLAY FEDOROVICH" "KRUGOSVET" ®. Encyclopedia 2008

Based on an interview with the director of the Bat cabaret theater Lyubov Aleksandrovna Shapiro-widow Gurvich, published on 12/14/2000 in the Rossiiskie Vesti newspaper.

This word is skit ...

Nikita Fedorovich Baliev was an artist of the Moscow Art Theater - the story of his life is very interesting - once he, together with his friend, philanthropist Nikolai Tarasov, a famous oil industrialist, came from Rostov. Baliev dreamed of getting into the Moscow Art Theater. His appearance was peculiar - he was small, plump, funny, with a Rostov-Armenian dialect. Naturally, there could be no question of getting into the most intellectual theater at that time like the Moscow Art Theater. But once a disaster struck at the Moscow Art Theater - they burned out, having gone on tour, and Nikolai Tarasov said: "I will give money to the theater if you take Baliev." Baliev was hired ... Unfortunately, he played only one role - Bread in "The Blue Bird" - he was no longer given any roles because of his dialect and specific appearance, but once a year he became the king of the Moscow Art Theater - during Lent. As you know, during Great Lent you cannot eat meat, you are not supposed to work either, but you always want to have fun.

Artists of the Moscow Art Theater had fun with all the heart.

Starting in 1902, Baliev made the so-called "novkapy", that is, New Year's skits, and even skits for Easter. The word "skit" itself did not come from the Moscow Art Theater, it was introduced by Shchepkin at the shows of the Maly Theater. But nevertheless, it stuck with the Moscow Art Theater.

Easter holidays were really unique, their description, which exists in the Bakhrushin Museum, is simply amazing. During their conduct, such orders were distributed - to surround Kamergersky with the mounted police, as the crowd poured inside, dreaming of getting into the theater for these holidays.

How cabbage was chopped

The jokes that existed then now just seem unfunny or, I would say, vulgar. Baliev had a favorite joke, for example: "Sobinov was punished so that he would not crawl on Coralia." Sobinov was a famous singer, Koral was a famous ballerina. The situation was that the ballerina was the mistress of the Grand Duke, and she was not disgusted with Sobinov either. But when he sang at the Bolshoi Theater, he was shown his place. And such a simple joke appeared, which enjoyed insane success in Moscow and has even come down to this day.

Flapping wings ...

Gradually it became clear that the skits, which are done in the Moscow Art Theater, turn into an independent action, and not just remain an actor's gatherings. And Baliev created a club in Zamoskvorechye - a closed acting club "The Bat" - as opposed to Seagull. From 1908 to 1912 they were in Zamoskvorechye, and when Nerenzee's house was rebuilt, they moved there.

The fate of Tarasov

Baliev's friend Nikolai Tarasov also had a strange, typically decadent fate. He was a very handsome man, but for some reason he thought that women liked him because of the money. Although, looking at him, it was difficult to imagine. He had a mistress - a woman of light, who, in turn, had another lover - either a cornet or a cadet, who once lost. She came to Tarasov with a request to pay the card debt for him. Tarasov replied that the request itself was absurd and that it was unrealistic. “But do you understand that he will shoot himself?” She asked. "Let him shoot," was the answer. "Then I'll shoot myself," she said. "Okay, then I'll shoot myself ..." Tarasov replied. And they all shot themselves in the same day.

Baliev, who was informed about the death of Tarasov during the performance, rushed from Gnezdnikovsky lane to Bolshaya Dmitrovka. There is a description of how he flew there, but, unfortunately, he was late. Tarasov died at the age of 28, he was buried in the Armenian cemetery. There was an absolutely stunning monument, such a strange sculpture by Andreev: a helpless figure, a helpless young face, very tragic, very beautiful. During the war, the then head of the Moscow Art Theater took it off specially so that it would not be melted down into tanks, and some time ago they called the Bat from the Moscow Art Theater and invited them to the opening of the monument. Like many years ago, there were two wreaths on the grave - one from the Moscow Art Theater and one from the Bat. The monument was rediscovered with the same team.

Dorm with Mice

Baliev, in contrast to the very handsome and wealthy Tarasov, was a very realistic person. He believed that life was given to a person in order to live it. This is probably why all the actresses of "The Bat" were either his wives or mistresses. He was picky about Russian women, but he loved Armenian and Jewish ... They lived with the whole troupe in the same house of Nerenzee, in which there were hotel-type apartments, without kitchens, with buttons with which food was called up, in the same house there was a workshop ... and a rooftop cinema.

Relationship between LM and Moscow Art Theater

Baliev's success was enormous - I must say that the Bat, unlike the Moscow Art Theater, never burned out, moreover, after his departure abroad, Baliev saved the Moscow Art Theater from another economic crisis - he saved them from a burnt-out tour. Stanislavsky believed that the whole troupe should go on tour, and the extras too, since every person in the troupe is important, and even the actor who voices the grasshopper should know the biography of his character up to the seventh knee ... so they rode at least 100 people. It is clear that under any conditions this is madness, but, nevertheless, Stanislavsky went for it. Not burning out creatively, they burned out economically.

Baliev's fate

Baliev's fate turned out to be tragicomic. One fine morning, realizing that here, in Russia, nothing awaited him, he left ... First, to his place in Rostov, to say goodbye to his sister, to whom he left his bowler hat with money - either Kornilov's or Denikin's. ..

And one fine morning the troupe woke up and found that the other half of the troupe, mainly its female part, headed by Baliev, sailed to Constantinople. They left for Paris, where they were already called "La shouve sourrie" - "The Bat", and I must say that they worked quite successfully in Paris and toured Broadway with great success. The end of the story of Baliev's life was told by one elderly actress - Faina Georgievna Zelinskaya-Kalkanya, one of the actresses of "The Bat", who sang the famous "Katenka" at that time. Here is what she said: “You know, Baliev was a gambler and played on the stock exchange. And he lost. And he died of frustration at the age of 60 something. This year the theater ceased to exist. Actors ... someone returned home , someone stayed there, but the Bat ceased to exist.

There is an absolutely amazing American booklet where both Melanie Griffith and Charlie Chaplin left their (rave) reviews about the theater. Of course, the theater's repertoire remained Russian, Russian.

The influence of Mr. Baliyev on the cabaret genre

Baliev raised this genre to a unique, unprecedented height. He was engaged in the creation of not only such unique divertissements and funny parodies, in which both Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko took part, where Vakhtangov staged his famous "Tin Soldiers".

Baliev staged both "The Queen of Spades" and "The Nose" by Gogol, now it would be very interesting to see it in this small room - after all, it was a special show, a box, its own special world. Baliev came to the conclusion that cabaret is a special view of the world of a free, ironic, intelligent person. Actually, this was Baliev's theater at one time and this is how Grisha tried to make it. History, as you know, does not repeat itself twice or repeats itself in the form of a farce, the same story was repeated partly in the form of a tragedy.

Paris tour poster. 1926 Artist - M. Dobuzhinsky

Sketch of scenery for the number "Date" Artist - S. Sudeikin
Sketch for the backdrop for the number "Christmas" Artist S. Sudeikin

Noah's ark at the turn of the century.
Date of publication: 30.11.2004
Source: "Antik.Info" magazine
Yuri Gogolitsyn
Our theatrical aesthetes decided to create in St. Petersburg what Paris was famous for, and for many Russian people it served as the main attraction of Paris. I mean the Parisian cabaret, this is how Alexander Benois spoke about the new phenomenon in Russia. But Russian cabaret is something special, unique.
And it all began with artistic salons, which included the legendary "Stray Dog" and "Halt of Comedians" in St. Petersburg, the Moscow "Bat". No, these were not ordinary places of gatherings for a drink and a rest, not "clubs of interest", and not like the current "parties". The salons are more significant, more voluminous, they are a phenomenon in Russian culture ... Those who have never danced in public, danced the cancan here, who did not sing and did not have a voice, performed solo performances, purely “dramatic” personalities changed roles, “comedians "Boldly dabbled in tragedies ...
The founding father of the "Bat" cabaret club was Nikita Baliev, an actor of the Art Theater. The club made a noisy announcement in 1908. And what day was chosen for the opening! February 29 is associated with the memory of the Monk Kasyan - the unloved saint, even "harmful". Among the people, Kasian was associated with Viy, and the name of the saint was considered "unclean", shameful. A symbol of trouble, shocking? Not without it. The living embodiment, the mascot of the salon, is the young designer Saryan, who was born on Kasyanov's day.
At first, the entrance to the cabaret was free, but an unexpectedly loud success, and then the war made visiting the cabaret paid. Participants in artistic "ridicule" have moved from "amateurism" to professional activities. Cabaret theaters are becoming commercial enterprises - evenings with mini-performances turned into burlesque sketches, the level of which was determined by the level of the invited actors, musicians and graphic designers. The phenomenon developed rapidly, but a revolution broke out, and the winds of change brought Baliev to Paris.
Here he managed to do what many actors and directors who settled in the French capital were making efforts - to organize a Russian cabaret theater with the old name "The Bat". Baliev signed a contract with the Parisian theater "Femina" on the Champs Elysees. The organizational period fell on October-November, December was marked by the first program.
The performance became truly historic. Everyone was amazed - both the Russian emigrants and the spoiled French. Nikita Baliev, a Moscow joker-entertainer, took the stage and in fluent, but deliberately broken French, with barbs and hints, began to announce the numbers that followed one after the other with striking variety and contrast. Paris has never seen anything like it!
In The Bat, only the introduction to the play was based on a joke. Despite the fact that each scene did not last long, all its elements - dances, reprise, music, pantomime, excellent design - were subtly thought out and made up a single whole. Let's not practice epithets, let's give the floor to an eyewitness. Graceful and subtle, precise in words and poignant in her grades, poetess and feuilletonist Nadezhda Teffi: "Give Baliyev a page from your phone book - he will order music for it, select scenery, dances, select actors - and you will see what the piece will turn out to be."
It is curious that the popularity of "The Bat" depended not only on the authors, but also on ... Russian artists, their characteristic enthusiasm, ridicule, pranks, even mockery - subtle and intelligent. Baliev understood this well and, unlike Diaghilev, did not look for designers among the French.
The main assistant to Baliev was Sergei Sudeikin, who conquered Paris from the "first run". Against the background of its scenery, artists stood frozen in the form of dolls or sculptures, beginning to come to life only with the first chords of music. Having performed simple movements, they again froze in their original poses simultaneously with the completion of the accompaniment. This is exactly how the Marquis and Marquis Sudeikin from the Hours miniature acted. The same thing happened in other scenes - "Chinese Porcelain", "Varnishes", "Russian Toys". Or the delightful Sayings of Great Men, where Henry IV, Richard III, Louis XIV, and many others came to life. Everywhere grotesque, mockery, gaery lightness, kitsch.
Sudeikin, with great tact, but not without humor, introduced the French to the "primordial" life of Russia, which was dear to the Russian public. The emigrant artist Lukomsky attributed a significant part of the success of the cabaret theater to the decoration: “The pictures of the Russian bygone life ... full of bright colors, the taste of life, which now invites us here, in a foreign land, pleasant memories, pinching the soul, like a sweet dream, magic ".
The audience was already waiting for the second program of The Bat. An amazing "cocktail" of new numbers intoxicated and aroused, beckoned and made you fall in love with yourself. There was a staging of the romance "Black Hussars" with the actor Mikhail Vavich, the unforgettable "Bakhchisarai Fountain", spicy and fabulous in an oriental way ... ...
Sudeikin was not a monopolist in the new enterprise. There was enough space for everyone. Thus, the caricaturist and amusement artist Nikolai Remizov used the style of the Russian popular popular print to caricature the decoration of the miniature “The Song of the Prophetic Oleg”. Particular interest of the public was attracted by his design of the "Parade of Soldiers". The actors in this issue imitated the "puppet" movements of an inanimate toy. Live actors, dressed in uniforms, acted out the march of the formation of toy soldiers on stage. Wide canvas trousers concealed movement. Pure mechanics and iron will of the puppeteer-Baliev? Not at all. Without the talent of the actors, nothing would have happened - only they could convey both puppet constraint and parody. The idea is good in implementation. And again a resounding success!
At one of the April concerts, Anna Pavlova and Sergei Diaghilev, Igor Stravinsky and Lev Bakst, Konstantin Balmont and Alexei Tolstoy were together in the hall ... Is this not an assessment of the level of performances! The new program of the cabaret theater was very rich. Baliev made new sets and costumes for the miniature “Horse Death”, the short story “Minuet” by Maupassant, for the “Trio” to the music of Mozart, and the number “Easter”, accompanied by the music of Rimsky-Korsakov, directly connected with the breadth and variety of the Orthodox holiday.
Over the next several years, the Bat troupe toured Europe and the United States, causing great admiration of the public in England and Scotland, Monaco and, of course, in French theaters. The success was so great that even "fakes" under the "Bat" appeared. Maestro Baliev is in constant creative search, makes a lot of efforts to expand the possibilities of cabaret. The unsurpassed Nikolai Benois appears, who for the "Love of a Soldier" issue makes decorations for the Nevskaya embankment, the buildings of the Senate and the Admiralty, with a stylized outline of the Peter and Paul Fortress. Vasily Shukhaev is among the masters. He designs scenes "Pastoral", "Return from Bethlehem", "Picnic on the March". 1926 year. Baliev receives powerful reinforcements in the person of Mstislav Dobuzhinsky and his son Rostislav who came from Berlin to Paris.
The repertoire of The Bat is being updated almost completely. The pantomime based on Andersen's fairy tale "The Swineherd" was designed by Dobuzhinsky Sr. The staging based on the Wilhelm Busch caricature went to the youngest, who surpassed his colleagues by making parts of the scenery on the stage moving and changing in front of the audience. Among the unexpected novelties were "Platov's Cossacks in Paris in 1815", "Russian Wedding". No less unique is Verdi's La Traviata, staged especially for ... "lovers" of classical operas.
Emigrant Russia remembered and loved Baliev not only in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, but also in Paris, London, Zagreb, New York. His theater was the heir and custodian of the experience of the Silver Age theater, a precious piece of Russia that had irrevocably passed away.
The brilliant connoisseur of Russian theater, Prince Sergei Volkonsky, essentially summed up the theater's activities in emigration: “Yes, the Bat was born in 1908, but her main life and her fame grew after the revolution, in exile, during her wanderings, during her wanderings. abroad, as our nannies once said. And this gives some kind of special pungency. She, this pungency, is free from any sensual regret and lamentation; obviously free, since foreigners feel it too ... That is why the spirit that blows in this theater is close to us. That is why the very exaggeration of images ... it blossomed from the root of the Russian into a magnificent color. "