I. Ilf

The article analyzes genre peculiarity of the Vice-King vaudeville – one of the first experiments in drama by I. Ilf and Ye. Petrov. The interaction of artistic means characteristic of the vaudeville genre and satirical comedy is considered; the focuses of dramaturgic action and the vector direction of the traditional vaudeville form update are identified.

The article researches the play poetics of the theatre piece «Lickspittle» by I. Ilf, E. Petrov, M. Volpin on the level of the plot, characters, literary reminiscences, language humor. Functions of the co-authors’ play strategy are identified, such as achieving the synthesis of satire and vaudeville principles and the techniques of text structure. The link between «Lickspittle» and the novel by I. Ilf and E. Petrov «The Golden Calf» is revealed.

The article studies one of the leading stylistic key notes of I. Ilf and E. Petrov’s oeuvre – playing with ‘other’ texts. In the course of analyzing the vaudeville A Strong Feeling a system of allusions to A. P. Chekhov’s play The Wedding is identified (the plot, genre, system of characters, etc.). The study of the ‘quote element’ in the play A Strong Feeling helps to draw the conclusion on the stylistic unity of the co-authors’ creative manner.

The article studies the play poetics in I. Ilf, E. Petrov, V. Kataev’s play The Rich Bride. The role of the play is singled out on the level of character and action development, and the language strategies of the co-authors. The satirical (social and political) underlying message of the new time vaudeville is revealed, as well as the ambiguity in portraying the kolkhoz life of the 1930s in the play.