Russian drama

The article presents the theatrical fate of the first Russian original drama piece – the comedy «Brigadier» by D.I. Fonvizin. There is an attempt to analyze the interpretation potential of the literary work in question.

The article studies inter-textual links of comediography of A. V. Sukhovo- Kobylin with N. V. Gogol’s literary legacy, the functions of Gogol’s allusions used by Sukhovo-Kobylin in the context of the formation of Russian realistic drama are being researched.

The article analyzes the connection between A. V. Sukhovo-Kobylin’s comedy Tarelkin’s Death and the aesthetics of street theater. The author draws parallels between Sukhovo-Kobylin’s play and the Russian traditional puppet show and gives his evaluation of the playwright’s pastiche techniques and the functions of these pastiches.

This article offers a new view of the storyline and dramatic conflict in Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin’s dramatic satire Shadows. According to the author’s hypothesis, the driving force of the plot is an off-stage character Schalimov whom literary critics have often considered as an ‘ideal’, quixotic character. In the article Schalimov is analyzed from the point of view of political intrigues in which the characters of the play are involved. The author of the article also offers his idea of the reasons behind Saltykov-Shchedrin’s sudden loss of interest to this play.

The article studies the formation and development of the Russian musical theatre of the XVIIIth century. It focuses on the opera oeuvre of V. A. Pashkevich; close links between the Russian literature and music are traced in it; the major typological features of the Russian comic opera are singled out.

The attention of the playwrights and theatre to Gogol’s prosaic text opens new forms of understanding of the classical text, and allows to find in it both deeply personal author’s content and something relevant to the society of a diff erent time. In the plays Pannochka by N. Sadur and Viy by V. Sigarev, the transformation of Gogol’s motives reveals the deep meanings of the story. These are Gogol’s favorite motives of a vague fear of women, eschatological forebodings, the fear of oblivion.