TAKING A CHILD TO THE THEATRE

The starry sky depicted on the theatre trembles intermittently, shining above the wooden boards of the stage. The restrained hum of children's voices hints at the expectation that something festive and magical is about to happen. The young girls acting as ushers escort the worried late-coming children to their seats. At last there is the tinkle of the last bell, everything falls silent, and the theatre is enveloped in the darkness of night for a moment for… everything disappears. All that remains is the fairy-tale bathed in the magical light of the moon. 

Who remembers that quivering in the expectation of enjoyment before going to the theatre? The world of unknown wonders, fragile and poetic in the ordinary prose of what is definitely a child's everyday life. Now there are few empty seats at the matinees in theatres. What does the theatre mean to the children of today?

Theatre or poor taste?

Lala Quliyeva, a 19-year-old student recounts: "I used to really love the theatre and the ballet and everything that was connected with art, since that always meant "an outing, something festive, an event, a special atmosphere and the huge curtain which hid so many interesting things behind it. Although I began to have a more critical attitude to what was happening on the stage as I grew older, when I was a child this was like magic to me." Aynur Aydinli also backs up these words: "I often take my nephews to the theatre - to the Puppet Theatre, the State Theatre of the Young Spectators and the Russian Drama Theatre.

Children really like that. They don't notice the details which adults pick up straightaway such as the inappropriate costumes, the acting which may not always be good, they are always satisfied with the production." Kifayat Hagverdiyeva takes her son to the pantomime theatre. "I myself am very fond of the productions at that theatre and my 10-year-old son also likes them, in spite of the fact that they are aimed at an older audience. I don't take him to other children's theatres, since the standard of the production and the acting there leaves much to be desired. Aliya Alakbarova is of the same opinion: "I used to take my daughter to the theatres, but now she is older and already notices the quality of the acting and the production, therefore I don't want her to become accustomed to something that is in bad taste."

As we can see, parents are critical of acting that is not authentic, the quality of the costumes and scenery, although children do not really notice these things, although they are not unimportant. So is a child's visit to the theatre a positive or a negative experience?

Productions for children are primarily staged in three theatres in Baku - the Abdulla Shaiga Puppet Theatre, the State Theatre of Young Spectators and several performances for children are staged at the Samad Vurgun Russian Drama Theatre.

The press secretary of the Theatre of Young Spectators, Husniya Mursaquliyeva, recounts that the role of the theatre, in particular their theatre, in instilling a taste for culture in children and the younger generation, is very important. "If children start their spectating career with the Puppet Theatre, then when they come to us, we try to fully instil in them a sense of good taste and a desire to go to the theatre and to prepare them for more serious and complicated productions aimed at older spectators in the drama theatres. Husniya xanim noted that, in spite of the "narrow" meaning of its name, the theatre is not just calculated to entertain young spectators, but also older people such as senior pupils and students and even adults. 

According to the press secretary, work on the productions and even the choice of them is very thorough: the well balanced selection can readily be observed with half the productions by local playwrights and half by foreign ones; both classical works and those by new authors are staged. "Our latest children's productions are "Talking Doll" by Abdulla Saiq, (directed by Nicat Karimov), "On the other side of the Fence" by Ali Amirli, "The Tale of Sarikoynak and Valeh", based on the work by Ilyas Afandiyev, And there are also several shows from abroad," Husniya xanim notes.

The theatre does not bar innovations either. In December 2013 the small subsidiary theatre of the Theatre of Young spectators was opened at which three shows were staged, one of them by a foreign director, one by a director from Tabriz [Iran] and a third by an Azerbaijani director. Worthy of mention among the young and promising figures is the talented director Gulnara Haciyeva, who staged a play based on the work of Rovsan Agayev "The Tale of a Single Night". This production received many positive reviews, not only in our country, but also in other countries, on guest tours, the press-secretary says. 

You don't want to remain indifferent to the theatre and out of contact with the spectator: "We have a book of reviews and suggestions," Husniya xanim notes. "After each performance, new comments and pages are added to it. The spectators, the schoolchildren, the parents, the students, the teachers make a note of their wishes and complaints in it. For example, some people don't like the fact that the show was too noisy, or they didn't like the costumes or some of the acting; they often make suggestions regarding the choice of future performances. Afterwards, all these complaints and suggestions are examined at our council and then we unanimously decide which plays to stage." As far as classical and translated works are concerned, we ring the changes: "Naturally, we strive to awaken interest in the audience, therefore we adapt plays to our actual situation, bring them up to date, in order to make them more understandable and recognisable." We have to think about this process, whether it is correct and appropriate to do that.

From three to nine and older

But you can see performances for children not only in children's theatre. Productions aimed at the smallest spectators are also staged at the Russian drama theatre. "Since this theatre is really for an adult audience, children's performances do not form a basic part of the repertoire, the head of the theatre's literature and drama section, Valentina Reznikova explains, "so there are not that many shows for children." Besides, she notes, unlike other children's theatres with a broad range of ages, here the performances are in the main aimed at a very young audience, children aged from three to nine years of age.

One of the most recent productions for children was "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" based on the work by [Russian poet Aleksandr] Pushkin. "At first, we were afraid that Pushkin's language might be difficult for small children to understand," the head of department told us. "But there was no need for us to be afraid because the children were really enthusiastic about the show, and we were pleased to note that today those little spectators come to the theatre well prepared to understand what is happening on the stage."           

Naturally, the question arises of whether it is worth burdening a child with works that are more complex from a dramatic point of view, but the approach has to be well thought out here. In this case, the theatre should, in studying the interests of the very young audience, be absolutely sure whom the production is aimed at? What about the age of the audience? Can one speak in the same language about the fairy-tale plot with a child of three and nine? "By studying the level of development of our spectator, we can definitely understand that the production "Guess the Fairy Story" for example is interesting to children of different age groups. Therefore when we have a performance with audience participation we include everyone, the little ones and the bigger ones," Reznikova says. At the present time, the theatre has set itself a new task with regard to children's audiences. The director believes that we should think about which plays to include in the children's repertoire, so that children of 12 years and above come to the theatre too," Valentina xanim notes.

When speaking about the cultural role of the theatre in instilling good taste and a feeling for art, developing in children a sense of what is splendid, we should not rule out something else, the very important part played by the temple of Melpomene [muse of singing] in bringing people up. Psychologists' latest scientific research shows that children best absorb the knowledge that they receive in the form of a game. Here we are not just talking about academic knowledge, but knowledge of morals and aesthetics. And what is the theatre, if not a game? By experiencing what is happening on stage, the children are living the role along with the characters, and the live situations become imprinted on the consciousness.

An expert in education, Rufat Aliyev, comments: "The theatre is a very important phenomenon forming the programme of a child's life. A child is not acting, he is living, living in this situation. It is very important to take children to the theatre, to go yourself, to discuss what you have seen, for children are not capable of approaching what they have seen with a critical eye. But the adult has to be very cautious and restrained in his assessments of what has taken place on the stage; the child may take in the adult's point of view, and a careless reference may cause the child to acquire a critical, even cynical, attitude to the magical action on the stage."

As far as theatres are concerned, Rufat muallin says, they should take into account the interests of the young spectator, know about his psychology, love him and talk to him in his own language and not stage the play so often that it becomes stale or less coherent.