Introduction

Abstract

In the former Soviet Union, and especially in Moscow, professional theatre for young audiences has traditionally been an important institution. The power of theatre, and its ability to teach ideology from a political perspective, has been recognized since the early years of the revolution. Theatre for young audiences functioned essentially as an instrument of the totalitarian regime, reflecting and perpetuating the official ideology of Marxism-Leninism. However, the rapid changes in material circumstances—political, social, cultural, and economic—which started in the mid-1980s with the rise of Gorbachev and his launch of Glasnost and Perestroika, significantly challenged the tradi­tional Soviet ideology, affecting all areas of life (Woodby and Evans 6). This book examines how the traditional ideological function and cultural position of theatre for young audiences was adapted to ideological and cultural shifts and how these changes are reflected in the repertory and practices of two of the oldest theatres for young audiences in Moscow, the Moscow Theatre of the Young Spectator (Mtiuz) and the former Central Children’s Theatre, now the Russian Academic Youth Theatre (RAMT). I look at these changes through the lenses of cultural history, that is, with an eye on both phenomenological events in the theatre and the material circumstances that generated these events.