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[THEATRE IN SCHOOLS] Teatral’naya rabota v shkole II-oi stupeni [i.e. Theatrical Work in School of the Second Degree]

Ognev, N., Rozanov, S.G.

Leningrad: Izd-vo “Izvestita TSIK SSSR i VTSIK”, 1925. Item #524

160 pp.: ill. 18x12 cm. In original illustrated wrappers. Small tears and losses of the wrappers, marks on the back cover (pen), a few marks in the text (pencil), otherwise very good.

First and only edition. One of 5000 copies. Very rare.
This edition is a collection of materials for theatrical work in
schools and particularly with students of the first and second grades.
According to the authors all materials were used in practice by them
in different children’s establishments of Moscow and Moscow region.
Materials are provided with guidelines for teachers and theatrical
supervisors (directors). Among such materials are scripts for several
stagings like Schiller’s ‘William Tell’, Gofman’s ‘The Sandman’, Pushkin’s
‘Captain’s Daughter’, etc. A special chapter is dedicated to revolutionary
holidays and their organization in schools and particularly to the ‘Third
International’ that was organized by S. Rozanov, one of the authors, and
held during the second International congress in 1920.

Sergei Rozanov (1894-1957) was a Russian and Soviet
children’s writer, playwright and theatre director. His brother, Mikhail
Rozanov (1888-1938) who was published under an alias N. Ognev
(because brothers wrote for the same theatre) and was also a writer
and director. They both worked with children, organized pioneer’s camps
and art studios. Sergei together with his wife, theatre director Natalia
Sats (1903-1993), were involved in creation of a school of esthetic
upbringing of children (now known as school #57, one of the best and
most famous schools in Moscow) and later the Moscow theatre for
children where Sergei worked as director.

The text is supplemented with rare photographs of children in
plays, schemes, sketches of stage sets and musical notes for songs.

The 1920s was an important forming period in the USSR
history. It was a time of experiments and search for better alternatives
in every aspect of Soviet man’s life. The upbringing of children was
among top priorities at that time. This book is an interesting evidence
of that period as well as source of information on early Soviet theatre,
avantgarde and uncensored even in schools.

Worldcat locates an only copy in The British Library.

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