RUSSIAN VERBATIM AS A THEATRE OF CRUELTY

Abstract

The article presents a research of artistic features of the Russian documentary theatre, or verbatim theatre. The main characteristics of this theatre poetics are: documentary basis of action, monologism, narrative interview, reflection of the personage identity crisis and perception of the personage as another, marginality of the verbatim drama personage. The sources of the Russian verbatim theatre are studied, which are connected with development of this form in the English theatre in the second half of the 20th century. The research novelty consists in studying the sources and meaning of cruelty in verbatim drama. The problem of cruelty is considered to be the projection of aesthetics of a personality revolt against the social realities and death, time, narrowness of thinking as philosophical categories. In this aspect, the artistic parallel with A. Artaud’s theory of theater of cruelty is traced.