Theatre Studio Research Articles

Exploring social media as an apparatus for audience engineering in the Nigerian theatre milieu

This study investigates the use of social media as an apparatus for audience engineering in the Nigerian theatre milieu. This interrogation becomes vital as live theatre in Nigeria continues to struggle to maintain clientele due to decreasing audience response. Using the mixed-method approach, this paper explores engaging social media channels (Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp and Tiktok) in select experimental productions - Ifure Ufford-Azorbo’s Beyond my Scars, staged in the Model Theatre Studio (MTS) at the University of Uyo, Daniel Kpodoh’s interpretation of Ola Rotimi’s The Gods are not to Blame presented at The Arena in Port Harcourt and VickyBon Uzuazor’s Diary of a Pastor’s Wife staged in Akwa Ibom State University Pinnacle Theatre. This study is underpinned by the Technology Acceptance Model, Diffusion of Innovation and Social Media Engagement Theory in its framework. In its findings, the use of social media increases the reach of the production information to prospective audiences and also enhances the reach of theatrical presentations through live feeds; therefore, social media has proven capable of attracting new audiences for wider reception of the theatre product. This suggests that social media has become a useful apparatus for audience engineering in Nigerian theatre, enabling practitioners to leverage online platforms to shape audience engagement, build community, extend conversations and promote artistic works to reach wider audiences. The study contributes to our understanding that; social media technology is a supportive performance apparatus of connectedness and is potent in influencing and transforming the theatrical landscape in Nigeria and beyond through audience engineering. This paper therefore recommends the creative and consistent use of social media platforms as standard production protocol for the reinvigoration of the theatre milieu, especially in Nigeria.

Postdigital theatre: Beyond digital alienation of live theatre on the Nigerian performance space

The challenges of studies in humanities in the wake of the ongoing digital revolution in science and technology sum up the crisis of the place of live theatre in response to skit making on social media apart from the traditional film medium like cinemas and home videos. There are perhaps arguments around the presumed effectiveness of digital theatre in terms of its ability to reach wider audiences across the globe at once through the deployment of technology. Nevertheless, it is clear from my experience of live theatre as recent as May 15 and June 19 2022 by the House of Arimata Theatre Studio in Osogbo, that digital theatre cannot take the place of a live theatre. The communal ritual essence of live theatre, its liminal phases, the necessary separation, the shattering of the performers in the limen, their re-assemblage/merging with the audience, and the communal re-emergence with a new consciousness, all in the transitions and the festivity of a live theatre, cannot be captured in/by a digital theatre. Thus, the lacuna is clear even in the rate at which humanity is commoditised with its knowledge and cultural productions monetised in most digital theatre productions. It is on the basis of the argument of postdigitalism that this paper uses direct observation and historical-analytic methods to argue that while live theatre retains the power to humanise through communal participation, digital theatre can only continue to commoditise/zombiefy humanity with its focus on traffic generation and advert placements essentially for materialism.

Зритель спектакля «Город на заре»

The phenomenon of the Moscow State Theatre Studio under the direction of Alexei Arbuzov and Valentin Pluchek, which in February 1941 produced the play The City at Dawn about the construction of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, can be viewed from different angles. One of the most important aspects is the relationship between the creators of the play and its audience. This article examines a series of issues: who the audience of the play was, what response the play, written collectively by the students of the studio, found in the public, how the audience perceived the aesthetic innovations of The City at Dawn, and if the ambition of the Arbuzov Studio to become the ‘voice of the generation’ who graduated from schools and universities in the late 1930s and went off to war in 1941, was finally realized. The article publishes (mostly for the first time) the texts of letters and notes sent by the audience to the members of the Arbuzov Studio, the answers to questionnaires that the audience was asked to fill out, and the quotes from the studio journal of observations of the performance.

Арбузовская студия (1938–1945): гайдебуровский след

This research focuses on the influence that the pedagogical work of P.P. Gaideburov and N.F. Skarskaya, the directors of the Peredvizhny Public Theatre, had in the 1920s on the activities of the Moscow State Theatre Studio run by Aleksei Arbuzov and Valentin Pluchek (or, as it is more informally known, the Arbuzov Studio). The Peredvizhny Theatre existed in St. Petersburg — Petrograd — Leningrad for 23 years. During this period, its directors Pavel Gaideburov and Nadezhda Skarskaya trained many students, including the playwright Aleksei Arbuzov. At the age of 17, he was trained at the Palaestra, a studio of the Peredvizhny Theatre, in the socalled “Skarskaya method”, a system of developing creative thinking in actors through improvisation. In the late 1930s, A.N. Arbuzov and V.N. Pluchek reproduced this method in their own way while working with the students of the Arbuzov studio. The result was the play A City at Dawn, telling the story of the construction of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, written collectively by the students on the basis of improvisational etudes. The article is the first to publish the exercises of N.F. Skarskaya’s method, practiced in the Palaestra, as well as the sketches of the Arbuzov studio. This allows us to analyse how the memory of the destroyed culture was preserved in the USSR during the period of the Great Terror (both the Peredvizhny Theatre and the Palaestra were liquidated in 1928), as well as to build a sequence from the theatrical experiments of the Silver Age to the playwrights of the Thaw.

THEATRICAL ACTIVITY AS A MEANS OF FORMING MUSICAL CULTURE OF FUTURE PRESCHOOL AND PRIMARY EDUCATION SPECIALISTS

The article analyzes the problem of using theatrical activities in the process of forming musical culture of future specialists in preschool and primary education. The purpose of the publication is a comprehensive scientific analysis of the problem of using theatrical activities in the process of forming musical culture of future specialists in preschool and primary education. In particular, the importance of professional training of future specialists in preschool and primary education by means of theatrical activity has been determined. During the research, the following methods were used: theoretical ‒ analysis of regulatory documents and philosophical, psychological-pedagogical, cultural, methodological literature, as well as abstraction, systematization and generalization of data in order to determine the state and theoretically justify the investigated problem; empirical ‒ a role-projective method for studying and analyzing the results of theatrical activity. The significance and influence of theatrical activity on the development of a child’s personality, as well as the importance of preparing students to ensure the appropriate development of children of preschool and primary school age, are emphasized. Attention is focused on the importance of such a characteristic of theater art as the syntheticity (regarding different types of arts and the stage performance of an actor). The issue of forming musical culture of future preschool and primary education specialists by means of various forms and types of theatrical activity is highlighted. The main forms of organizing this process are lecture, practical and laboratory classes (in the disciplines “General pedagogy”, “Fundamentals of culture and speech techniques”, “Fundamentals of stage and screen art with teaching methods”, “Organization of theatrical activities in preschool education institutions”, “Methodology of music education”, “Theory and methods of conducting events and entertainment in PEI”, etc.) and extracurricular forms of students’ the atrical activities (theatre studio, theater circle, etc.). Mini-creative projects, which can be a component of control classes of any discipline or be used as an independent type of theatrical activity of extracurricular forms of work, are defined as important types of theatrical activity for the formation of future specialists’ musical culture.
 Keywords: formation of musical culture; future specialists of preschool and primary education; theatrical activity; children of preschool and primary school age; forms of work organization; professional training of specialists; types of musical activities; creative mini-projects.

Performing—Feeling, Auto-Transformation, and Expression: Tang Shu-wing and His Theatre Studio in Hong Kong

This article presents the multifaceted persona of Tang Shu-wing, an acclaimed director, actor, and drama teacher, and examines his profound connections with the Polish theater tradition, particularly Jerzy Grotowski. The text also discusses Tang Shu-wing’s Shakespearean productions staged in Warsaw and Gdańsk. Marzenna Wiśniewska’s introduction contextualizes the appendix, which contains the edited transcript of a lecture delivered by Tang Shu-wing during the international online conference Contemporary Acting Techniques in Eurasian Theatre, Performance and Audiovisual Art: Intercultural and Intermedia Perspective (2021). In this lecture, the director characterizes the main ideas underlying his actor training and work on performances at the Tang Shu-wing Theatre Studio in Hong Kong. An essential part of the presentation is the characterization of Tang Shu-wing’s philosophy of art, including the four stages of an artist’s development and the methodology of authorial performance grounded in pre-verbal expression and body-based minimalist aesthetics.

From utopia to ideology: 1920s theatre studios in Ukraine

From utopia to ideology: 1920s theatre studios in Ukraine

The Stage Universalism of Peter Brook's Directed Theater

The purpose of the work is to dentify the features of the artistic work of English director Peter Brook through the prism of the experimental nature of his creative studio. The methodology of the research is to use the following methods: historical – to study the specifics of the development of artistic creativity of P. Brooke during the twentieth – early XXI century. in the context of transformational features of socio-cultural space and theatrical art; typological – aimed at identifying and defining the techniques and methods of directorial universalism of P. Brooke; art critic, who helped to identify the specifics of the formation and formation of the director's handwriting of P. Brooke, through the prism of innovative experiments and stage universalism of his creative studio. The novelty of the study lies in a comprehensive study and analysis of the artistic work of English director Peter Brook in the context of the specifics of his theater studio. Conclusions. Although Brooke's ideas are not always innovative - most of them were borrowed from his avant-garde contemporaries, his extraordinary talent lies in his unique ability to represent these ideas on stage, experimenting with the very nature of theater. His use of innovative methods of interpreting the classical Shakespearean text and the experience of avant-garde trends in European theater contributed to the formation of a new canon, representative of which were such components of theatrical performance as scenography, mise-en-scène, light score, musical design, and acting. P. Brooke's directorial works clearly represent modern culture – a network of branched symbols or interpretations, in which the director interprets the realities of the classical text, agreeing only with his own rules.
 Key words: theater, director, Peter Brook, creative workshop, actor.

Redefining Borders in Contemporary Chinese Theater: Paper Tiger Theater Studio Performing Kafka’s “The Great Wall”

For the past twenty years, director Tian Gebing and his Beijing-based independent artist collective, Paper Tiger Theater Studio, have pushed the boundaries of performance art and theater by probing, critiquing, and reconfiguring notions of the avant-garde. This article analyzes their recent production from 2017, 500 Meters: Kafka, the Great Wall, or Images from the Unreal World and Daily Heroism, highlighting the latent political and social ideologies of the Great Wall via parody and paradox within a decidedly postdramatic context in order to deconstruct Chinese political and social borders. I argue that 500 Meters moves the meaning of the immense border-demarcation line of the Great Wall from a discourse on political power to one of transcultural bonding. Consequently, the hybridity made possible through parody and paradox advances numerous possible alternative understandings of the Great Wall as variously a space of intercultural dialogue, a place of emotional connection with the other, and a surprisingly harmonious Babel where dominant dichotomies are subverted and even eliminated from the traditional, often coercive, and highly politicized understanding of borders.

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ РОЗВИТКУ ТЕАТРАЛЬНОГО МИСТЕЦТВА ПІВНІЧНОГО ПРИАЗОВ’Я В УМОВАХ ВОЄННОГО СТАНУ

The article outlines the activities of theater groups of the Northern Azov region after the full-scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine. The author analyses the activity of both professional and amateur artistic groups of the Northern Azov Region. It is revealed that the only theater company that managed to resume its work almost in full in Ukraine is the Mariupol Theater of the Author's Play Conception. The paper describes the updated repertoire of the theater and highlights the main features of the company’s activities. It is emphasized that it was the Mariupol Theater of the Author's Play Conception that was able to unite Mariupol residents and revive theater culture in the territory controlled by Ukraine. It has been established that the People's Theater «Teatromania» from Mariupol has resumed its activities in the German city of Hanover. Young people from Ukraine as well as Ukrainian actors who are currently staying in Germany join the theatre. From now on, «Teatromania» successfully presents their performances not only to Ukrainian, but also to foreign audiences. Through each of the performances and their activity in general, the «Teatromania» company continue to support the development of the culture of Mariupol and Ukraine as a whole. The group has now been renamed the Theater Studio «Teatromania 2:0». At the same time, it has been found that today many theater actors of the Azov region have become collaborators and started working in the occupied cities. The scientific novelty of the study is that for the first time in cultural studies, the peculiarities of the development of the theater art in the Northern Azov region under martial law have been highlighted. Key words: theater, Northern Azov region, Mariupol, theater art, war, occupation.

СТАНОВЛЕНИЕ ТЕАТРАЛЬНОЙ ШКОЛЫ В ЯРОСЛАВЛЕ

The article describes the process of formation of a theater school in Yaroslavl during the Soviet period. State theatrical education in Yaroslavl is for the first time presented in detail in the chronological sequence of origin, formation, development. Development is understood as a process of regular change aimed at creating a new qualitative state of theater education: from a theater technical school and a theater studio to a secondary theater school and a higher educational institution. Analyzing the process of formation and development of theater education in Yaroslavl in the context of a certain historical time (the Soviet period), the author relies on the principle of historicism. The study uses documents that record key events: government decrees, decisions and orders of various levels. The results of the study allow us to reasonably assert that the policy implemented by the Soviet authorities in the field of creative and, in particular, theater education contributed to the formation of a theater school in Yaroslavl. Many methodological practices tested and developed in Soviet times have not lost their relevance at the present time. At the same time, the formation and development of the Yaroslavl theater school, which has pronounced individual features, goes beyond the rationalistic and politicized educational policy of the Soviet state. An exceptional role in the development of theater education and the formation of the Yaroslavl theater school was played by F. E. Shishigin, artistic leader of the Theater named after F. Volkova. He was the only one in the Soviet theatrical province who combined artistic, staging and pedagogical work, supplementing these activities with organizational and creative work. The problem under consideration will be of interest to specialists in the field of the history of theater education, as well as culturologists involved in the study of the culture of the Soviet period.

Actress training by Michael Saint-Denis: improvisation in a mask

The purpose of the article is to analyze the features of the theatrical and pedagogical activity of M. Saint-Denis and to reveal the specifics of the acting training "Improvisation in a mask" in the context of students' work with a neutral and characteristic mask. Methodology. The biographical method was applied (to cover the director's and pedagogical activity of M. Saint-Denis); the typological method (for identifying and determining the main features of the theatrical pedagogy of M. Saint-Denis in general and the methods of teaching the actor developed by him in particular); the method of comparative analysis (for the study of the training "Improvisation in a mask" with neutral and characteristic masks), etc. Scientific novelty. Studied the actor's training "Improvisation in the mask" of the leading theater director and teacher of the twentieth century. M. Saint-Denis and revealed the features of the work of student actors with a neutral and characteristic mask; analyzed the theatrical and pedagogical activities of M. Saint-Denis as a standardizer of theatrical practice in the context of the developed and implemented curricula for acting in drama schools founded with his assistance (London Theater Studio, Old Vic School, Strasbourg Higher School of Dramatic Art, Canadian National Theater School and the Juilliard Drama Department). Conclusions. M. Saint-Denis's holistic model of acting training is formed on the basis of an organic combination of a physical approach, in which the body learns to turn into an absolute expressive instrument, an internal approach, the so-called realistic characterization, and a comprehensive understanding of the style in the context of mastering physical, vocal, intellectual, creative and emotional skills, allows student actors to master all kinds of drama. The study revealed that the mask was considered by M. Saint-Denis as a temporary working tool that helps to reduce feelings of insecurity and awkwardness, enhance the ability of internal self-awareness, enhance expression and experimental activity, develop concentration of attention, self-control of a student-actor and a harmonious path from the inception of physical qualities. character to their external dramatic expression. The student's task is to fill the mask, to give it life and feelings. If the actor who animates the mask is convincing and sincere, it feels like he has his own facial expression. The aim of the training is: to eradicate cliché-manners; teach students to develop and release creative impulses; to teach students to work on classical roles or roles of the "big style" (according to M. Saint-Denis).

THE PROBLEM OF TRAINING THEATER PERSONNEL FOR CHUVASHIA IN THE 20–30s OF THE XX CENTURY

In the 1920s Chuvashia was developing rapidly, and the growth in the number of cultural institutions was observed. The cadres of the creative intelligentsia were in demand, but there were no field-oriented specialized educational institutions in the republic. The issue of training specialists began to be dealt with at the level of state and party bodies. One of the first to open was the theater studio, which gave the opportunity to strengthen the staff of two republican theaters. Moderate funding allocated to support the theater arts, and the entire culture as a whole, of course affected its quality. But the enthusiasm of I.S. Maksimov-Koshkinsky, I.A. Slobodsky and other people of art allowed to continue the work of personnel training.
 
 In the 1920s and 1930s, training of creative intelligentsia cadres reached a new qualitative level. Financing of cultural institutions, provision with qualified teaching staff, regulation of admission, training, and graduation in educational institutions yielded positive results. In 1935, a theater vocational school was opened in Cheboksary. In 1934, a special collective farm-state farm department was opened at the extramural department of the State Institute of Theater Arts, and a little later, in 1940, a specialized Chuvash theater studio was opened. The activity of the theater school was curtailed, but specialists training was successfully conducted by the studio under GITIS (the Russian University of Theatre Arts). In the pre-war years, 6 new theaters were opened in the republic. The national creative intelligentsia was formed.

Multi-Genre Strategies of “Walking with Pushkin” by A. Terts (A. Sinyavsky)

Based on the material of the book “Walking with Pushkin” by Abram Terts (Andrey Sinyavsky), the goal is to determine the main narrative strategies that the writer implemented. The authors demonstrate that along with the genre definitions of “novel”, “novella”, “essay”, the narrative is mediated by the techniques of “philological prose” and scientific discourse. It is shown that markers of scientific discursively narrative SinyavskyTerts in “Walking with Pushkin” is the number of characteristic features: composite partitioning, the extension of the goals and objectives of the analysis, the coverage of the history of the problem, selection of research methodology, the definition of the novelty of the work, the establishment of perspectives, providing structural integrity, respect of chronology in understanding material, the use of the bibliographic apparatus, etc. According to the authors, the experience of Sinyavsky, a research scientist, who defended the dissertation at MSU, working in world literature of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, who read lectures at Moscow state University and the Moscow art theatre Studio, influenced the nature of the material in the “Walking.” and served as canon of structural research. It is established that a “free” manner of presentation of scientific observations is expressive means of focusing attention on the most pressing issues of domestic scientists to update the relationship of history and modernity (his understanding of own creativity, manifestation of the principle of “pure art”, the semantics of the principle of freedom within the literature of socialist realism, etc.).

Case of psychological consultation and observation an adolescent with dissociative dysmnesia

IntroductionCases of memory loss are rare phenomena. We present a case-study of common psychological and psychotherapy observation 14,5 years old girl with dissociative dysmnesia during 2 years. Teenager grew up in a small town near Moscow, her parents were divorced. A girl and her elder brother stay with mother. One day in New Year Holiday in January she had come to take out the trash and did not return home. When mother and her friends had found girl on the other side of town, she did not remember anything about her life and family. Goal: description the case of long observing adolescent with dissociative dysmnesiaObjectivesGirl age 14,5 y.o.MethodsPsychodiagnostics, Psychotherapy.ResultsFirst period (1 months later initial episode) mother provided mane consultations to understand what has happened with daughter and what is illness. Psychiatrist made a diagnosis - dissociative dysmnesia, neurologists did not find any disturbances. Psychological diagnostics showed small gaps in knowledge, pronounced violations of autobiographical memory, decreased activity, and mood. Unusual results were obtained in projective drawing. She got to know her family and friends again, started an account on Internet, shares her stories. These 2 years she worked with individual psychotherapist with positive changes. In September 2020 she went to school, not yet caught up with program. She masters the guitar, continues to play in the theater studio, and makes plans for future.ConclusionsAfter 2 year observation and work autobiographical memory has not restored. Girl’s personality hasn’t changed, according to the family. Her mood and communication look better.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

ТВОРЧЕСКИЕ ИНКЛЮЗИВНЫЕ ПРАКТИКИ СТАНОВЛЕНИЯ СУБЪЕКТНОСТИ: ПОДХОД К КОНЦЕПТУАЛЬНОМУ ОБОСНОВАНИЮ

The article is based on the experience of searching for «roundabout ways» of development for persons with mental disabilities to be able to enter the culture (L.S. Vygotsky). We substantiate the possibility of developing creative inclusive practices that contribute to the formation of the subjectivity of persons with mental disorders where subjectivity is considered as the ability for conscious purposeful intentional activity in conjunction with the supporting processes of mastering cultural ways of human activity (bodily-affective self-regulation, experiencing oneself and others, symbolic practices of mastering the body and emotions, etc.). Inclusion is seen as the development of a common language and cultural forms of interaction in an inclusive group, and not as a simple declaration of equal rights to social inclusion. The approach to the conceptual substantiation of the applied creative inclusive practices is based on rethinking of the biosemiotic concept of Umwelt (J. von Uexküll) in the light of the concept of human as a being that creates the symbolic world of culture as a sphere of his life and lays the foundations of his cultural subjectivity, developing his abilities for expressive movement (E. Cassirer). As a result, Umwelt appears as not just the surrounding world, whose biological significance is predetermined by the specific activity of a living being, but as a symbolic world of cultural meanings set by the symbolic activity of a person (based on the development of his/her expressive movement) within a group of people united for creative communication, with an integrated theater studio serving as a model of this symbolic world. The development of creative inclusive practices is based on N.A. Bernstein’s theory of construction of movements as the basis for ‘substitute ontogenesis’ and the formation of their own subjectivity and cultural symbolism in persons with mental disorders already at the pre-expressive (J. Grotowsky, E. Barba) stage of training.

МУЗИЧНО-ТЕАТРАЛЬНА СПАДЩИНА ВОЛОДИМИРА БАЛТАРОВИЧА В КОНТЕКСТІ СТАНОВЛЕННЯ УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ ОПЕРЕТИ 1930-х років (із фондів Львівської національної наукової бібліотеки України імені В. Стефаника)

Introduction. In the early 1930s, the task of creating a new Ukrainian operetta arose on Ukrainian soil, however, the ways and conditions of its implementation in Eastern and Western Ukraine differed significantly (state system, ideology, professional and production opportunities, etc. played its role). In “UnderSoviet” Ukraine, composers were in a better financial position: there were stationary specialized theaters with professional performers, state support. However, they had to glorify the “happy Soviet life” (in the conditions of mass repressions and the Holodomor) — mainly due to mass song genres. In 1930s, the musical-theatrical creativity of Lviv composer, singer, and public figure V. Baltarovich: “Mefistiada” (1930–31), “Three Hearts in 2/4” (1930), “Frogging” (1932–34), “The Marriage in Two Apartments” (1933), “Chords” (1934) and “Sich’s adventure” (1939, author of the libretto G. Luzh¬nytsky), — had a great popularity, confirming the responses of the press of that time. However, V. Baltarovich’s emigration to Czechoslovakia after II World War led to the removal of his works from the repertoire and a ban on even mentioning his name. Therefore, the fourth volume of the academic “History of Ukrainian Music” (1992) was only about Soviet operetta. The first information about the operettas of Western Ukraine began to appear only with the beginning of Ukraine’s independence. As one knows, in the funds of V. Stefanyk’s LNSBU manuscripts of the musical comedies “Marriage in Two Apartments” and “Frogging” have been preserved since 2011. So, objectives: to introduce the named works into scientific circulation and to inscribe them in the context of Ukrainian operetta. The musical and theatrical heritage of V. Baltarovich (Ston) has been analyzed. His talent, education and musical activity at the head of the Bohemia theater studio made it possible to create outstanding works. His music was “fashionable”, easy to remember, with many salon dances (tango, waltz, foxtrot, rumba, etc.). The composer made extensive use of ensembles (duets, trios, sextet), and sometimes quoted classical music (F. Chopin’s Funeral March, Toreador’s couplets from opera “Carmen” G. Bizet etc.) in a parody key. Results and Discussion Conclusion. We proved that V. Baltarovich’s musical and theatrical works were predominantly comic in nature (sometimes with elements of satire). Built on models of the salon genres, they were designed to entertain the public (and successfully achieved that goal). With some textual editing of these musical comedies (first of all, “Marriage in Two Apartments” and “Frogging”), they deserve a musical and stage reconstruc-tion, that will enrich the national repertoire. Keywords: V. Baltarovich’s musical and theatrical heritage, musical comedies, epoch musical dictionary, “Marriage in two Apartments”, “Frogging”, operetta of 1930, becoming.

Marketing Approach in Educational Institutions Management: Transformation and Development Management

The relevance of this article is to study the market of educational services for preschool children, since education is the fundamental beginning, the Foundation of human socialization and the most important means of cultural communication between generations. In relation to the modern period of Russian education development, it is a close attention and control to all areas of educational activity, as well as a duty to the continuous development of each educational institution, including the modern specifics in the field of manage0ment, using a marketing approach. The purpose of the study is to investigate the practice of educational services consumption, using a marketing approach. Research methods: an online survey was used as a research method, which allows us most effectively to investigate the quality and specifics of educational services provided. Research results: the article examines the market of educational services for preschoolers, describes the quality of services offered in the view of consumers. Practices of educational services consumption are investigated. The novelty and originality of the research lies in the fact that the market of educational services was studied for the first time using a marketing approach. It shows that producers of additional educational services primarily focus on the cost of services in their advertising messages, and most educational centers use information about highly qualified teaching staff. It determines that the future of promoting educational services on the Internet belongs to social networks. The main semantic units of competitive advantages of educational institutions stated in the advertising message are identified: training program; cost; qualified personnel; individual approach; unique additional offer. The article shows that the choice of additional classes is extremely limited and does not meet the needs of modern parents. It is determined that choosing additional classes, following things are important for parents: strengthening the child's health, the appearance of new acquaintances, which directly affects the socialization of the child in society. It is shown that fewer students attend foreign language classes and music classes. There are quite interesting and rare wishes of parents for narrow specializations: gymnastics, theater Studio, classes with a speech therapist, social sections. It is revealed that the highest level of satisfaction the following characteristics of educational services showed: the location of the institution; the schedule; the result of a child's development after attending; the attitude of teachers to children. Practical significance: the data Obtained in this work can be used in marketing, social psychology, pedagogy, and age psychology.

Strategies for Working with Soviet Past in the Post-Soviet Cultural Space (The Cases of TV-series Thaw, Kolyma Tales Performance by Yeltsin Centre’s ‘V tsentre’ theatre studio and Yury Dud’s YouTube film Kolyma – Birthplace of Russia’s Fear)

This article explores some of the strategies used to reconstruct the Soviet past in contemporary Russian culture. Soviet past is ubiquitous in contemporary Russia. Over the past decades, it has become simultaneously an object of nostalgia, an object of mythologisation, and an object of myth deconstruction. This article analyses the concepts of nostalgia, mythologisation and demythologisation and explores the strategies for aesthetisation, glamorisation, critique and deconstruction of the past. The research presented here is based on the analysis of creative texts produced in different art forms: cinema and drama, as well as various communication media that cater to different audiences – traditional one (film screenings, TV broadcast, stage plays) and new/younger one (video bloggers on YouTube). This article suggests that the strategies employed by various authors who work with the Soviet past depend not only on their value attitudes but also on their chosen communicative channels. Thus, the ‘traditional’ audience of mass TV channels is exposed to openly nostalgic interpretations of Soviet past, while the ‘younger’ audience of experimental theatre studios and YouTube channels, which lacks direct experience of Soviet period, requires different approaches. However, in all these art forms it is possible to move beyond nostalgia producing works that challenge retro-expectations.
 Keywords: nostalgia, mythologisation, deconstruction, The Thaw TV series, Kolyma Tales performance, Yury Dud

Narrative and Number in Busby Berkeley’s Footlight Parade

The backstage film musical was a successful genre of the brief ‘Pre-Code’ era of American film history (1929-1934), in which audiences witnessed the inner workings of a theatre studio and watched the creation and performance of a musical production unfold. This essay focusses on one of these film musicals, Footlight Parade, and examines its key musical numbers: ‘Honeymoon Hotel’, ‘By a Waterfall’ and ‘Shanghai Lil’. Using these examples, the article analyses the relationship between musical number and film narrative, while relating the film to wider issues surrounding musicals in the ‘Pre-Code’ era and beyond.