Romen Theatre () in Moscow,

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, is the oldest and the most famous of

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnic groups * Romani people, or Roma, an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin ** Romani language, an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities ** Romanichal, Romani subgroup in the United Kingdom * Romanians (Romanian ...

theatres in the world. The theatre is a key object of

Romani culture Romani culture encompasses the regional cultures of the Romani people. These cultures have developed through complex histories of interaction with their surrounding populations. Romani people constitute the largest ethnic minority in Europe. ...

in Russia, and from the moment of its foundation in 1931, it has been a centre of attraction for Romani artists in Russia.

Forerunners of Romen Theatre

In the 18th and 19th centuries,

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song), the part of a song that is repeated several times, usually after each verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in whic ...

es of

Ruska Roma The Ruska Roma (), also known as Russian Gypsies () or ''Khaladitka/Xaladytka Roma'' (; ), are the largest subgroup of Romani people in Russia and Belarus, with smaller remnants of the group living in Ukraine, Latvia, Poland, the United States ...

existed in Moscow and

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. At the end of the 19th century, a conductor of one of Romani choruses,

Nikolai Shishkin Nikolai Shishkin (Kursk, 1845-1911) was a Ruska Roma guitarist and singer in the Sokolovsky Gypsy choir (Соколовский хор). After the death of choir leader Grigory Sokolov Shishkin he led the choir and inherited the role of lead ''so ...

created the first ever Romani theatre troupe. The first appearance of the troupe was in the

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

''Gypsy Songs in Characters'' (), with the main troupe of Arcadia Theatre. This was in 1886. The operetta ran for several years. On 13 April 1887 the first performance of

Strauss Strauss, Strauß, or Straus is a common Germanic surname. Outside Germany and Austria ''Strauß'' is usually spelled ''Strauss'' (the letter " ß" is not used in the German-speaking part of Switzerland). In classical music, "Strauss" most com ...

's operetta ''

The Gypsy Baron ''The Gypsy Baron'' () is an operetta in three acts by Johann Strauss II which premiered at the Theater an der Wien on 24 October 1885. Its German libretto by Ignaz Schnitzer is based on the unpublished 1883 story ''Saffi'' by Mór Jókai. Jokai ...

'' with Roma (Shishkin's troupe) playing the roles of Roma took place in the Maly Theatre. On 20 March 1888 the

premiere A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a performer in that work. History Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the ...

of the very first

Romani language Romani ( ; also Romanes , Romany, Roma; ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani people. The largest of these are Vlax Romani language, Vlax Romani (about 500,000 speakers), Balkan Romani (600,000), and Sinte Roma ...

operetta ''Children of the Forests'' was staged in the Maly Theatre. It was performed solely by the Romani troupe. The production ran for 18 years and was a great success. In 1892, Shishkin produced a new operetta, ''Gypsy Life''. In the 1920s, many Romani ensembles of singers, dancers and musicians performed in the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Theatre history

On 24 January 1931 the Romani theatre studio "Indo-Romen" opened in Moscow. Within a month, the studio performed its first work. The first director and the first music composer of "Indo-Romen" were Jewish activists, Moishe Goldblat and Semen Bugachevsky.

Alexander Tyshler Alexander Grigoryevich Tyshler (26 July 1898 — 1980, , ) was a Russian modernist painter, in particular, notable as a stage designer. Early life Tyshler was born in 1898 in Melitopol, Taurida Governorate (now Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine) in a ...

was most often invited for stage design. On 16 December 1931 the studio showed its first full musical-dramathic performance ''Life on Wheels'' (). It consisted of three acts and was based on a play by Romani author Alexandr Germano. After that performance, the studio was renamed the Romen Theatre. The first theatre director was Georgy Lebedev (a Rusko Rom). Since 1940, the theatre does all its performances in Russian. The current theatre director (2008) is

Nikolai Slichenko Nikolai Alekseyevich Slichenko (; 27 December 1934 — 2 July 2021) was a Soviet and Russian singer, actor and chief director of the Romen Theatre in Moscow. He was the only Romani person to be awarded the title People's Artist of the USSR (19 ...

, a Romani actor famous in Russia.

Selected notable figures associated with Romen Theatre

* Sasha Kolpakov, guitarist, vocalist, composer *

Valentina Ponomaryova Valentina Leonidovna Ponomaryova (; []; 18 September 1933 – 8 November 2023), was a Soviet Russian cosmonaut, pilot and scientist. Biography Ponomaryova left the school for girls No. 156 in Moscow with a gold medal in 1951. She graduated f ...

, actor, singer *

, actor *

Nina Dudarova Nina Alexandrovna Dudarova (Russian: Нина Александровна Дударова; Saint Petersburg, 1903 – Moscow, 1992) was a Roma poet, teacher, writer and translator. She was born in Saint Petersburg to a Roma mother (who was a sing ...

, poet, teacher, writer and translator

Literature

* * * *

References

External links