Stylistics of the Staging of the Performance ‘Truth and Injustice’ in the Theatrical Work of Alla Horska

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to conduct a comprehensive study of the scenography and costumes for the play ‘Truth and Injustice’ based on the play by Mykhailo Stelmakh (1912–1983). Methodology. The stated purpose and objectives require a comprehensive approach in the selection of methods as scientific research tools. In it, we will consistently highlight empirical approaches aimed to collect and classify different groups of materials – textual, visual, and photographic. Of the methods of scientific analysis, the most important in studying the topic is the formal one, which not only allows us to determine the stylistics of the performance, but also opens up opportunities for the next level of analysis – the iconography of the author’s motifs, their genesis from scenographic phenomena of the past or their connection with the text of the play, and to establish the historical and political context. The scientific novelty lies in conducting a systematic study of various groups of materials (literary, epistolary, visual) to reconstruct the concept and stylistics of the performance ‘Truth and Injustice’. Conclusions. The analysis carried out in the article has established that the play was of milestone significance among A. Horska’s theatrical projects and in the history of the New Theatre at the Club of Contemporary Youth, which operated in Kyiv. The stylistics of the scenography and stage costumes, developed in collaboration between the artist and the director, combined postmodern and folkloric approaches. A. Horska’s theatrical and decorative projects became the author’s vision of the stylistics of the performance concept, which contained the code of the genetic memory of Ukrainians in its philosophy. Thanks to the efforts of the artist and her artistic circle, nonconformism was embodied in the scenography and stage costumes. She filled the stage space with extraordinary imagery.