Many years ago, painter Sasha Lunyakova made a small puppet theater for her three children. It was called just Little Theater and was located in a wardrobe with all its scenery, portal and curtain. The theater grew up together with the children. The performances were played by marionettes, carved ones, similar to some antique puppets. They lived their own life, and different things continued to happen to them. It was a real soap opera: ‘Newfound Daughter, or The Repentance of Don Caramba,’ ‘The Mystery of the Singing Pearl, or Don Caramba Is Repenting Again,’ ‘The Punjab Widow, or the Sail around the World,’ and ‘The Return of the Dragon’ that became the first performance not only for home use.
Performances took place in summer, at the dacha in the township of Mamontovka, before a big audience. In winter, shadow performances were staged in Moscow. New people joined the theater, adults and children, new ideas appeared, and it became clear that the theater format was wider than a ‘house’ one. So it took a new name, ‘The Silly Horse.’ Performances ‘Baron Munchhausen,’ ‘The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep,’ ‘Bluebeard,’ ‘Golem’ were staged in various places with big success.
Today, our theater has changed its name again. It is called ‘Little Theater’ again, it became a family enterprise, decreased and came back to its origins.
‘Sasha Lunyakova’s Little Theater (The Silly Horse)’ is the painter’s theater where each puppet, each detail of the inventive scenery can be considered as an independent work of art. It is a wise combination of adult and children’s principles in the puppet theater. Not only because both grown-ups and children can play in a theater’s performance. The accessibility and entertainment harmonize here with fine humor, and the touching nature with soft spite. The authors of a performance seem to wink to the grown-ups who stand behind the kids’ backs. But kids, if they want, are able to perceive this wink and join the adult game.