The specific features of dramaturgy of mass celebrations

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UDC 792.026

Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts

THE SPECIFIC FEATURES OF DRAMATURGY OF MASS CELEBRATIONS

Actuality of Scientific Research. In the XXI century, mass celebrations, which are valuable for the world culture, continue playing a significant role in the modern celebration culture of Ukraine. The dynamic development of the festive culture creates new demands for highly qualified dramaturgy of mass celebrations. Therefore, it makes us study and understand the rules of its functioning and the specific features of the dramaturgy as an important component of the technology of the cultural leisure process.

The purpose of the research is to analyse the specific features of the dramaturgy of mass celebrations in the context of the modern festive culture development.

Analysis of the latest researches and publications. In their works foreign and Ukrainian scientists have considered the issue of a mass celebration as a social and cultural phenomenon. The main characteristics of the dramaturgy as the basis of spectacle arts are analysed by G. Abramovich, N. Andreeichuk, D. Al', V. Volkenshtein, B. Zakhavi and G. Tovstonogov. Many researchers have highlighted the organizational aspects of the mass celebration in their works. They are E. Vershkovsky, V. Vovkun, S. Havdis, V. Hagin, D. Henkin, B. Glann, A. Gorbov, S. Derkach, A. Zharkov, A. Konovich, O. Markov, D. Mukharskyi, O. Orlov, O. Rubba, M. Segal, A. Silin, D. Tikhomyrov, V. Triadsky, J. Tumanov, A. Chechetin, V. Khalisiev, B. Sharvarko, I. Sharoyev, V. Shpagin and others.

At the same time, we cannot find many detailed researches devoted to the complex analysis of the mass celebration's dramaturgy. It makes us study this issue more properly because it is actual and important for the further development of the cultural and leisure industry of our country.

The Main Part. Many scientists pay attention to the issue of the improvement of the artistic level and the quality of mass celebrations because of the lack of professional skills among directors, screenwriters and their low creative potential. It can be explained by the lack of knowledge about the differences between the theatrical dramaturgy and dramaturgy of mass celebrations. The results of it are the limitations in the scenario-directing technologies and ambiguous attitude towards the specific features of mass celebrations.

The fundamental basis of the mass celebrations art is the dramaturgy, which essentially shows its specificity among other types of spectacular art. Moreover, it develops according to the general rules of the theatrical dramaturgy.

Analysing the scientific and encyclopaedic sources, we have found out that the term "dramaturgy" has various interpretations. For example, we present the following versions of its understanding: the theory and practice of dramatic art; collection of dramatic works of a writer, people or epoch; drama theory; a plot- compositional basis of a separate theatrical or cinematographic work; the story and image basis of a performance etc. [7]. The most popular interpretation says that the dramaturgy is the play that does not have the psychological development of the main characters and the detailed analysis of the relations. In the mass celebrations, the using of different components of artistic expression allows to replace psychological explanations of the characters' behaviour, whereas the emotional component gives an opportunity to switch the audience focus from one object to another without thinking details and psychological motivations over. The dramaturgy of mass celebrations should have structure that shows the internal image, included the main idea, atmosphere and rhythm in its manifestations.

V.Volkenshtein defines dramaturgy as the application of specific facts, literature, fiction, traditions and rituals, the chronology of significant events, which become the basis for the development of future celebration scenarios. They create the conditions for the psychological and pedagogical influence on the audience due to their social significance, informative and emotion content [3].

Considering the dramaturgy of cultural and leisure programs as an integral part of the technologies of the cultural-leisure process, A. Zharkov notes: "Drama is a plot-image conception of the cultural and leisure program (a performance, a film, a pop show, a rite etc.). Dramaturgy is a plot-figurative conception of mass actions, where the dramatic action is created by the plot-image program solution" [9, 257].

According to J. Tumanov, the dramaturgy of the celebration consists of understanding of the idea of the festival, the awareness of the theme, the main tasks and the director's "super tasks". The latter one has to answer the following questions: Why should we organize the festival? What should we organise the festival for? What results do we want to get in the process of its realization? The scientist proves that the mass celebration dramaturgy depends on such factors as theme of the festival, its place, the scale of the event and the chosen artistic means [15, 10].

Dramaturgy of mass celebrations is a complex specific phenomenon. It differs from theatrical drama because it has a special structure of the action development, special methods of communication with the audience and its means of artistic influence.

The analysis of scientific literature proves that the event-factor is the most important feature among the particularities of the mass festival dramaturgy. Naturally, the basis of any celebration dramaturgy is an event, which needs the artistic reflection. Such events usually deal with the outstanding figures, cities, country or world history. They should be interesting for the audience. During the celebration, the creative activity of the audience can get various forms: from singing songs to taking part in the ceremonies. The experience shows that the organisers foresee such behaviour of the audience at the stage of working on the scenario. Thus, the possible forms of the audience's activity are programmed in advance, taking into account the general scenario of the festive event.

Theoreticians and practitioners of mass directing note that the specific features of the mass festivals dramaturgy include documentation and journalism, based on living facts, local and historical document materials. It gives the credibility of the presentation and stimulates the growth of interest of the audience.

The materials for writing the scripts of mass celebrations can be documentary-historical, literary sources and epistolary materials, real things of participants of events or heroes etc. The facts do help the audience to understand the important social issues and problems. At the same time, the concrete facts, used in the mass celebrations dramaturgy, are "the combination of two lines - documentary and fiction, which make scenario great, expressiveness and depth. They cannot be opposed to each other [4, 96].

The documentary and real imagery are capable of reflecting the diversity of human life and revealing the current problems. In our opinion, the significance of scriptwriting is worth to be determined. Creating a script of the celebration, the scriptwriter devotes it to current issues or historical events, dealt with the present. In spite of the chosen theme, the main tasks of the scriptwriter are to interpret the life facts, to analyse connections among them, to find out their motivations and results, and to compare the past and the present. So, the scriptwriter-director needs skills to express emotionally and vividly his thoughts, addressing minds and emotions of the audience and to influence public opinion and social political processes. We can achieve this effect by describing different impressions, emotions, feeling of the characters and the whole picture of the world in the script.

An important feature of the dramaturgy of the mass celebration is its complex character, which manifests itself in the various genres of materials, expressive means and the synthesis of arts. In addition, the mass celebrations accumulate different artistic forms. Despite it, each number, detail or image should be a part of a single holistic plan where the artistic documentary and local materials with the activities of the direct participants of the mass celebration will organically cross. In the scenario of mass festivals, its synthesis is manifested by means of artistic expressions, which create the atmosphere of holidays, entertainments and its originality.

The first stage of creating of the mass celebration is a scenario that reflects the main idea, the purpose of the celebration and involves the social, artistic meaning of the future event, its figurative solution and expressive means [16].

The term "script", which has Greek-Latin roots, means a brief statement of the content of the dramatic work, the story scheme. We use the latter to create a spectacle. Such scheme can be used in a play, opera, ballet, movie or mass theatrical performance.

The scenario of the celebration is built according to the laws of drama. However, according to D. Al', the principles of writing the script of the celebration differ the same ones of a play or film. The main task of the mass celebration is to show social events on the basis of its epic reflection, instead the consideration through the conflict among characters. It does not mean that we cannot use the historical heroes and well- known figures in the scenarios of the mass celebrations [1, 137].

D. Henkin says "The script should be considered as a detailed literary and directorial project of the content of the theatrical festival action" [4, 102]. In his opinion, the scenario is not a simple organization of an important event. Each scenario should include artistic and psychological-pedagogical aspects. They program the structure of stage material, interaction of the participants, their possible reaction and behaviour. The artistic aspect is the synthesis of the artistic means and methods that influence the formation of the people's views and preferences, based on the emotions. The psychological and pedagogical aspect means the realization of the festival's importance and its results. In addition, this aspect helps to improve the personal features of the festival participants. The organic combination of these aspects allows us to achieve the artistic and pedagogical-psychological effectiveness in the implementation of the celebration's scenario [10].

Emphasizing the importance of the director's aspect of the scenario, A. Silin focuses on the need to detail all participants' activities in the festival scenario, including the directorial, stage and dramaturgical decisions of the numbers, the means of the expression. The latter ones highlight the main idea of the action and create a festive atmosphere [14].

The script consists of fragments-episodes, devoted to various events. They develop the action to the main point and its solution owing to the analysis of the main tasks. In addition, the fragments-episodes always include the purposes and the super tasks of the action or performance. Characters and actors are the main components of the episode. Using expressive means and creating the artistic atmosphere, they show the director's main idea in his/her scenes. The scenario of the celebration determines the ideological and thematic orientation and plot. Synthesizing all components of the celebration, it forms a single dramatic construction of the festival.

Working on the script, we usually have to define the topic and idea of the future festival, which form the ideological and thematic basis of the scenario.

Using the composition and artistic installation, we can embody feelings, facts, thoughts and circumstances in the scenario of mass celebration. Despite the fact that the concept "composition" is used in different types and genres of art, it is very important for drama. We can consider that the dramatic composition is a way of streamlining the dramatic work, and its organisation in time and space. Any dramatic work is a complex entity. It is an organisation of elements, put in the certain order. The event begins, develops and ends before the audience. We determine the character as the result of the interaction of the elements of the work or composition [13].

Aristotle was the first who distinguished three main components of drama construction. He argued that the dramaturgy had to include such components as the beginning, the middle part and the end [2]. During the development of drama, this structure became more complicated. Today, the composition consists of the exposition, storyline, main act and the end.

In scriptwriting, the conflict is formed by installing the script materials in accordance with the author's vision. The compositional construction of the mass festival's scenario differs from the theatrical drama. Therefore, the prologue replaces the exposition. So, it essentially fulfils the same functions as the exposition in the play. It laconically and clearly describes the circumstances, introduces into a festive atmosphere and intrigue the audience. The practice shows that the prologue often begins with a mass performance. However, is not obligatory. The real beginning of the action shows us the conflict opportunities of the event that ruin the initial balance of forces. In the construction of content, the development of the action is the most difficult because it focuses on the process of the conflict expansion, its culmination and solution.

According to D.Genkin and A.Konovich, each episode of the action has its own internal composition, which corresponds to the ideological plan of the script. The logic of the action development does not require a mandatory chronological construction of the episodes, whereas it needs the gradual increase of the main action rhythm [5]. In the scenario of celebration, every thematic episode must have completed semantic content, which is rationally connected with others. The finale of a mass festival should be an emotionally apotheosis epilogue or a philosophical end [6]. drama public holiday artistic

The culmination is the highest emotional and intellectual peak of the dramatic action development. It shows the idea of the work. In the mass celebration, the culmination, usually, transforms into a finale. Presenting the main idea in the concentrated form, the latter one creates a moment to maximize the expression of the all participants' activity [11].

In the drama, the scene, which ends the play, can be a finale. Its styles, forms, contents, tasks changed during the period of the drama formation. For example, in the epoch of Antiquity, the epilogue was a chorus appeal to viewers. In the Renaissance, it was an appeal to the viewer in the form of a monologue, which contained an author's interpretation of the play's idea. In the XX century, we can see the polyphony in its using [13].

The features of the mass celebration dramaturgy and its creative nature develop due to the method of installation in the process of scriptwriting. M. Romm notes that the montage is an artist's thought, his idea, his vision of the world, reflected in the selection and comparison of pieces of cinematic action, which are designed to reflect the real life on the screen [12]. Combining the necessary actions, ceremonies (poems, songs, fragments of performances), subordinated to the common intention, we create an original artistic work of a new integrated genre, which is based on creative installation. We can use the installation to construct and express the most complex ideas and moods of time, world, humanity, instantly switching the attention of viewers from one object to another. That is why the conflict is usually manifested in the form of overcoming the difficulties, obstacles or the collision between a person and his environment.

In mass celebrations, the audience should be an active participant. Therefore, it is important to predict and plan the effective ways to involve the viewer in scenario and directorial project [4]. The universal mechanism of the transforming the spectator into a direct participant is improvisational artistic and creative -dramatized game.

Great experience of organization of mass festivals allows the scientists to distinguish the main stages of the process of participants' activation. Thus, A. Konovich proposed the following classification of the mass festival stages:

- The first stage is the period before the celebration. So, it is the process of the celebration's preparation and informing. The director's tasks are to trace the social significance of the holiday and create its positive atmosphere. Differentiating the levels of social and artistic activity, we can divide all participants into three groups: the initiators or organizers, participants and passive watchers. The initiators are characterized by the high level of social activity. The participants are people who are ready to take part in different actions. The passive spectators are people who want to watch the performance without any actions.

The second stage is the period of holding the celebration. The director's task is to use the methods of activating the participants. They promote the concentration of their attention, their emotional expression, their readiness to respond to information and, as a result, their direct participation in festival actions. The script-director's decision, components of ideological and emotional influence, the participants' readiness for joining collective actions of the theatrical celebration etc. belong to the methods of people's activating. According to the criteria of the level of social and artistic activity, we can distinguish two groups of people among the celebratory audience - participants and spectators;

The third stage is the period after the celebration. The satisfaction, determined by the feeling of being involved to the event, calls for further joining the activities. At this stage, the main tasks of the director are to promote the comprehension of the event, to give the moral and ethical evaluation of the event and to stimulate readiness to join future projects [8].

Considering the activation of the participants as the main task of the director, A. Konovich distinguishes the following methods of it. They are verbal, physical and artistic activations. The verbal activation motivates a person to take part in the event by the word methods. The physical activation makes participants engage in activity by a visual example and the own participation in the preparation of the show. The artistic activation influences the emotional sphere of human activity and promotes the manifestation of emotions in the process of amateur performances of participants.

Conclusions. The analysis of the methodology of the mass festivals' organisation allows us to state that dramaturgy is the understanding and awareness of the main theme and tasks of the event. It is constructed taking into account the correspondence of its external form to the idea of the celebration. The dramaturgy depends on the place of action, artistic means, audience and creativity of the performers. The artistic level of the celebration is determined by the requirements of dramaturgy (completeness of the episode, integrity of the images, growth of the emotional influence). The specific features of the mass celebrations need the logic of the actions development, the logic of the imagery system and the logic of the composition in the scenarios and directing.

The script includes techniques for activating spectators, artistic installation, and description of the necessary equipment and design of the decoration, duration of the event in general and its parts and peculiarities of musical accompaniment. It should have the orientation towards dynamism, entertainment, content, conciseness, accessibility, emotionality and the effective means of artistic expression.

References

1. Al' D. N. (4th ed.). (2005). The Fundamentals of Dramaturgy. D.N.Al. - SPb.: SPbHUKY [in Russian].

2. Aristotle. (1961). About the Art of Poetry. Moscow: Iskusstvo [in Russian].

3. Volkenshtein, V. M. (1960). Dramaturgy. Moscow: Sov. pysatel [in Russian].

4. Henkyn, D. M. (1975). Mass Celebrations. Moscow: Prosveshchenye [in Russian].

5. Henkyn, D. M. & Konovych, A. A. (1984). Screenwriter's Skills of the Worker of Cultural Sphere. Moscow: Sov. Rossyia [in Russian].

6. Horiunova, Y.E. (2009). Directing of Mass Theatricalized Celebrations in Music Performances. SPb.: Kompozytor [in Russian].

7. Diatchuk, V. V. & Baraban, L. I. (2nd ed.). (2002). Ukrainian Explaining Dictionary of Theatrical Classics. Kyiv: Vyd. tsentr "Prosvita" [in Ukrainian].

8. Konovych, A. A. (1990). Theatricalized Celebrations and Rituals in the USSR. Moscow: Vyssh. shk. [in Russian].

9. Zharkov, A. D. & Chyzhykov, V. M. (Eds.). (1998). Cultural and leisure activities. Moscow: MHUK [in Russian].

10. Moiseichuk, S. B. (2011). Directing of Cultural Leisure Programs. Minsk: Belorus. hos. un-t kultury i iskusstv [in Russian].

11. Romm, M. Y. (1975). Talks about Film Directing. Moscow: "Soiuz kynematohrafystov SSSR" [in Russian].

12. Sylyn, A. D. (1991). Theatre Goes to the Square: Specific Features of the Director's Work in the Staging the Mass Theatricalized Performances outside and at the large untraditional platforms. (1991). Moscow: VNMTs NT y KPR MK SSSR [in Russian].

13. Tumanov, Y. M. (1976). Directing of Mass Celebration and Theatrical Context. Moscow: Prosveshchenye [in Russian].

Annotation

Purpose of Research. The purpose of the research is to find out the specific features of dramaturgy of mass celebrations in the context of the development of the modern festival culture. Methodology. The methodology of the research consists of scientific methods such as analytical, cultural, comparative and system ones. Scientific Novelty. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the systematization of the scientific knowledge about the particularities of the mass celebration dramaturgy and reviewing of the actual problems in the context of the research. Conclusions. The analysis of the dramaturgy of the specific features of mass celebrations and methodology of their management and arrangements allow us to achieve the highly qualified artistic level of organisation of various mass celebrations.

Key words: dramaturgy, specific features of dramaturgy, dramaturgy of screenplay, composition, artistic montage, activation of audience.

Метою статті є визначення особливостей драматургії масових свят у контексті розвитку святкової культури сучасності. Методологія дослідження передбачає використання загальнонаукових методів дослідження, серед яких: аналітичний, культурологічний, компаративний, системний. Наукова новизна полягає у конкретизації наукових знань про специфіку драматургії масових свят та окресленні наявних проблем у контексті досліджуваної теми. Висновки. Враховуючи специфіку драматургії масових свят, методику їхньої підготовки та проведення, можна досягнути належного художнього рівня якості в реалізації масових свят.

Ключові слова: сценарна драматургія, композиційна побудова, художній монтаж, активізація глядацької аудиторії.

Целью работы является определение особенностей драматургии массовых праздников в контексте развития праздничной культуры ХХ века. Методология исследования предполагает использование общенаучных методов исследования, среди которых: аналитический, культурологический, компаративный, системный. Научная новизна заключается в конкретизации научных знаний о специфике драматургии массовых праздников и очерчивании имеющихся проблем в контексте исследуемой темы. Выводы. Учитывая специфику драматургии массовых праздников, методику их подготовки и проведения, можно достичь должного художественного уровня качества в реализации массовых праздников.

Ключевые слова: сценарная драматургия, композиционное построение, художественный монтаж, активизация зрительской аудитории.

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