“Aurora Festival” Water Fairy Play (1967): Structure and System of Images

Abstract

This paper is focused on the analysis of the system of images and structure of the major "Aurora Festival" water performance timed to the fiftieth anniversary of the October Revolution and shown in the Neva waters in November 1967 in Leningrad. The artistic concept of the festival was prepared and introduced by the artists of "Dvizhenie" ("Movement") group under the leadership of V. Petrov and the director S. Yakobson. Image and plot reminiscences to V. Mayakovsky's "Mystery-Bouffe" play may be revealed in S. Yakobson's aesthetics concerned. The performance presented the synthetic allegoric water performance, in which the concepts of theatrical futurism, avant-guard and ideas of new synthetism having influenced on the monumental language of the mass Soviet performances of the 1970s were reflected. By representing the main ideologemes and inconsistencies of the time through the texture of water, light and fire, the performance has determined the artistic and aesthetic guidelines of future festival of school leavers: "The Scarlet Sails". The author refers to the method of historical reconstruction and description of the theatrical performance of Gvozdev's (Leningrad) theatre school. This paper is aimed at reconstructing "Aurora Festival" water performance and analyzing its artistic