THE POETICS OF THE DRAMATIC MINIATURE “THE WAY FROM KRUTY” BY MYKOLA CHYRSKYI (VISNYKIVETS’ EXPERIENCE)
Authors: Rusnak Iryna 
Published: January 2023

The dramatic legacy of Mykola Chyrskyi is scarce and consists of several texts, among which the most famous are the plays “Otaman Pisnya” (1936), “Andriy Karabut” (1936) and “Drunken Raid” (1938). The author neglected publication of his other dramatic texts, thus after his death those texts were lost, which created lacuna in academic perception of the Ukrainian playwright. The paper tackles theatre studies articles and accidentally found dramatic miniature “The Way from Kruty” both authored by Chyrskyi.

The purpose of the study is to consider the playwright's views on the theatre in the context of “Visnyk” literary movement (1920–1930), to analyse the poetics of Chyrskyi’s work, to identify the peculiarities of his dramatic style and individual poetics, in particular, expressionist elements and details in the text of the found dramatic miniature.

Chirsky’s ideological and aesthetic priorities were formed in the cultural environment of the participants of “Visnyk” movement that had a tremendous impact on his dramas and his understanding of the tasks of modern theatre. The playwright insisted on the organic connection of modern theatre art with the creative achievements of the 19th century, encouraging theatres to actively implement the national ideal. To achieve this goal, Chyrskyi proposed a form of modern theatre that has been tested in practice. “Teatr Nastupu” (The Onslaught Theater) was designed to have an appropriate repertoire — a kind of genre mosaic of dramatic scenes with heroic themes, declamations, grotesque dramatisations, “film etudes”, dances, songs. The Onslaught Theater was supposed to meet the demands of the times with a “stage language”, to synthesise the achievements of various arts, to raise vital issues that worried the Ukrainian public. The writer advocated the polishing of stage skills, its constant improvement through a network of theater schools, courses, studying literature on the theory and practice of the theatrical piece. Not the last place was given to the study of achievements of foreign theatres, training of highly qualified personnel of the theatrical stage.

Drama “The Way from Kruty” was published in 1944 in the newspaper “Ukrainskyi Visnyk” (Berlin). By genre, it is a dramatic miniature, the topic and content of which fully corresponded to the author's understanding of the purpose of theatrical art. Thematically, “The Way from Kruty” referred to one of the most tragic battles of the defense of the Ukrainian State against the Bolshevik horde — the battle near Kruty in January 1918. The idea of the play is the spiritual awakening of ordinary Ukrainians, replenishment of the ranks of fighters for a liberated Ukraine with people of various social strata.

The search for techniques that would effectively appeal to the viewer's consciousness prompted Chyrskyi to use dramatic means indicative of early German expressionist plays. It is less about the philosophical basis of German expressionism but rather about the expressionistic elements of the poetics of German drama of the beginning of the 20th century. In the analysed paper, the main expressionist elements are an idealistic depiction of reality; replacing the proper names of the characters with generalised names; creation of an atmosphere close to a dream-delusion; the presence of a symbol, a mystical element and visual effects that gave the stage setting a sense of mystery; minimalist props with elements of whimsy, unfolding of the main action in the form of passionate dialogue, etc.

The main task of the dramatic dialogue, which was based on a heroic episode of Ukrainian history of the 20th century and was successful on the Prague stage, was to elevate the spirit of the audience, to inspire them with specific heroics and to encourage them to further fight for the Ukrainian State.