When my sister was four, I read her a book called “The Golden Key or the Adventures of Buratino”.
It’s the Russian version of Pinocchio, the story of a wooden boy and his puppet friends. One of the main sets in the story was a Puppet Theater. My little sister was amazed by the flamboyant description of the theater, and eventually virtually dragged me to the local puppet studio where she watched every performance she could.
Puppet theaters existed for at least as long as the classical theater has and the genre is considered suitable for kids and adults alike. It is true, however, that puppet plays are more interesting for kids than classical plays. It seems that the secret is in the toys – they are more believable than real “big people”. After all, toys are children’s constant companions. As such, visiting a puppet theater would be a refreshing form of entertainment for your child in place of TV and computers that are so difficult to get away from these days.
Kyiv has a total of five puppet theaters. One of them is the puppet theater of Sahaidachnoho that performs for adults only. The other four have shows for kids and adults.
Kyiv Academic Puppet Theater
If you happen to walk into Khreshchatiy Park, the one running uphill from Yevropeyska Square, you will not miss a building designed to look like a castle. It is a city site favored by couples for weddings pictures, late night walks and romantic kisses under a full moon. It may seem a little creepy at night, especially when the clocks at the castle’s bell tower strike midnight. The building is home to Kyiv’s Academic Puppet Theater, and is actually quite amicable once you get closer.
Bronze statues of such fairytale characters as Thumbelina, Pierrot, Kotyhoroshko (a Ukrainian folklore hero) stud the walls of the building and the lawn around it, giving the theater a smart look. On weekends, the area around it turns into a busy playground for kids, so it might be a nice outing even if you choose not to see a show.
This particular puppet theater is not only the most stylish one, but the oldest one as well. The building itself was only restored in 2005, but the actual troupe was formed in 1927, and managed to survive and preserve its traditions through World War II and the difficult post-war period. In the 1940s, the theater was overseen by the daughter of a famous Ukrainian director, actor and playwright Ivan Karpenko-Kariy (his real name was actually Tobilevych), who gave his name to Kyiv’s theater and cinema school.
The Kyiv Academic Puppet Theater has two types of plays in its repertoire: for adults and for kids of various ages. Three-year-olds, the youngest kids who can sit through a show, will enjoy the following plays: “Husynya” (Mother Goose), “Porosyatko Chok” (Piglet Chok), “Bambi”, “Mariyka ta Vedmid” (Mariyka and the Bear), “Kit u Chobotyah” (Puss in Boots), “Vovk i Kozeniata” (The Wolf and Little Kids), and, of course, “Zolotiy Kluchyk” (The Golden Key).
Kids aged four are recommended to watch “Egle – Koroleva Vuzhiv” (Egle – the Queen of Grass-Snakes), “Hydke Kachenya” (Ugly Duckling), and “Kazka pro Ivana i Homu” (A Tale about Ivan and Khoma).
For adults the theater offers “The Decameron” based on the story by Giovanni Bocaccio, “Bozhestvenna Komediya” (The Divine Comedy by Dante), and “Lisova Pisnia” (Forest Song by Lesya Ukrayinka).
Tickets cost from Hr 15 to Hr 20. Since children are the main audience of the theater, performances are scheduled during the day. Shows start at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.
After the show, lunch is served at the local patisserie Cipollino, in the same building. An average salad or entre on the children’s menu costs Hr 22, main courses are Hr 28 to Hr 49, desserts are Hr 16 to Hr 35, and drinks go for Hr 8-10. The menu includes a selection of cereal dishes for Hr 12-15. The menu for parents is a little bit more extensive, but prices are twice as high, and portions seemed to be the same size as those served for kids. In addition to meals, kids can sing karaoke, dance, and – of course – have fun at the playground.
Kyiv Academic State Puppet Theater
The second puppet theater located in the building initially designed for the same purpose is the Kyiv Academic State Puppet Theater, near the Chernihivska metro. To get there by public transportation, either take a 10-15 minute walk from Chernihivska metro to 1 Myropolska Street, or take tram number 21, 22, 27, 28, or 33 to Oleksandra Malyshko stop. The theater is easy to spot by its Soviet-style mosaic on the front of the building. The same style of design continues inside.
Until a week ago, shows ran every weekday, but now you can only see them on weekends, at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
The repertoire includes plays like “Lysychka-Sestrychka i Vovk-Panibrat” (Sister-Fox and Brother-Wolf), “Buratino,” and “Behemotyk-Bantyk” (Bow-Hippo). All tickets cost Hr 16 irrespective of the seat, because the theatre is very small.
Puppet Theater at Karavan
The fact that the Karavan shopping center has a puppet theater in addition to other types of entertainment venues is certainly a big plus, but the theater itself is not the best in the city. It has a small stage in a blind ally of the Karavan labyrinth, lit by a fluorescent lamp. The light stays on all the way through the show, accentuating grey empty walls and deplorable white plastic panels from which the ceiling is made.
Spectators are seated on simple plastic white garden chairs that are a common sight on the terraces of cheap eateries in the summer. Behind several rows of these chairs, shoppers move busily about, carrying their wares in bright bags.
Plays run regularly, and there are always plenty of kids watching them. But what’s missing is the special magical atmosphere associated with the theater.
Still, it’s a great way to keep your kids amused while you are shopping. The shows are free, which compensates for the other inconveniences. So, if you are planning to shop at Karavan on a Saturday (since the shows run one day a week only), you can have some fun with your kids at the puppet theater, and then lunch in the vast food court.
Among the upcoming performances at Karavan are “Kolobok” (based on a fairy-tale about a round roll, and equivalent to the Gingerbread Man) on Nov. 8, “Aunt Marina’s Birthday Party” on Nov. 15, “Masha and the Bear” on Nov. 22, and “Bear Rym-Tsym-Tsym” on Nov. 29. All performances start at noon, 3 p.m., and 5 p.m.
Puppet Theater at Butterfly on Petrivka
The Butterfly movie complex on Petrivka has the same scheme going as in Karavan. Every Saturday at 4 p.m. you can take your kid to see a free performance. You can of course combine theater and cinema in a single day. And the fact that a giant MegaMarket store is located on the ground floor gives you yet another reason to go there.
Kyiv Academic Puppet Theater (1A Hrushevskoho, 278-5808);
Kyiv Academic State Puppet Theater (1 Myropilska (Chernihivska metro station), 513-1500);
Karavan Puppet Theater (12 Luhova, 461-8668);
Kyiv Puppet Theater at Butterfly cinema (6 Moskovskiy Prospect, Petrivka metro station, 536-0484).
