MODERN ART EDUCATION AS A MEANS OF CREATIVE APPROACH TO THE FORMATION OF THE UKRAINIAN ACTOR

Abstract

Contemporary Ukrainian theatre studies, based on the theatrical practice of the 20th – 21st centuries, pay significant attention to a wide range of questions concerning the evolution of acting, theatrical education, and the synthesis of traditional and innovative forms in the education of creative youth. These explorations gain particular importance in the context of current theatre arts, highlighted by the creative and pedagogical searches of masters of Ukrainian theatre. The background for the author’s research in the field of theatrical pedagogy (towards expanding the conditions for training contemporary theatre artists) is primarily based on pedagogical achievements of the prominent masters of modern Ukrainian theatre, addressing the problems of Ukraine’s theatrical school. In the critical publications of contemporary theatre artists, issues of stage uniqueness and pedagogical creativity are fragmentarily revealed by (M. Reznikovich, 2001; M. Barnych, 2012, 2016; L. Vanyuga, 2019; V. Tkach, 2022). The article discusses the artistic and cultural situation in contemporary Ukrainian theatre education, the search for models of actor training, and the role of theatrical schools and educators – leaders of creative workshops in this process. This theme highlights the unique picture of Ukrainian theatrical pedagogy at the beginning of the 21st century, has not yet become the subject of special consideration in theatre studies. The author examines various theatrical schools and directions for training Ukrainian artists and proposes to analyse activities of modern theatrical schools, whose searches are aimed at creating innovative methods in the education of the future master of the stage. In Ukraine, traditions of the national theatrical school are associated with the prominent theatre reformer, actor, director, and educator L. Kurbas, who, in the course of his theatrical practice, developed a system for training the “synthetic actor”. He was focused on the search for new forms of scenic expressiveness. Finally, an important development for contemporary Ukrainian theatrical pedagogy was the actor education system in the musical-drama theatre developed by Vyacheslav Khimyak, People’s Artist of Ukraine, professor at V. Hnatyuk Ternopil National Pedagogical University, who developed this system by creating his own acting school. His methodology for working with aspirants is laid out in the manual “Acting Skills. Training” (2014) and numerous methodological developments in acting skills (2014–2023). These works reflect innovative ideas of the author, which are connected with the traditions of the theatre’s pioneers and pedagogical ideas of L. Kurbas for educating actors at a European level. Analysing the content of Vyacheslav Khimyak’s acting program, it can be concluded that theatrical pedagogy, in the master’s understanding, is more an art form that organically combines with modern methods of training highly professional specialists of the new generation with a wide range of necessary professional knowledge and competencies. His pedagogical creativity, like the multifaceted pedagogical activities of the masters of modern Ukrainian theatre, is persistently dictated by life changes in the relentless time flow and becomes an integral component of Ukraine scenic pedagogy.