This episode introduces St. Petersburg puppeteer Igor Fokin. Watch documentary film by Michael Brusilovsky "Кукольник из Кэмбриджа". In this film, Fokin shares secrets of his craft -- puppet-making, which he described as "an intensely emotional process." Viewers also follow a conversation about Fokin's immigration experience and his story of aspirations, goals and dreams. In 1996, Brusilovsky began shooting at the puppeteer's apartment at Somerville what would be some of the last footage of Fokin. The artist died of a heart attack at the age of 36. Igor was born in St. Petersburg where he spent much of his childhood studying at the School of the Arts in the theater set design department and at the Leningrad Academy of Culture to study theater directing. The first charecter he created was puppet Berylune from Maeterlinck’s The Blue Bird. He carved his first puppets of wood, and became so skillful that he was able to carve wood like soap. Later he and his friends founded their own theater "The Wooden Horse" in the town of Pushkin, not far from Leningrad.
Igor moved to Cambridge in the summer of 1993 with his family and a collection of puppets, and by the end of the summer he was one of the most popular performers at the Harvard Square. Igor put on several shows a day, including passers-by in the late afternoon and culminating in the evening with a large audience who purposely came out to see his show. He was always refining his craft and developing new characters for his street performances which he referred to as the “most democratic art form” (Schmidt, The Puppeteer, 2003).
In the interview, Igor also discusses his idea of puppet-making and an old tradition of Petrushka's theater in Russia. Petrushka, known across Europe under different names: in Italian culture a similar character is called Pulcinella, his British counterpart is named Punch, and there is a popular puppet character Guignol in France, is used to be the most prominent marionette or a hand puppet character of Russian folk puppetry (rayok). Long-nosed, dressed in a brightly colored robe and an eccentric pointy red hat with a tuft, he is perpetually surprised, easily duped but quickly to extricate himself from a trouble. The Russian word ‘петрушка’ means ‘parsley’, though the name Petrushka is used as a nickname for Pyotr. Scarce reminiscences of the first puppet shows at the 18th century tells that Empress Anna Ioannovna’s court jester Pietro-Mira Pedrillo from Italy served as a prototype for Petrushka. Oral tradition also has saved for us Petrushka's full name -- Pyotr Ivanovich Uksusov (Russian word 'уксус' means 'vinegar') or yet another nickname -- Van’ka Ratatui.
What distinguishes Petrushka from other puppets is his voice, which is commonly created by means of special whistle (‘пищик' in Russian is derived from the verb ‘пищать’ meaning ‘to cheep’). Petrushka actor is supposed to change the voice from ‘pishchik to ‘live’ voice of other character in the wink of an eye. This technique demands high mastery and long training.
Petrushka character is often considered foolish for displaying inappropriately vulgar, or ridiculous behavior, but nevertheless is a source of amusement. Telling riddles also becomes a part of entertainment. His characteristic idioms, reflected the metric structure of Russina folk verse, frequently suggest foolish slapstick humor, though his perceptiveness and wit show that he is far from being an idiot. Notably Petrushka is wise enough to play the fool and takes advantage of his role to mock and speak freely to dispense frank observations. Although often thought of as children's entertainment, Petrushka's sharp wit and linguistic verve have always been appreciated by adults as well. Typically popular Petrushka’s shows are performed in art festivals, Shrovetide Fairs, and city courtyards.
Like in the traditional puppetry, Igor's shows included music and were mostly improvisations.