The Blue Blouse

The Blue Blouse (Russian: Синяя блуза, "Sinyaya Bluza") was a form of theatre in the early Soviet Union which existed since 1923 to early 1930s. Accordingly, the members of the group were called Синеблузники / "sinebluzniki". The first "Blue Blouse" troupe was created in the Moscow Institute of Journalism. The artists performed in the worker's robes, blue blouses, hence the name. They had a magazine of the same name. Later a number of "sinebluznik" troupes were created in a number of other places. ["Greater Soviet Encyclopedia", article "Синяя блуза"]

After the Russian Revolution of 1917 there was a perceived and very real need to rally the people around the communist cause. Although the revolution had been won in the main cities in Russia, there was still a large faction of citizens who did not accept the new government or its principles. In addition, the majority of Russia was illiterate at the time of the revolution. A number of artists, with the help of the government, took it upon themselves to serve as the educational and social promoters of the new communist system. One of the most famous groups of this kind was the Blue Blouse, which used stylized yet simple images in order to convey their message in an entertaining and informative manner.

Founded in 1923, the Blue Blouse acquired a great deal of fame due primarily to the success of its national and international tours and to the popularity of its publication. The Blue Blouse had a very detailed description of itself and its motives, as evidenced in this page from their magazine "The Blue Blouse":

The Blue Blouse is a dramatic living newspaper which emerged from the report (the spoken of oral paper).Blue Blouse is a form of agitation, a topical theatre born of the revolution, a montage of political and general phenomena presented from the point of view of the class ideology of the proletariat.Blue Blouse is a flexible, vivid, juicy, hard-hitting and mobile theatre, performing under any conditions.Blue Blouse is... a variety platform, a special form of amateur art in the workers' club."

To a large extent it is true that they were able to stay connected to the ideology of the proletariat. They received subject matter from a wide range of sources, mostly taking form newspapers, but also accepting contributions from any writer who might be interested in participating, regardless of their previous playwriting experience. This often hindered their artistic growth as a dramatic style. The quality and quantity of competent writers was not ideal and much work was put into revising and altering amateur pieces that were originally very dry. The solution to this problem materialized in the form of The Blue Blouse, a publication put out by a central committee of writers and artists and disseminated throughout the country. Included in the magazine were scripts with detailed descriptions of staging, costumes, etc., as well as news of events occurring on the front and among groups in rural areas.

The idea was that any startup group would be able to read the magazine and create performances from it without having to start fresh with new material and artistic innovations, thus saving time. At least a third to half of the content of a performance must be taken from local news, thus retaining the specificity and relevance of content for each audience. The Blue Blouse relied heavily on the enthusiasm of all participants, from writers, to actors, to audience members. Most of the actors were young and idealistic in regard to the revolution. Such “new blood” was meant to ensure that they were untainted by the bourgeois ideologies of old. As stated in the "Blue Blouse":

Old actors who have tried to bring in from backstage their own theatrical undertakings a little of the intriguing spirit have either been removed by a succession of efforts or left the Blue Blouse of their own accord. Working for a workers' audience and the very orientation or set of the Blue Blouse poses to the actor the necessity of reconciling himself to the demands of Blue Blouse etiquette.

The “etiquette” included a strict adherence to simplicity in appearance. Actors were not allowed to wear jewelry, cosmetics, anything that might cover up the raw quality of their worker selves. They relied instead on physicality, on the need to always be moving. The variety style required a variety artist “a young deft man trained in physical culture, trained in the striking word, in the cheerful, bold and hard-hitting song and couplet, in the contemporary rhythm of the grotesque and simplistic,” as stated in the publication. The rehearsal process was extremely rigorous, requiring that actors stay physically and mentally alert through a strict exercise program and by keeping up with the political topics of the day. Given the combination of this intense work environment with their adherence to the ideas of socialism, it was expected that all participants in the performance process were paid the same amount and that they worked as hard as their colleagues in the factories and fields.

The simplicity of style was inherent in the writing and in the requirements for the Blue Blouse actors. Costumes consisted primarily of blue work clothes; traditional uniforms of the working class, and simple props were used to convey character, such as a bowler hat in the rendition of a capitalist. The stage was normally bare, with a piano and a few things necessary for demonstration. They wanted to avoid any alienation from the audience for which they performed, an audience that they stridently worked to keep wholly proletarian. Indeed, their tactics revolved around the idea of establishing proletarian hegemony throughout Russia. That is why their costumes and staging were kept simplistic in order to ensure that they represented the “common man” as they felt he should be. Identification with the characters occurred on a superficial level with the greatest amount of emotion being produced through satire rather than a dramatic portrayal of reality. The Blue Blouse was in theory and practice working only towards the collectivization of the working class. They had no desire to distinguish themselves as “great performers” or elitist art.

It is this that eventually led to the end of the Blue Blouse and indeed, all Russian agit-prop. As the culture returned to a sense of normality, the people began to demand a return to the depth of character and plot that was missing from the overly simplistic performances of the Blue Blouse. The style was less engaging to an audience that began to desire the representation of their people as individuals with individual goals and emotions. As the Stalin regime gained power in Russia, many artists began to feel the effects, including agit-prop groups such as the Blue Blouse who could no longer survive in such a society.

References

All text quoted from "The Blue Blouse" was acquired through:

*Stourac, Richard and McCreery, Kathleen. "Theatre as a Weapon; Workers' Theatre in the Soviet Union, Germany and Britain, 1917-1934." Routledge and Kegan Paul. New York, 1986.

Other references:

*Bradby, David and McCormick, John. "People's Theatre." Croom Helm Ltd. London, 1978.

*Rudintsky, Konstantin. "Russian and Soviet Theater 1905-1934." Harry N. Abrams, Inc. New York, 1988.

*Van Gysegheim, Andre. "Theatre in Soviet Russia" Faber and Faber Ltd. London, 1943.