Model of the vertep chest for performance Ukrainian vertep

It was the first attempt - after half a century of bans - to adapt the traditional Ukrainian vertep to Soviet realities. To stage a play was the idea of the main artist of the theater O.Shcheglov. Theater director Viktor Afanasyev did not immediately agree to the proposition. Without proper support, Shcheglov began to prepare for the play himself. Model of the future vertep chest for the performance Ukrainian vertep in the Kharkiv Puppet Theater, made by the artist Oleksiy Shcheglov, has two open floors under a roof of straw. The back wall, behind which the actor hided, was painted by the artist in the style of boychukist paintings. This is not accidental, because O. Shcheglov was a student of boychukist I. Padalka. The paintings depicted scenes of a child killed by a soldier, hell, sinners and the devil. Also the puppets that are placed on the model have faces concave inward and painted. This shows a combination of traditional and avant-garde aesthetics, which seems to be carved from the depths of time. Oleksandr Iniutochkin was appointed director of the performance, he was a student of the Theater Institute at the time. Iniutochkin wrote a script based on texts of classical nativity scenes.