Stray Dog, Cabaret

Categories / Art/Music, Theatre/Stage, Cabaret, Variety Shows
STRAY DOG (Brodyachaya Sobaka), literary and artistic cabaret. It was opened on 31 December 1911, in the vault of the second courtyard of the building at 5 Mikhailovskaya Street (today Iskusstv Square). It was established by writer A. N. Tolstoy, artists M. V. Dobuzhinsky, N. N. Sapunov, S. Y. Sudeykin, theatre worker N. N. Evreinov, architect I. A. Fomin among others. However, it was mostly organised and inspired by producer and actor B. K. Pronin (1875-1946). The name originates from the mock and romantic image of a lonely artist compared with a shelter less stray dog. Founding members of the Stray Dog tried to achieve one of the fundamental ideas of the beginning of the 20th centuries - synthesis in the arts (poetry, music, painting and theatre), to unite artists of new trends. Poetic, musical and literary soirees lasting for the whole night were arranged at the cabaret, lectures were given on questions of art. Russian and foreign workers of art were honoured at the cabaret. Poets A. A. Akhmatova, N. S. Gumilev, M. A. Kuzmin, O. E. Mandelstam, G. V. Ivanov, K. D. Balmont, V. V. Mayakovsky; actors, musicians and composers V. G. Karatygin, I. A. Sats, M. F. Gnesin, Y. A. Shaporin, S. S. Prokofyev, Y. M. Yuryev, E. I. Time, T. P. Karsavina; architect V. A. Shchuko were among constant visitors. The behaviour of visitors was consciously playful and readiness to spontaneously participate in whatever event happened (from scandal to reading verses and singing romances) was what united the association. Parody was the favourite genre in Stray Dog. The attempts of wealthy members of the audience (constant visitors called them pharmacists) to join the artistic world through these interactions changed the spirit of the cabaret a little, yet the conflict between a bourgeois and the artist in Stray Dog was playful and in many respects mock. In 1915, Stray Dog was closed because of financial difficulties; it was succeeded by the Comedians Halt.

References: Парнис А. Е., Тименчик Р. Д. Программы "Бродячей собаки" // Памятники культуры: Новые открытия: Ежегодник, 1983. Л., 1985. С. 160-257; Шульц С. С., Склярский В. А. "Бродячая собака": Век нынешний - век минувший. СПб., 2003.

Y. N. Kruzhnov. Iskusstv Square/Saint Petersburg, city, house 5
Тименчик Р. Д., Парнис А. Е. Программы "Бродячей собаки" // Памятники культуры: Новые открытия: Ежегодник, 1983. Л., 1985
Шульц С. С. "Бродячая собака". СПб., 1997 Comedians Halt, Cabaret
1912
1912