you are: Sources of Russian theatre

In XVII century in Moscow buffoons showed a farce: on a scene there was ' a boyar ', thick, boastful, karikaturno dressed in a high cap from beresty. To it there were various applicants-chelobitchiki and bore in bast baskets gifts. They bowed to it to the earth and asked favour. The boyar razrugal also has banished them. ' Oh, the boyar! Oh, voevoda! - asked chelobitchiki. - Ljubo to you was over us to scoff, conduct us now on punishment over itself! ' they have started to beat its rods, sentencing: ' Look, kind people as lackeys from misters shake out fat! ' After the boyar ' kind good fellows ' were accepted to a merchant from whom took away money.

Art of buffoons was national, bright, cheerful, contained a sneer and satire against tops of a feudal society and the negative phenomena of a national life. The German scientist-traveller A.Oleary who has visited our country in 1636, has made the drawing representing performance of the buffoon-puppeteer on the area. Near Moscow Oleary has seen a comedy executed by buffoons. The puppeteer put on a skirt with a hoop on a hem, lifted it so that it closed a head, and then because of this ' curtains ' showed dolls.