Notes on L.S. Vygotsky’s Theatrical Reviews

The paper summarizes outcomes of the analysis of L.S. Vygotsky’s theatrical reviews written during his Gomel period and published in the newspapers Nash Ponedelnik (“Our Monday”) and Polesskaya Pravda (“Polesia’s Truth”). It focuses on the levels of theatre play analysis around which Vygotsky carefully constructed his reviews: playwriting, acting (speech, movements, transformations etc.), stage direction, and audience reaction. The following aspects of Vygotsky’s evaluation of an actor’s performance are discussed: personal features of the actor, features of acting technique, lines of character and social stereotypes, etc. Also, another important task of this work was to reveal normative concepts to which Vygotsky referred to in his value judgements in the reviews. The paper highlights the conceptual patterns of Vygotsky’s reflections on the development of theatre, arts and psychology and emphasizes the importance of arts in the personal and professional self-determination of Vygotsky as a psychologist and thinker of the 20th century.

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