On September 20, we mark the 90th anniversary of the birth of Yurii Sikalo (September 20, 1936 – November 7, 2017), the first Ukrainian professional puppet theatre director, Chief Director of the Kyiv Academic Puppet Theatre, educator, People’s Artist of Ukraine, and Honored Art Worker of Poland.
Yurii Ivanovych Sikalo was a true devotee of his profession. He constantly experimented, searched for new forms and meanings, taught others, and promoted the art of puppetry. He devoted more than 50 years of his life to the development of puppet theatre, earning from his colleagues the title of “the puppeteer of an era.”
Yurii Sikalo graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Theatre, Music and Cinematography in 1966. In 1965, he joined the Kyiv Puppet Theatre, first working as a stage director, and from 1980 serving as its Chief Director. Sikalo’s arrival marked the beginning of a period of flourishing for the theatre. The new artistic leader was full of enthusiasm and new ideas, and showed great respect both for audiences and for the theatre’s actors. His colleagues recalled that he “captivated everyone with his enthusiasm for the material, his passion for his artistic solutions, his faith in and love for the performers.”
Yurii Sikalo’s creative legacy includes nearly 200 puppet productions for children, adults, and family audiences. Some of these performances can still be seen at the theatre today.
With Yurii Sikalo’s arrival, Kyiv audiences discovered a new phenomenon in puppet theatre: performances for adults. Beginning in 1976, the theatre’s repertoire was regularly enriched with productions for its so-called evening stage, including The Divine Comedy by Isidore Shtok, Joseph Schweik vs. Franz Joseph based on Jaroslav Hašek, Love, Love… based on Giovanni Boccaccio, The Aeneid based on Ivan Kotliarevsky, Don Quixote based on Miguel de Cervantes, and many others. Yurii Sikalo actively collaborated with Ukrainian playwrights, composers, and artists, constantly seeking ways, as he put it, to “engage” adult audiences and promote the art of puppetry among Ukrainian spectators.
Yurii Sikalo was also deeply committed to teaching and education. He sought to train a new generation of puppeteers and raise the standards of acting in puppet theatre. He became one of the founders of the Ukrainian professional school of puppetry, establishing a studio at the theatre for training puppet actors, as well as a specialized course for puppet theatre actors at the Kyiv Circus and Variety Arts College.
The Museum of the History of Kyiv preserves posters and puppets from productions created by Yurii Ivanovych Sikalo at the Kyiv Academic Puppet Theatre. These objects are displayed in the Museum’s exhibitions, representing an important part of Kyiv’s urban cultural heritage.