Theater of Miniatures

a theater that specializes in short one-act plays and other presentations, such as monologues, humorous and satirical songs, dance numbers, and circus acts. The theater of miniatures tends primarily toward a comic and satiric repertoire, stressing the grotesque, parody, and the miniature. The forerunner of the theater of miniatures was the cabaret.

In prerevolutionary Russia the best known theaters of miniatures were Letuchaia Mysh’ (The Bat) and Krivoe Zerkalo (Distorting Mirror). The Vitebsk Terevsat (Theater of Revolutionary Satire, 1919) might be considered the first Soviet theater of this type. One of the best Soviet theaters of miniatures is the Leningrad State Theater of the Miniature, which is directed by A. I. Raikin. Performances by the stage team of M. V. Mironova and A. S. Menaker, masters of Soviet estrada (the variety stage), are a unique form of the theater of miniatures.