“Notes From A Dead House” by F. M. Dostoevsky and other Omsk evidences of the folk drama existence

On the territory of the Omsk region, there are several evidences of the folk drama existence in Siberia. They are scattered in various publications, contained in the folklore archive of the Omsk State Pedagogical University. The most important information about the existence of the folk theater in Omsk is the chapter “Performance” from the 1st part of “Notes from a Dead House” by F.M. Dostoevsky. The purpose and objectives of the article is to collect all the information together, to focus on those features of the amateur theater organized by the Omsk convicts and described by F. M. Dostoevsky, which did not receive proper coverage in the analyzed articles. The article uses the general scientific methodology of philological, folkloristic and sociocultural research. Descriptive, comparative and culturological approaches are the leading ones. Consideration and analysis of each source containing information about the existence of a folk drama helps to reveal the picture of the study of the issue, to show the degree of information completeness about the folk theater in Omsk and in the region, the processes of this phenomenon popularity on the territory of our region and the neighboring Novosibirsk region. Comparison of N. I. Savushkina’s publications with archival materials shows that she preserved one text, which has already been lost in the archive by now. Published texts and information from Astyrovka village of the Omsk region need to be corrected, as they were made by manual, not sound recording. Conclusions. The experience of introducing traditional folk drama into the modern socio-cultural environment by the efforts of practicing folklorists shows that “Boat” drama is becoming a “living tradition” within the framework of folklore holidays and festivals in different regions of Russia. The texts recorded on the territory of the region have every chance to enter the Electronic Catalog of Intangible Cultural Heritage Objects of Regional Significance.