The “proletarian disease” on stage. Theatrical anti-tuberculosis propaganda in the early Soviet Union

The present contribution analyses sanitary theatrical performances as a means of anti-tuberculosis propaganda in the early Soviet Union. Starting in the 1920s, sanitary theatrical performances were demonstrated in open-air theatres and clubhouses for workers and farmers. Since 1925, the newly founded Moscow Theatre for Sanitary Culture centrally managed the theatrical hygiene propaganda. It became a role model for other theatres of hygienic enlightenment and numerous sanitary amateur stages. Their anti-tuberculosis repertoire ranged from the so-called “mock trials” where a person or even Koch's bacillus must stand trial for the spreading of tuberculosis, to “living newspapers” which used entertainment elements such as music or acrobatics to provide a mass audience with the hygiene knowledge. The contribution describes in which images, figures and actions knowledge about tuberculosis was presented on stage, which genre traditions and communicative instruments were used and which changing political implications those performances were based on. To achieve this goal, the archive sources, selected texts of theatrical performances, reports and reviews in daily press have been evaluated.