Abstract
The general history, the history of performing arts, as well as theatrical directing, coincide in one of their tasks: the creation of a story (fictitious or true), the production of events by means of their science or art, based on historical sources from scholars or on the text of drama — by the director. Consequently, the general history research methods, as well as methods of directorial analysis of drama, can be borrowed by the performing arts history, especially considering that the key notions, on which the mentioned branches are based — the fact and the event — are coincide. In discussions about the nature of the scientific fact, it is possible to distinguish several main approaches, among which: the fact is the message of a source, a witness, etc., fact is what actually happened; scientific fact — is a construct created by the researcher as a result of analysis, comparison and generalization of individual elementary facts, traces of an event. Much more discrepancies exist in defining the notion of event. Insufficient clarity in the definition of these and some other related concepts leads to unconscious substitution: of the facts — by historical evidence, of events — by facts, in particular the cult, media facts, which, in the end, creates favorable opportunities for domination of subjective, religious, ideological, but in fact — speculative factor, in the history of art. Providing numerous examples from the world and Ukrainian theater history, the author discovers instances of “history, written contrary to the facts” (when ignoring the differences between testimonies, facts and events leads to the creation of historical myths, the domination of which is caused by imperial influences, in particular) and demonstrates the possibility of applying an active analysis in the theatre history. Consideration of the performing arts history from the perspective of the event history creates the prerequisites for changing the agenda and the expansion of the headings — a list of questions, the answers to which must enrich not only artistic knowledge, but also artistic practice, knowledge not only about the past of the theater, but also about its current state.