Tendence ve vývoji dětských her divadelního charakteru

The essay dedicated to children's dramatic games queries the similarity between the content of dramatic intrigue and its presentation in the past and in the present. Considering the trends in repertoire development, the essay draws upon Stepan Backora's collections to describe the status in the mid-19th century; to analyze the contemporary children's games the essay takes advantage of the research among pupils in the elementary schools in Prague. Based on comparison of both game levels as regards content (1. thematic field within which the player accepts his/her new gaming identity; 2. structural motifs taking share in the construction of a dramatic intrigue story), the essay comes to several findings: as to the thematic point of view, the games referring to agricultural culture and the Christian faith have disappeared; the games concerning the choice of partner are passing through transformation; on the contrary, the theme of social bullying has been strengthened. The aforementioned trends are determined by economic development, transformation of social relations within local societies, and, of course, by mass media. As to the structural motifs, they tend to reductions both in their quantity used for construction of a concrete dramatic intrigue, and in their form. In-line-putting of structural motifs as well as their form influence the contemporary dramatic games. Games with simple and anticipatable construction as well as easy-to-remember verbal and motion parts manageable for a great number of players 'playing not well together' have gone through. Such trends are determined by limitation of opportunities suitable to realize a game, by instability of players' groups, their age homogeneity and related absence of relevant 'experts', especially teenagers.