Within the framework of the festival, a discussion “Theatre during the war” was held.
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© Ivano-Frankivsk Theater named after I. Franko
From July 27 to August 6, Gdansk (Poland) hosts the annual International Shakespeare Festival. The program of the theater forum includes about ten Shakespeare productions performed in different countries of the world. This year, theater troupes from Denmark, Norway, the Czech Republic, the USA and, of course, Poland will present their versions of Shakespeare's great tragedies and comedies in Poland. The Shakespeare Forum in Gdańsk hosts master classes, theater critics' debates, concerts, and exhibitions.
Read also: Theater during the war: a closed screening of the play “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors” dedicated to Paradzhanov took place in Zaporizhzhia
The International Shakespeare Festival in Gdańsk was founded by the outstanding Polish Shakespeare scholar, writer and translator Jerzy Limon. Thanks to Mr. Limon's hard work, the festival in Gdańsk has become one of the most authoritative Shakespeare forums in Europe. And according to theater critics, the Shakespeare Festival in Gdańsk takes an honorable second place in the index of influence after large-scale Shakespeare festival events in the homeland of Shakespeare himself, in Britain, in Stratford-upon-Avon, where there is both the Shakespeare Institute and its own Shakespeare Theater.
By the way, the Polish Shakespeare scholar Mr. Jerzy Limon (an outstanding scientist passed away in 2021, and his festival work is now being continued by associates), by the way, categorically denied the problem of the so-called “Shakespearean question” (that is, the discussion about the authorship of the great Bard's plays). Jerzy Limon rejected even the very question – “was he or wasn't he?” (Shakespeare himself). Because the great playwright really was, as evidenced by Mr. Jerzy Limon's opinion, both archival documents and numerous facts of the life of Shakespeare himself and his relatives in Stratford-upon-Avon.
A special event within this year's International Shakespeare Festival in Gdańsk is the discussion panel “Theatre during the war”, the purpose of which is to hear in Europe the voice of the Ukrainian theater about the Russo-Ukrainian war, about the transformation of Ukrainian theaters into centers of humanitarian assistance to Ukrainians, about the volunteer movement that deployed Ukrainian theaters, about stage activities in the forced format of “bomb shelter stage” and about the heroism of Ukrainian theater artists who are currently defending Ukraine both on the front lines of the Russian-Ukrainian war and in the ranks of territorial defense.
“On July 30, in the program of the Shakespeare Theater Festival in Gdańsk, a panel discussion “Theatre during the war” was held, in which representatives of various sectors of the Ukrainian theater took part, – says ZN.UAhonored artist of Ukraine, actress of the Ivano-Frankivsk Ivan Franko National Theater, Nadiya Levchenko, (she is a guest and participant of the International Shakespeare Festival in Gdańsk). – Our Ivano-Frankivsk National Drama Theater named after Ivan Franko in Poland is currently represented by the artistic director of our theater, People's Artist of Ukraine Rostyslav Derzypilskyi, as well as the actor of our theater, Honored Artist of Ukraine Roman Lutskyi and me, Nadiya Levchenko. As part of the panel discussion on Ukrainian theater at the festival in Gdańsk, the following speakers also appeared: the director of ProEnglish Theater Tetyana Shelepko, the chief director of the Kyiv Academic Theater of Drama and Comedy on the Left Bank of the Dnipro Tamara Trunova, the curator of Gogolfest and the “Dakh” theater Andriy Palatny, as well as the Ukrainian director , actor and teacher, and currently a resident of the Hans Otto Theater Andriy Mai.
The participants of the discussion shared the experience of the functioning of their theaters since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. And they also formed a request to the European theater community regarding the creation of a co-production with Ukrainian theater actors and the creation of cultural and artistic products that reflect the present of Ukraine for the effective promotion of our country in Europe and in the world in general. During the panel discussion, the issue of the boycott of Russian culture was also raised, as the only gap today for the integration of the “Russian world” in Europe”.
The actress Nadiya Levchenko herself was already a direct participant in the Shakespeare festival races in Gdańsk, when in 2017 the Frankiv National Theater presented its famous play, the horror neo-opera “Hamlet” directed by Rostysław Derzypilski, as part of the festival's Shakespeare bill. The fastidious festival audience of the same year in 2017 paid tribute to the Ukrainian radical stage version of “Hamlet”, according to which the Danish prince returns from “that” world to his old dreams, namely to the family burial crypt, where all his deceased relatives rest in eternal sleep. Hamlet returns to his past to try, at least in a dream, to change the fatal course of events, to preserve the integrity of the state and the unity of the royal family. But it's all in vain. Because the book of his life has long been written by Shakespeare himself. Nadiya Levchenko, together with fellow actresses from the Frankiv Drama Theater, plays one of the Macbethian witches (Erynias) in the Ukrainian experimental “Hamlet” who prophesy misfortunes to Hamlet and his royal family: the director integrated these witches into “Hamlet” and later into “Romeo and Juliet” from another great tragedy of Shakespeare – “Macbeth”.
As the Honored Artist of Ukraine Nadiya Levchenko admitted to our publication, she would dream that in the coming years, at the International Shakespeare Festival in Gdansk, Ukraine, she would present another Shakespeare production from Frankivsk – “Romeo and Juliet”, which also offers an original author's and director's view of the great Shakespeare a tragedy when, in addition to the world-famous pair of lovers, the core and driving force of events is the monk Lorenzo (actor Oleksiy Hnatkovskyi), in whose hands are the fragile destinies of children from two hostile families – the Montagues and the Capulets.
See the special topic: The OP told how many settlements were de-occupied by the Armed Forces Damaged civilian facilities continue to be rebuilt in liberated settlements. Poland and the Baltic States may be threatened by the further expansion of Russia's sphere of influence – Duda Now it is our state that is a shield for these countries, he added. Mandatory evacuation has begun in Donetsk region Iryna Vereshchuk reported that among the first evacuees there are many people with reduced mobility. The occupiers fired mortars at three communities in the Sumy region There were no casualties. Russian troops can break through in the southern direction – OK “Pivden” Occupiers are constantly shelling liberated settlements in the Kherson region.
