The scene of martial law: it became known which Kyiv theaters operate without an intermission in the summer

The war made adjustments to the schedules and peculiarities of theater work.

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Oleg Vergelis

Editor of the culture department of ZN.UA (1996- 2019)

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The realities of martial law in Ukraine dramatically change the dynamics and schedules of activities of institutions of national culture. In particular, a number of Kyiv state theaters are working this summer without the traditional summer intermission, i.e. without the usual off-season break between the previous theater season and the new season.

Of course, not all theater groups chose exactly this format of activity in the conditions of martial law.

Read also: Shakespeare Festival in Poland: Ukrainians told about the peculiarities of the work of theaters during the war

For example, < The Ivan Franko Kyiv National Theater was on summer vacation for some time in August, and the famous Ukrainian theater opens its new 103rd theater season already in August on two stages - on the Chamber and on the big stage - and on different days .

On August 17, at the Serhiy Danchenko Chamber Stage, the opening performance will be Dmytro Bogomazov's production “Morituri te salytant” based on Vasyl Stefanyk's novels, and the opening performance of the big stage will also be Dmytro Bogomazov's production “Stolen Happiness” with Yevgeny Nyschuk, Oleksandr Pecheritsa and Anzhelika Savchenko in the lead roles (they will play on the main stage of the Kyiv National Theater named after Lesya Ukrainka, due to the need to observe security measures for spectators and actors in wartime).

At the “Kyiv Opera”(in Podil) announce that immediately after the holidays on September 8, they will open their new season with the musical and patriotic project “The Shot Renaissance” about Ukrainian artists who became victims of Stalin's terror in the 1930s: the project involves the participation of a choir, an orchestra and actors-readers ( director Dmytro Todoryuk).

Meanwhile, the neighbors of the “Kyiv Opera” – Kyiv Academic Theater on Podil– as the actors of this theater themselves say, it works non-stop in the summer, without a break for the summer intermission (special vacation schedules are drawn up for the actors so as not to stop the repertoire process in the summer). Among the upcoming autumn premieres of the Theater on Podil is the play “Marlene” based on the play by the German author Thea Dorn, which will tell about the imaginary meeting of the movie star Marlene Dietrich and Leni Riefenstahl, Adolf Hitler's favorite film director (director – Igor Matiyev). The Podol Theater is also currently negotiating new productions with directors Davyd Petrosyan and Oksana Dmitrieva.

The Kyiv National Youth Theater also works intensively in the summer. In July, the premiere of a musical performance for children and adults with the provocative title “Tsap-ka-tsap” based on the Ukrainian folk tale “Koza-Dereza” was released there.

Immediately after the premiere at the end of July, this production by director Andriy Bilous gathered a bunch of emotional responses on social networks from viewers and theater experts who saw in the old fairy tale a dramatic allegory of our reality, when the aggressor (in the play it is a kind of impudent goat) is kicked out of his native hut good Ukrainian Bunny. The new literary version of the fairy tale was created by Iryna Malolita, and the music was written by A. Bilous' student – actor Ilya Choporov.

“The main work of the Youth Theater in autumn is acting introductions, – says ZN.UAartistic director of the Young Theater Andrii Bilous. – At this time, a certain number of actors dropped out of the repertoire for various reasons: some are in the Armed Forces, some are on long-term sick leave, and some are abroad. So, currently the main task of our theater is to restore the current repertoire. But at the same time, I will start work on the new play “White Rabbit” based on the play by M. Chase. In September, we are planning an interesting post-apocalyptic project of the Theater of Shadows on the Microstage of the Young Theater. Work continues on several graduation plays of my acting course: Boccaccio's Decameron and Stefan Zweig's novels and Moliere's comedy The Imaginary Sick. Traditionally, these performances are later included in the repertoire of the Young Theater. At the same time, a theater director from France, whose name I will not name yet, offered us to stage one of Miro Gavran's plays on a volunteer basis. Of course, there will be some new performances, I will inform about them in time.”

When asked by our publication whether the troupe of the Young Theater will be replenished with new actors in this wartime, Andriy Bilous answered: “There is no need for new actors yet, there is a question of how to load the work of those we have. In fact, all actors, including and full-time, currently work with a one-time payment of 500 hryvnias for one performance, therefore, every performance they play is important to the actors in every sense.”

Some actors of the Young Theater are currently in the ranks of the ZSU, so what is the fate of their repertory performances? “Wewe are trying to compile the repertoire in such a way that the actors-military servicemen Oleksiy Tritenko and Viktor Storozhenko, who are currently in the Armed Forces, have the opportunity to go on stage at least once a month, using several days of their rotation leave. Here, for example, on August 14, if nothing gets in the way, both of our actor-warriors will take the stage in one play – “One-armed” based on the play by Martin Makdona,” says the artistic director of the Young Theater Andriy Bilous.

“We currently have a season without an intermission, – says ZN.UASlava Zhila, the artistic director of the Kyiv TYUU on Lypki. – Immediately after the easing of hostilities around the capital, as well as thanks to the permission of the mayor's office, the Young Spectator Theater resumed showing performances for children of the city and guests of the capital. Currently, TYUG regularly plays plays on its small stage, although it is not easy – many actresses are abroad, and you have to make substitutions, change costumes, etc.

We are currently preparing two premiere performances for September for the small stage. This is the bestseller “Redskins Leader” by O. Henry from the director Iryna Stezhka and the play “Bless the Beasts and Children!” based on the story of the American author Glendon Swarthout from the young director Valeria Fedotova.

There are also plans to renew in the box office our English-language play “The city was there” and the play “Call me Peter”, the premieres of which took place shortly before the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine. There are ideas to play “The Auditor” by M. Gogol, “Don Quixote” by M. Cervantes and “After two hares” by M. Starytskyi on the big stage by the end of the year.

The theater is coming to life, and this cannot but please. As well as the sold-out and sincere desire of the team to work and be useful to the country in the dramatic times of the present trials.

In the event of an air raid, our administration has prepared special instructions, which are announced before each performance, as well as a route to the nearest shelters, which are 5 minutes' walk from the building of our theater.

Voluntary TYUG regularly provides free tickets to foundations dealing with temporarily displaced persons. Also, our theater plays its plays not only in the hospital, but also pleases children who cannot come to the theater in the center of the capital. Not long ago, we showed a performance-play “Dogorydrig” at the Okhmatdyt hospital, and in the near future we will visit Borodyanka.

The theater holds on and survives. The position, of course, is not an easy one, because the current 60% of budget allocations force us to save on absolutely everything,” says Slava Zhila

Kyiv National Theater named after Lesya Ukraine nki, which in recent months has been carrying out a noticeable and quite successful rebranding related to the process of “Ukrainization” of its repertoire, organizes the vacation schedule of its employees in such a way that it is possible to play some productions and, without a significant intermission, smoothly transition with its repertoire into its off-season from August to September. Throughout the summer, the project of stage readings “We are from Ukraine” was unfolding in the theater, which combined the texts of Ukrainian classics and completely new works of young Ukrainian authors. Some of these readings will later receive a full-fledged repertory stage life. Directors Kyrylo Kashlikov, Oleksandr Stepantsov, Dmytro Morozov are preparing their new plays for the autumn-winter season of 2022/2023.

Currently, the country's main musical scene, the National Opera of Ukraineny, operates non-stop without an intermission during the off-season. : the halls are filled to the brim within the currently permitted standards.

“Ukrainian and European classics – “Natalka Poltavka”, “Carmen”, “The Barber of Seville”, “Rigoletto”, “Nabucco” remain in our repertoire, as before. the chief director of the National Opera of Ukraine, Anatoly Solovyanenko, tells our publication. “Of course, the financial difficulties of this difficult wartime affected our theater as well. However, the team is grateful to the Ministry of Culture for funding the theater in terms of salaries, which made it possible to resume the work of the National Opera of Ukraine.” At the end of October, we hope to release the previously planned premiere of a new production – the opera “La Traviata” by G. Verdi.

The scene of martial law: it became known which Kyiv theaters operate without an intermission in the summer

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