Among the most interesting theatrical events of May are a new poetic show by actor Vitaliy Azhnov, the ironic play “Troyanstvo” by David Petrosyan, and “Sanatorium Zone” based on the story by Mykola Khvylovy.
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“Former”
May 1, Theater on Podil
“The Former” is a play by contemporary playwright Volodymyr Golosnyak, which in the theater is called a lifelong love story. The plot centers on the fate of a baker who meets his former love after ten years. The director of the play is Volodymyr Kudlinsky, and the main role in one of the casts is played by Bohdan Benyuk.
“Sanatorium zone”
May 4, Lesya Ukrainka Theater
“Sanatorium Zone” based on the 1920s novel of the same name by Mykola Khvylovy will be shown at the Lesya Ukrainka Theater. The events of the play unfold in a closed sanatorium, where former revolutionaries, ordinary people and undercover secret police officers coexist. The space that was supposed to treat is transformed into a place of control and isolation. Barbed wire, a regime and constant surveillance make the sanatorium a model of the state – cold and ruthless.
“”Sanatorium Zone” is a bizarre world without clear boundaries of time and logic, which unexpectedly accurately responds to modernity. This is a story about a desperate search for freedom, integrity, and inner balance where every movement is already under surveillance,” the theater comments on the premiere. The director of the play is Dmytro Zakhozhenko.
“Trojanism”
May 8, 9, Franko Theater
Director David Petrosyan, known for his elegant and stylish performances of “Hedda Gabler” and “The Trial” at the Podil Theater, boldly reinterprets Kotlyarevsky's “Aeneid.” The play, written by one of the most important playwrights of Ukraine, the founder of the new drama movement, Maksym Kurochkin, takes place before the full-scale invasion. According to the plot, the screenwriter is commissioned to adapt “Aeneid.” The author begins to rethink the myth, making the main focus not on Aeneas, who is not in his story, but on those who remained unnoticed and did not make it onto the pages of Virgil and Kotlyarevsky's poems. However, such a view of the well-known story arouses the caution of the creative team, and they gradually turn the story into the familiar format of folk burlesque. The author balances between the desire to please and to stick to his own, but he never manages to finish the story.
In the performance, where one of the key roles — the pathetic and narcissistic producer — is played by theater director Yevhen Nyshchuk, the team displays self-irony, essentially speaking about themselves — about modern theater. The conceptual scenography of “Troyanstva” was created by artist Olga Stein.
“Doctor Seraphicus”
May 2–5 , Chora
One of the most anticipated premieres of May is a play based on the novel “Doctor Seraphicus” by Viktor Petrov-Domontovich, which the Maly Theater is working on. The events unfold in Kyiv in the 1920s, where the characters are trying to prove that “love is not just a sigh under the moon, but a tricky trigonometric problem in which the hypotenuse always betrays the legs,” the theater says. And then there's the story of Vasyl Khrysanfovich Komakh, who can explain everything in the world, but can't make tea on his own without causing another existential crisis.
The music for the performance is created together with the musicians of the jazz band Chubareenee, the costumes are by the byMe brand, the director is Stas Veselsky. The cast includes Maria Chuprynenko, Khrystyna Deylyk, Igor Cheban, and Igor Bidnenko.
Poetry show “SAM”
May 15, 16, Origin Stage
Actor of the Kyiv Franko Theater Vitaliy Azhnov, known for the film “Malevich” and roles in the theatrical hits “Caligula” and “Macbeth”, presents his own poetry show “SAM”. It is a symbiosis of poetry and theatrical performance on the stage of a club accustomed to concert programs.
“SAM” is a frank conversation about feelings, love and loneliness, built on the basis of Ukrainian prose and poetry of the 19th and 20th centuries, from Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky to Bohdan-Ihor Antonych. The main character of the production is a young man on the verge of reality and fantasy: he searches, falls in love, loses.
The musical producer of the performance is Myshko Birchenko, leader of the Hyphen Dash band and co-founder of the FUSION JAMS community, which is engaged in the development and popularization of modern jazz. The artistic director of the production is the famous fashion photographer Sonya Plakydyuk. The costumes are designed by Tetyana Ovsiychuk, a talented artist, laureate of the Shevchenko Prize for “The Witch of Konotop”, Honored Artist of Ukraine, author of costumes for the popular performances “Macbeth”, “Mary Stuart”, “Caligula”. The costumes are complemented by jewelry from the Ukrainian brand Kochut, created especially for the show.
“Lake Wind”
May 19, Scene 6
The Lutsk Independent Theater “Garmider” is preparing a performance based on the work of the same name by writer and translator Yurko Pokalchuk. The work will be staged for the first time.
“The Lake Wind” is a Volyn fantasy with very gentle erotic motifs, combining mythological and sensuality. The center of the story is Volyn (played by Artur Berezovsky), who was born a human, but later turned into a lake prince. The staging was created by director Ruslana Porytska. The play uses authentic songs and legends of Volyn, original costumes and masks. Yurko Pokalchuk was inspired to write “The Lake Wind” by Stephen King's novels and sentimentality for his native land, its soul, and mythology.
The premiere will take place on May 2 and 3 in Lutsk, and after that the play will go on tour in Ukraine. On May 19, it will be seen in Kyiv. The play is part of a multimedia project that draws attention to the figure of Yurko Pokalchuk. In addition to the theater, the following are involved in it: the literary platform “Frontera”, the public platform “Algorithm of Actions”.
KÇ FEST Theater Festival
May 7–10
In May, Kyiv will host the first KЇ FEST, an international theater festival founded by theater producer Kristina Kisielovaite. The festival will be opened by Shadow Work by director Tamara Trunova. Over the course of four days, viewers will see performances of “Brecht Cabarett” by Oksana Dmitrieva, “SERENDIPITY” by Maria Shvarneva, “Orlando” by Tatyana Kostinyuk, and “Aeneid” by Olga Semyoshkina from the Veterans Theater. The play “Trojan Women” by Romana Izabela Soutos is a joint international project of the Ukrainian club “NASHI” with the New York La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club and The Trojan Women Project. The legendary 1974 theatrical production is based on the play “The Trojan Women”, conceived and directed by Andriy Serban and Elizabeth Svados, with the participation of the Great Jones Repertory Company and with the support of the legendary theatrical producer Ellen Stewart. It is adapted for Ukraine for the first time specifically for KЇ FEST. The festival will be closed by the world premiere of the play “MŌDRANIHT songs of winter war” by Opera Aperta.
The festival will be held at eight locations: from the “MCKM” and the “Maly Theater”, “Theater on the Left Bank”, “Young Theater”, the “Golden Gates” Theater, to the Concert Hall at 41 Kyrylivska Street, the Dovzhenko Film Studio and the Bursa Hotel.