Among the most interesting theater premieres of the month are “Orlando” based on the novel by Virginia Woolf with a star-studded cast, Mozart's “Requiem” at the Frank Theater, and the absurdist play “The Lesson” at the Maly Theater.
“Card index”
February 4, 14, 15, Young Theater
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The play “Cardboard” based on the play by Polish playwright Tadeusz Ruzewicz is a story about memory and trauma that is relevant for modern Ukraine. At the center of the plot is a man who has lost the integrity of his own memory and is trying to assemble himself from the fragments of memories, images and voices of the past. His consciousness is torn into cards – pages of life that are chaotically mixed. Every meeting, every fragment is an attempt to understand who we are in a world where history is constantly changing.
The play “Cardboard” appears as a metaphor for collective memory : the characters here are not so much individual personalities as shadows and functions that reflect different aspects of a distorted experience. “Cardboard” was directed by Andriy Bakirov.
“Our class”
February 13, 14, Franko National Academic Theater
The main character, Abram, lives a quiet life in America. He is a respected rabbi, wealthy and full of faith in God and people. But everything changes when one day an old childhood friend comes to visit him, bringing with her a terrible truth – about his hometown, about the war, about classmates who were once children and later became both witnesses and victims of history.
“Our Class” is a play by Polish author Tadeusz Slobodzianik , written based on real events that took place in the Jewish town of Jedwabne during World War II. It has been staged in theaters in London, Warsaw, and New York, and now its interpretation has appeared on the stage of the National Franko Theater, directed by the young director Stanislav Ivanov.
“Dude 2.0 “
February 13, Scene 6
“Dude 2.0” is the title of the updated play “Dude Don't Celebrate, or Ukrainian” directed by Maksym Holenko based on the works of Ruslan Horovy. This is the story of a man who talks about his childhood and youth in Konotop, studying in Kyiv, about the Maidan, the ATO, friendship, love and betrayal at the same time. And, of course, about all of us after February 24, 2024. Starring Dmytro Usov and Ruslan Horovy.
“Requiem”
February 20, Franko National Academic Theater
Director Yevhen Lavrenchuk, together with conductor Teodor Kukhar and musicians, reinterprets Mozart's legendary “Requiem” as the story of a small, random person immersed in a specific time and space. This “Requiem” is not about death, but about life, which continues to sound after the last note, the theater tells.
This is a joint project of the National House of Music and the Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theater. For the first time in Ukraine, this work is being performed in the edition of the American musicologist and composer Robert Levin, who reconstructs the original logic and dramaturgy of Mozart's idea.
“Lesson”
February 21, 22, Maly Theater
The Maly Theater is staging one of the most famous absurdist works of world literature – “The Lesson” by Eugene Ionesco. According to the plot, a modest student comes to the professor for a private lesson. At first – arithmetic and grammar, but later the usual lesson begins to turn into a duel: language becomes an instrument of power, knowledge – a form of violence, and education – a mechanism of subjugation. What was supposed to enlighten turns into darkness… Is humanity capable of working on its mistakes in the absurdity in which it lives? Is this the end of civilization?
“Salted milk”
February 21, Palace “Ukraine”
The play “Salty Milk” is based on the play “Misunderstanding” by Albert Camus. It tells the story of a mother and daughter who live in a remote town and have a boarding house where they receive guests, but in reality they rob and kill them. One evening, a man comes to the hotel, full of hope for a new life…
“Salty Milk” is a play created within the framework of Ivan Uryvsky's workshop by a team of his students. “Salty Milk” was directed by Maksym Svets, also known as the director (together with Tetyana Kostyniuk) of the theater program “Vyriyu”, and the main roles are played by student actors Maria Shulika, Yulia Stuperska, Dmytro Korolenko, Diana Chorna and actress of the Left Bank Theater Tetyana Krulikovska.
“Orlando”
February 27, 28, KIT (VDNG)
The premiere of the play “Orlando” based on the cult novel by Virginia Woolf will take place in the KYT pavilion. This will be the first reading of “Orlando” on the theater stage in Ukraine. The plot centers on the story of a man named Orlando, who goes through centuries and changes social roles. This is a story about freedom, love, loneliness, dignity and survival of a person who does not fit into other people's ideas and is looking for his own path.
“Orlando” is an independent production that brought together real stars from various theaters: in the lead roles, Elena Khokhlatkina, Marina Koshkina, Ilya Choporov, Maria Rudkovska, Khrystya Lyuba and others. The director of the play is Tetyana Kostinyuk (Ivan Uryvsky's workshop).