Full houses, daily productions and new stars – the Ukrainian theater is experiencing a new stage of development. Vogue Ukraine, having looked behind the lashtuns of the leading theaters of the region: the third material on our map is the Veterans Theater in Kiev, with scenes that reveal the poignant history of the war, the waste and revival, writing Ukrainian veterans.
Advertising.
Summer evening. People gather at the Krimsky House in the capital's Pechersk. Among them is military service member Gennady Udovenko, who spent 2023 at the front; combat medicine Inna Korolenko, journalist in peaceful life; In charge of her is the guardian Yegor Babenko, who in 2022 lost important custody of the body in Mykolayiv region; Taras Kozub, a military service member of the “Magura” brigade, who spent his hand on Zaporizky directly and before the war was the master of the production of Ukrainian musical instruments. All of them are veterans of the Russian-Ukrainian war, and also non-professional actors who gathered for the rehearsal of Kotlyarevsky’s “Aeneid.” The stench is clearly recognized, and even great in advance: the 2nd stage of the premiere of “Eneida” will appear on the stage of the Young Theater.
“This is a great promotion of the country beyond the cordon,” grins Akhtem Seitablaev, show director, actor and TV presenter, and now a military service worker and artistic maker of the Veterans Theater. “We want to tell you something.” Svetovi: by helping us, the public has a chance to reach these people – strong, creative, brave.”
A brilliant Ukrainian director, the author of the popular films “Cyborgs”, “Zakhar Berkut” and “Mirniy-21”, Akhtem knows that at the rehearsals of “Eneida”, working with a non-professional corpse, he feels like a newcomer: “Everything here It’s complicated. It’s a lot of things that you know, but it’s more difficult for them to start trusting you.”
The Veterans Theater was born as a collaboration between the communications service and the huge command of the Troop ZSU Forces and the Theater of Playwrights. In a peaceful life, three of his colleagues worked in the creative sphere and business: Maxim Kurochkin – a leading playwright, Yevgen Malyukevich – a copywriter at the marketing agency Fedoriv, Maxim Devizorov – an actor at the Theater on the Left Birch and the star of the popular series about children “First Swallows” – all three of them volunteered for the front in 2022.
They, as well as international journalist Yuri Matsarsky, were informed by Colonel Oleksiy Dmitrashkivsky, who had assembled a richly specialized team from his affiliate TRO Media – with various evidence and background. The idea for the Veterans Theater is most poignantly formulated by the actor and playwright Gennady Udovenko – a brutal, energetic man from Donetsk with the charisma of Daniel Craig (colleagues can guess when Udovenko came to the rehearsal “Aeneides” and declaring: I want to kill only Zeus): “We must speak up so that this war is not stolen from us.”
The key asset of the Veterans Theater is the dramaturgical laboratory, which is what Maxim Kurochkin, a famous playwright whose songs are performed in theaters from Kherson to London, believes. Since the inception of the project, the original authors have created over 35 p'es. “There is only one mind: veterans are trying to write about those who hurt,” Maxim Devizorov respects. Let's start with the most beautiful dramaturgy – zokrema Natalka Vorozhbit, Ukrainian screenwriter, author of the films “Cyborgs”, “Wild Field” and the series “Spymati Kaidash”, director of the episode “Trash Roads”, which took part in Venetsiysky film festivals.
On this day, the theater hosted the premiere of Devizorov’s debut song “In Sorrow and in Joy.” At the door, inspired by the dark humor of the production by director Oleksi Gladushevsky, Maxim reveals the history of the world. This work is important to therapy: I will remember my brothers-in-arms who have struggled through inconsistencies with their colleagues, and it seems that it is very important for mothers to talk through painful points through creativity.
“We must speak up so that this war is not stolen from us.”
The network reveals that the Veterans Theater will hear the truth in the voices of Ukrainian soldiers, as in the performance of “Vyskov’s Mother,” the most popular production that will be performed at the Theater on the Left today birch. Its heroine, the military physician Nastya, is torn between serving and the doctors of the 11-river Don. The author of the song, journalist and human rights activist Alina Sarnatska, who served for two years in the medical service on Bakhmutsky directly in the Kiev region, created the image inspired by her friend – Nastya Krilova, a combat medic of the 60th brigade. Sarnatsky wanted the people to come to the theater and just think about them. For the upcoming theater season, the performance of “War's Mama” will reach the repertoire of the Lviv Zankovetska Theater, and Alina's new song, about the transformation of sensitivity in times of war, is currently being rehearsed by one of the Polish theaters.
It is important for the Theater team to feed the socialization of demobilized soldiers. Here new professions are emerging – writing songs, making videos, organizing tours. “It’s important to recognize yourself and learn new skills so that you can live a meaningful life after being injured,” says Seitablaev. At the same time, together with his colleagues, he is working on the investigation of the Veterans’ Theater – the fate of the theater has already begun to appear in Lviv, Dnipro, Chernivtsi.
“The most important speeches are made at the front,” suggests the theater director, veteran Yevgen Malyukevich. “If we are here, at the front, we can help one person at a time—that’s already achievable.” Vine tells about the latest premiere of the new season – “Dragon Strike” with the dog Gennady Udovenko, where he shares the powerful story of injury and loss of the ending. Having completed his work on the project, Udovenko confessed: “For the first time in life, I am satisfied with myself.”
Photographer: Vasylyna Vrublevska
Text: Daria Slobodianyk
Відео: Yaw Hinne
Edited by: Marina Shulikina
Style: Sonya Soltes
Makeup and hairstyles: Daria Zhadan, Maria Pogorelova
Production: Marina Sandugei-Shyshkina, Marie Nikolaenko, Oleg Patselya
