Despite the summer, theatrical life in Kyiv is not slowing down. Among the most interesting theatrical premieres in June are “King Lear. Version” with Anatoly Khostikoyev in the lead role, “Tiger Hunters” at the Golden Gate, and the Wild Theater's own version of the popular Broadway story “Rabbit Hole”.
“King Lear. Version”
June 11, Franko National Academic Theater
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Actor Anatoly Khostikoev staged his own version of Shakespeare's timeless play “King Lear”, in which he acted as the author of the stage version, director and performer of the main role. Khostikoev intertwines Shakespeare's universal story about the conflict of generations, the struggle for inheritance and morality with Ukrainian realities. One of the places of action is the Ukrainian village of Stebly in Polissya, which suffered from the Chernobyl disaster. The main roles in the play are performed by Tetyana Shlyakhova, Pavlo Moskal, Arseniy Tymoshenko and Serhiy Kalantay.
“Oh, don't go to Hrytsya, and not at the party”
June 9, Lesya Ukrainka National Academic Theater
A modern interpretation of Mykhailo Starytsky's play “Oh, Don't Go, Hrytsya…” transfers a familiar story of love and betrayal to the space of today's urban outskirts. 22-year-old director Maksym Svets, a student of Ivan Uryvsky's workshop, solves Starytsky's classic play about village boys in love with the wayward Marusya, as a tense and nervous story about indifferent young people who really don't love anyone, including themselves. The chamber space of the stage concentrates the action around a single object – a photo booth, which becomes not only a part of everyday life, but also a symbol: the illusion of closeness, the need to be seen and the fear of being recognized, the theater tells. Petro Bogomazov worked on the scenography, and the main roles are played by bright students of the Kyiv University of Theater, Film and Television named after Karpenko-Kary, whom we will definitely see on the main stages of Kyiv.
“Where the sun sets”
June 9, 30, Franko National Academic Theater
Olena Pshenichna's novel, published in 2024, tells the story of 72-year-old Vira Tykhoi, who finds herself in a Home for the Elderly, where her son brings her. Outside, it's 2022: her husband is busy volunteering from morning till night, the family has gone abroad, and this becomes the best decision for a lonely woman. In the Home, she meets wounded, prickly old men who, day after day, simply watch as their lives, like the sun, roll over the horizon. But what are these lonely people hiding?
The play “Where the Sun Sets” based on one of the most moving Ukrainian novels of recent years was directed by Taras Zhyrko, and the main roles are played by real stars of the older generation of “Frankivsk residents”: Lyudmila Smorodynova, Oleksandr Zadniprovskyi, Vasyl Basha, Serhiy Kalantay.
“Insects”
June 19, 20, National Operetta
“Insects” is a musical by Oksana Taranenko based on the 1923 cult play by the Čapek brothers “From the Life of Insects.” The plot centers on the poet Felix, who in a dream finds himself in a bizarre world where people take on the appearance of cruel insects. He is faced with a difficult choice: to remain true to himself or accept the rules of a soulless reality where words become a tool of manipulation, and success, money, and influence come at an exorbitant price. The theater says that composer Ivan Nebesny and poet-librettist Mykola Brovchenko created a modern phantasmagoric musical about the choice between humanity and the temptation to lose oneself.
“Tiger Hunters”
June 27, 28, Golden Gate Theater
The Franko Theater actor and director Pavlo Shpehun took on the staging of Bahryany's novel “Tiger Hunters”. Pavlo Shpehun solves the well-known story of Grigory Mnohogrishny, who escapes from the Soviet “death echelon” and hides in the forests of Siberia, through the aesthetics of Japanese Kabuki and Noh theater. The performance involves students and young actors: Bohdan Buyluk, Khrystya Lyuba, Artem Plonder, Yan Kornev, Yevgenia Kosenko, Natalia Nalimova, Dunya Rybalchenko, Daniela Rybalchenko, Ioanna Derevyanchuk, Artem Zhivaev, Varvara Safronova, Maryana Solodovnik.
“Lord of the Flies”
June 26, TYG
The Young Spectator Theatre staged William Golding's cult novel “Lord of the Flies”, which is presented as a story about choice, power and human nature. After a disaster, a group of children find themselves on a deserted island without adults and rules. What initially seems like an adventure gradually turns into a struggle for control, where fear, ambition and internal conflicts come to the fore.
“Rabbit hole”
June 26, 27, Scene 6 (Dovzhenko Center)
You've probably heard the plot of “Rabbit Hole” somewhere – or watched the 2010 film of the same name based on the play by David Lindsay-Ebair, starring Nicole Kidman. The play, which premiered on Broadway in 2006, tells a story of loss. The main characters are Becca and Howie, a happy married couple who have everything they could dream of, until one car accident turns their lives upside down: their five-year-old son dies in it. The family moves away from each other, and Becca begins to communicate with a young boy, Jason, who was behind the wheel of the car, which changed their lives forever.
“This Broadway story is quite in tune with the reality in which we, Ukrainians, live now. With the reality where we lose every day, not knowing how to live through losses,” the theater says. The actors involved in the play are Shorena Shonia, Ivan Zhilyuk, Polina Filippova, Lyubov Dobronozhenko, Gennady Pyatov, Vadym Okhotsky, Myroslava Litvinska. Director Yuriy Rodionov is working on the production.