DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS

Developments in Japan and Overseas

Creating stages amidst war

Interviews with the directors of three Ukrainian theatres
Interviewer: Marina Kotelenets(Director of the All-Ukrainian Public Organization “Ukrainian League of Authors”)

Sumy
Kyiv
Kharkiv

Lviv

Severodonetsk

Ivano-Frankivsk

Dnipro116

LuhanskDonetskMariupol

Odesa
0

100km

On March 16, 2022, less than a month after the Russian invasion of Ukraine,
there were reports that Russian forces had bombed the Donetsk Academic
Regional Drama Theatre in Mariupol, killing many people. At the time, thedestroyed theatre was being used as a refugee shelter.
While Russian theatre researchers have been using the Internet to sharethe voices of Russian theatre artists, the situations of Ukrainian theatre
artists are less readily visible.
The Japanese Centre of International Theatre Institute approached the
Ukrainian League of Authors in Kyiv, with whom we had established aconnection through our “Theatre Born in Conflict Zones” project, to see
if we could interview representatives from local theatres. The director,
Marina Kotelenets, offered to personally conduct in-person or telephoneinterviews with representatives from theatres in three regions facing different experiences with the war.
Ms. Kotelenets’s interviews provide records of what happened to these
theatres on the day of the invasion, what it has been like for them toengage in artistic creation under wartime conditions, and what they
foresee for the future.

Theatre for mutual aid
Lesya Ukrainka National Academic Drama Theatre(Kyiv)
https://lesyatheatre.com.ua/

The Lesya Ukrainka National Academic Drama Theatre is one of the largest
drama theatres in Ukraine.
The Theatre’s official history begins in 1926, when the Kyiv District

117

Executive Committee organized the State Russian Drama Theatre. However, theTheatre’s true roots extend back to the nineteenth century, when the outstanding
actor and director Nikolai Solovtsov organized the Solovtsov Theatre as a permanent Russian theatre in 1891. It was located in the same building in which theLesya Ukrainka Theatre now operates. It was renamed in 1941, after therenowned Ukrainian poetess and playwright Lesya Ukrainka.
For the last 25 years, the Theatre has been directed by Mikhail Reznikovich,
one of the most recognized directors in Ukraine. He is a student and steward of
the cultural traditions of the famous Soviet director, teacher, and theatre theorist
Georgy Tovstonogov (1915–1989).
Until recently, the theatre was called the Lesya Ukrainka Kyiv National
Academic Russian Drama Theatre. Until then, it had performed plays in
Russian since its inception, inviting Russian directors to stage performances ofclassics by Chekhov, Ostrovsky, and Bulgakov, as well as those by contemporary
Russian authors.
In March 2022, however, following the Russian Federation’s invasion of
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2023

DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS
Juliet and Romeo

Ukraine, the Theatre removed
the phrase “Russian Drama”
from its name and begantranslating its entire repertoire into Ukrainian.
Kyrylo Kashlikov is the
Theatre’s managing director,
as well as an actor and director there. He has been actively
directing since 2014, when
he staged Juliet and Romeo,
a reworking of Shakespeare’sclassic. Then he directed
A View from the Bridge byArthur Miller (2016) and The
Curious Incident of the Dog

118

in the Night-Time by Simon
Stephens (2018). In subsequent years, he staged playsby two Irish authors: Martin
McDonagh’s The Cripple of
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Inishmaan (2020) and BrianFriel’s Translations (2022).
On February 24, the day
Russia launched its invasion,a rehearsal of a completed
production of The Ferryman,based on the play by Jez
Butterworth, was scheduledon the Theatre’s big stage, but
the release of that production
had to be postponed.

The Cripple of Inishmaan

Kyrylo Kashlikov
Managing director, actor, and director
at the Lesya Ukrainka National Academic
Drama Theatre
Interview date: October 10, 2022

24 February
When the war started, Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture and Information Policy
ordered a halt to all performances in Ukrainian theatres. All employees had towork remotely, and at two-thirds of their normal salary. Some Theatre employees
left Kyiv and Ukraine; others enlisted for territorial defense and were later sent to
the front.
Kyiv became empty…

119

My family did not want to go anywhere, and I could not abandon the
Theatre. Therefore, my wife and daughter decided to live with me there. Severalof our actors and their families joined us, because their houses were located next
to strategic sites that were periodically targeted in missile strikes.
As early as the first few days of March, the Ministry of Culture establishedcontact with all its institutions and organizations, sent out reports, andexchanged information. Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko (Minister of Culture
and Information Policy since June 4, 2020) began to analyze the situation anddetermined that it was possible to keep at least some forms of theatre open in
Kyiv, despite the hostilities.
Those of us who remained in Kyiv were eager to do something. Ours was the
only theatre in Kyiv considered suitably safe, which was the foremost priority forcontinued performances. We did not need to construct a bomb shelter, since
there is a subway entrance right in front of the Theatre’s entrance; when an airraid signal sounded, we could open the doors and everyone in the audience could
reach shelter within 2–6 minutes. The Minister himself visited the Theatre to
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2023

DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS

confirm how effectively our team
operates during air raids.
So on April 9, 2022, we wereable to present our first performance of Tri Kokhannya (Three
Loves),

dedicated

to

Lesya

Ukrainka, on our 129-seat Small
Stage. The venue was full, andeveryone—both audience andactors—was in tears.
Three Loves, the first performance since the war began,played to a full house.

Alexander Tkachenko thenasked us to present a performancefor children, and by mid-April we

had prepared a children’s stage performance. Many people came to it, withparents and grandparents bringing children. I was surprised at how many little
120

Kyivans remained in the city. In our Theatre’s hall there were 5- and 6-year-olds
playing and crawling on the carpets—that sight alone left me crying again.

Theatre and war
I realized that the war had changed the Theatre’s mission. In March and April
2022, I kept remembering a thought by McDonagh: a character in one of his
plays stated that it is when we stand on the edge of the abyss that we recall
our humanity.
In April, Kyiv was half empty, but people from across the city came to our
performances, thereby expressing protest against fear and danger. They came tothe theatre in part to forget about everything for a while, but also, more importantly, to experience a sense of community and closeness. Theatre is the only art
form that provides such a feeling of mutual belonging. Everyone, both actors andspectators, becomes united. Sometimes it felt like a scene from a post-apocalyptic
movie in which people converged, gathering just to sit together. In April, ourTheatre had become their gathering point.
Since we could not yet fully return to work at the Theatre (many actors had

left, and translations of our performances into Ukrainian were not yet ready), I
proposed a “We are from Ukraine” theme, that we should perform readings of
topical plays by Ukrainian playwrights, particularly those providing incisivereflections on the ongoing military events.
Through social networking, I invited all theatrical colleagues remaining in
Kyiv to use our facilities. As a result, several independent projects began toutilize our Small Stage. This was our way of supporting theatre people—they
still couldn’t earn much money, but hopefully at least enough to get bysomehow. We also provided our venue to the Ivan Franko Kyiv National
Ukrainian Theatre. Their theatre is as big as ours, but their large, beautiful
building is located near the government quarter, and the danger of shelling androckets made it impossible for them to work. They returned to their home venue
in October, but even during those days of war, there was activity at our Lesya
Ukrainka Theatre five days a week: the Ivan Franko Theatre performed on ourstage on two days, we performed on another two, and one day each week wasallocated to independent projects.

121

Later, actors and directors from the Mykola Kulish Kherson Theatre
fled from southern Ukraine when Russian troops captured Kherson. Many
decided to stay in Kyiv, so we
extended opportunities to workon our stage to them, too. In
October, we even released ajointly produced documentary
performance,

Lyshatysja(Ne)

Mozhna… (Staying is (Not) Possible…), based on the stories ofactual Kherson theatre workers.
Believe me, the venue was always
at capacity seating for theirperformances.
I have always dreamed of
improved

solidarity

between

Staying is (Not) Possible… Photo: Alexandr Kniga
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2023

DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS

actors, of theatrical people casting aside the jealousy and competition we tend
toward, and instead becoming sincere friends. That suddenly happened during
the war. For me, this has been a very important and valuable experience.

Our performances and our future
Our immediate reaction to the pain of military activity was a fresh read of
Ukrainian drama. More time should pass before we attempt serious performances on the topic of the current war: a certain distance is needed, to disassociate ourselves from our painful reflections.
Therefore, I believe that our new production of Irish playwright Brian Friel’s
Translations is a more meaningful statement about the current situation in
Ukraine.
I started working on this play two years ago and have been thinking about it
all this time. That allowed us to stage it in just two months. In fact, this play presents a complete mirror image of the events taking place in Ukraine. Translations
122

will soon become a classic, and this is very important, because it was not an
impromptu creation. I believe that our “play of Translations” is already about ourwar, about the factors that led to it.
Will we resume performances of plays from Russian theatre? It is simply
inappropriate to discuss that topic today. Seven members of our Theatre team arecurrently fighting at the front, and others are under contracts for territorial
defense. Many families have lost loved ones. During work breaks, women go to
the theatre buffet to weave camouflage nets for use at the front. No, now is not
the time for discussions of Russian culture.
Our future repertoire will be more connected with Ukrainian classics.
Mikhail Reznikovich, the Theatre’s artistic director, is currently working on astage version of the tragic novel On Sunday Morning, She Gathered Herbs by
Ukrainian writer Olha Kobylyanska. But I still want to release a production of
The Ferryman by Jos Butterworth, which was postponed due to the war.
Another problem confronting not only us, but all Ukrainian theatres, is lossof funding, resulting in inevitable budget cuts. Theatre subsidies have been
reduced by 10% until the end of the year and will be cut by another 20% in 2023.

Translations Photo: Iryna Somova

This is a very serious problem, but we have sought and will continue to findopportunities to retain our team, both cast members and technical staff. We
don’t want to abandon our people in such difficult times.
Believe me, everything changed after February 24. We are no longer able to123

conduct strategic planning in the Theatre. At all. We simply don’t have the energy
or the time. On a daily basis, we can only consider prospects over the next six
months, no more, so that is all we have been talking about.
We need to continue translating performances into Ukrainian, but doing
so is a colossal job. In 2019, Ukraine adopted a law titled “On ensuring thefunctioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language,” which required
all performances performed in Russian to provide subtitles, so we have been
dealing with this issue for a long time. In place of subtitles, we decided toprovide audiences with simultaneous Ukrainian interpreting of performances
via headphones.
On February 26, I created a Telegram channel group to allow operational
communications with Theatre staff. Nearly our entire team, almost threehundred people, joined that group. Everyone immediately agreed to remove thewords “Russian Drama” from the Theatre’s name, and the actors took the position that they would only work in Ukrainian.
At the beginning of the war, the Theatre repertoire had about sixty
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2023

DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS

performances. Now, seven months later, 29 have already been performed in
Ukrainian. Anyone involved in stage work will understand what an incredible
job that is for actors who have worked only in Russian for their entire professional lives. But we will do it!

The theatre running away from the war
Luhansk Regional Academic Ukrainian Music and Drama Theatre(Luhansk / Severodonetsk / Sumy)
http://ukrlugteatr.com

The city of Luhansk is the center of the easternmost region of Ukraine. It is
located sixty kilometers from the Russian border, so most of the region’s population speaks Russian.
The Luhansk Regional Academic Ukrainian Music and Drama Theatre was124

founded in August 1941 as a theatre group in Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine
to serve Soviet military units and hospitals during World War II. After the 1944
liberation of the territory of Ukraine from the German invaders, the Theatre
returned from evacuation to Luhansk, where it began working as a regional
Ukrainian music and drama theatre.
Due to antiterrorist operations in eastern Ukraine, in December 2014
the Luhansk Theatre was to be moved from occupied Luhansk to the city of
Severodonetsk, which remained controlled by the Ukrainian authorities. Mostof the troupe remained in Luhansk, with only three employees (the director, theaccountant, and one actor) reaching the new location. They alone faced the taskof rebuilding the team in a new place and resuming full theatre operations as
quickly as possible.
Eight years later, in March 2022, the Luhansk Theatre was again forced toevacuate from the war zone. In June 2022, Russian troops captured
Severodonetsk.

Serhiy Dorofeev
Former Director and Artistic Director (2015-2022)of the Luhansk Regional Academic Ukrainian Music andDrama Theatre
Interview date: October 12, 2022

From Luhansk to Severodonetsk
Our Theatre has always worked in Ukrainian, and we were greatly loved by the
public back in Luhansk, despite that being a Russian-speaking region. This isbecause our performances have always been better and more interesting thanthose in other Luhansk theatres.
The Theatre was moved to Severodonetsk, and when I headed it in 2015, its
creative staff consisted of only ten people. But with just that limited staff, we had

125

to recreate the Luhansk Ukrainian Theatre from scratch in a new place.
The Theatre was allocated new premises in 2015, and our actors, who had left
Luhansk for destinations throughout Ukraine, began to return to us. To expand
our team, we invited students from various creative universities. Our Theatregave some of them their first job.
By 2016, the Theatre’s repertoire had grown to twelve performances. In thatsame year, the regional administration started major renovations of the oldbuilding, which was allocated specifically for our Theatre. In 2017, we got ourown stage and excellent technical equipment. Finally, it felt as if we had a homeagain.
Since we were the only theatre in the Luhansk region (in the part thatremained under Ukrainian control), we were tasked with meeting the needs of
all categories of the local population. We thus staged performances for both
adults and children. We performed classics (well-known and loved by audiences),musicals, entertaining performances, and modern plays. Since our team was very
young—the average age of our troupe members was 25—we invited young
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2023

DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS

Ukrainian directors and playwrights. We tried to show audiences a modern,experimental theatre.
Note that Severodonetsk is by no means a theatre city. It is a small industrial
town with a large chemical plant. Therefore, the public initially viewed us with
distrust and considered theatre in Ukrainian as something unusual. But overtime, audiences really fell in love with us. We attracted larger audiences, more
fans…in general, we managed to turn the tide of opinion in the city.
I remained clearly aware of the Theatre’s mission: to fortify Ukrainian
culture in the region. For the purpose of cultural enlightenment, in 2018 westarted our own theatre festival, to which we invited the most interesting performances from across Ukraine.
It was a wonderful eight years filled with very interesting and intense work,
but the Theatre had to evacuate again in 2022. Once again, we had to leave ourhomes, our Theatre, and Severodonetsk, along with the relationships we’d cultivated there.
126

24 February
On February 24, all residents of the Luhansk region were asked to evacuate. The
regional administration told the Theatre staff to prepare for departure, so westarted packing our things. Even on February 24, we could hear flying, landing,and exploding missiles in Severodonetsk.
Actually, we already had an action plan prepared, so we were able to contact
all employees in just fifteen minutes. We’d created lists in advance, specifying
who was ready to leave, who would need help to evacuate, who could evacuate on
their own, and who intended to remain in the city under any circumstances. Of
course, not everything went according to plan: some of those who said theywould stay were the first to leave, while some who’d planned to leave ended up
staying in the city for a long time.
In February, there was chaos in Severodonetsk. Crowds of confused people.
Huge transport convoys. Even so, the regional administration organized evacuations by rail, regularly traveling to the central and western regions of the country.
There were even special buses to bring people to railway stations. That lasted forover two weeks, until the railroad was bombed.
I remember it being very difficult to convince people of the need to leave
Severodonetsk. Our employees used the Theatre basement to hide from thebombing and shelling. But even they did not immediately decide to leave; they
thought everything would work out before they could move anywhere. Eventually, however, most everyone had to leave.
Interestingly, in 2014, only one-third of troupe members at the original
Luhansk Theatre left our native Luhansk for territory controlled by Ukraine. The
rest remained in Luhansk, accepted the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic as
the new government, and later a Russian one. By contrast, in 2022, more than
90% of our new young troupe left Severodonetsk for other territories of Ukraine
or elsewhere in Europe. Among the remaining 5–8% were those who welcomed
the Russians, but none were from our creative staff. Today, not a single one of ouractors remains in Severodonetsk.
When Russian troops entered Severodonetsk in June 2022, a tank destroyed
the theatre building with direct fire. There is a video recording of a captured

127

Donetsk People’s Republic fighter who explains why he fired ten shots at thetheatre: because his commander
believed that Ukrainian soldiers
were hiding inside. But there were
no soldiers there. I know that for
sure, because until the last minute I
remained in touch with colleagues
who had been living and hiding in
the Theatre. No one was hurt, thankGod, but the theatre was destroyed.
Only the walls remained.

The Luhansk Theatre in Severodonetsk was destroyed.

Our Theatre is a wanderer and a migrant
At the beginning of the evacuation, I joined part of the Theatre team in relocating to Dnipro (a large regional center in eastern Ukraine, located on the Dnieper,
the largest river in Ukraine). There we worked on the stage of the Dnipro
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2023

DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS

Academic Drama and Comedy Theatre (https://dramicom.dp.ua), which
accepted our troupe to its venue.
In July 2022, I was invited to become director of the M.S. Shchepkin
Sumy National Academic Drama and Musical Comedy Theatre (https://musicdrama.com.ua) in northern Ukraine. At around that time, Oleksandr
Grishkov, who worked as my deputy in Severodonetsk for eight years, headed
the Luhansk Theatre.
Today, the Sumy Theatre actually houses two theatres, two legal entities with
their own troupes and repertoires: the Luhansk Theatre and the Sumy Theatre.
The theatrical public in Sumy was at first surprised, wondering why theyneeded more than one theatre.
But our first performances weresold out and were a great successwith local theatregoers. The
Luhansk Theatre in Sumy thus
easily won over its audiences.

128

In August, the two troupes
and theatres coordinated to
produce a common project,Will. Freedom. Victory., as amusical performance for theWill. Freedom. Victory.

Independence Day of Ukraine
holiday. Now this show is
included in the Sumy Theatre
repertoire, and it is very popularwith audiences.
Our next coproduction will
be Shakespeare’s Romeo andJuliet. It will be a big musicalperformance with a live performance by the Sumy Theatre
orchestra.

Romeo and Juliet

Safety
The M.S. Shchepkin Sumy Theatre did not work during the first six months of
the war, because the Sumy region was partially occupied by Russian troops andthe city was surrounded. There was still danger even after the enemy was expelledfrom northern Ukraine. It was necessary to resolve all issues related to the safetyof audiences and employees at the Theatre before we could conduct any performances. This was the first task I had to resolve as a director.
The Theatre had a basement, in which people were living and hiding during
the city’s besiegement. We have refurbished it in accordance with safety requirements. The basement can only
accommodate 150 people, so I
also formed an agreement with
the Ukrainian Academy of
Banking, which is located nextdoor, that in the event of an air
raid during one of our perfor-

129

mances, they will share theirbomb shelter with us, providing room for another 50
people. This allows us to sellmore tickets and perform forLungs

200 people (in an 800-seatauditorium, but still).
We have also opened anewexperimental

space

directly below the revolving
stage. A “stage beneath thestage,” that is in a sense its ownbomb shelter. We have alreadystaged two chamber plays at
this venue: Lungs by Duncan
Macmillan and Borsch, based

BorschTheatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2023

DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS

on stories by Ostap Vyshnya (an extremely popular Ukrainian satirist).

Life goes on without Russians
We have zero interest in plays by Russian authors, regardless of whether they areclassics or contemporary works. Even in Severodonetsk our policy was for noshows by Russian authors, and I want to continue that in Sumy. Even if we comeacross good material, even if it is by an author with a neutral position toward thesituation in Ukraine, the answer is still no. So far as I am concerned, there are nogood Russians left, even including my own relatives from across Russia, fromPetersburg to Kamchatka. We no longer share a common position. We exist indifferent worlds.
Now we are expanding the Theatre’s repertoire, restoring previous performances in both our theatres. This is very difficult because many actors are on theroad—some in other Ukrainian cities, some abroad—and all our scenery andcostumes were burned in Severodonetsk. But under my lead, the Sumy Theatre
130

has put on three (of course, small-scale) performances. As a gift for children in
the region, we also perform The Carnival of the Animals, based on the musicalsuite by Camille Saint-Saëns, which allows children to become acquainted withmusical instruments and learn some basic musical knowledge. Tickets for thatshow are always sold out. All our new performances are also popular.
But like Severodonetsk, Sumy is a small town, and small towns do notsupport long runs; after ten performances our potential audiences have dried up.
Therefore, despite the war and the very difficult economic situation in Ukraine,
we have to increase the pace of our work. But so long as we can maintain our
Ukrainian playwright Natalia Vorozhbit’s Sasha,
Take Out the Garbage also entered the repertoire.

creative activities, we will keep bringing in audiences.
The people need theatre all themore during wartime. Visiting thetheatre is not unlike visiting friends
and relatives for understanding, forsupport. And we should provide themwith that.

Theatre in the rear
Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theatre(Ivano-Frankivsk)
http://www.dramteatr.if.ua/

The Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theatre is located in the city ofIvano-Frankivsk, in western Ukraine at the foot of the Ukrainian Carpathians(Prykarpattia). Both the city and the theatre bear the name of the outstanding
Ukrainian writer, poet, and cultural figure Ivan Franko (1856–1916). Now,
during the war, Ivano-Frankivsk is far from the front lines.
It was officially created in 1939 as a traveling theatre for amateur groups
from western Ukraine. It became the first professional Ukrainian theatre in the
Carpathian region during the Soviet era.
The website of the British Council describes the theatre as follows:
For a theatre that celebrated 80 years in 2019, the National Academic Drama
Theatre (Ivano-Frankivsk) boasts a remarkably youthful and energetic troupeand staff — one aching for increased opportunity for innovation. Over the last131

decade Rostyslav Derzhypilskiy has served as artistic director of this venue thatseats 900 in its large hall, and between 50–150 in its small hall. Theatre repertoire
strikes a performance balance, featuring everything from treatments of contemporary Ukrainian popular fiction to a shock operatic production of Hamlet toAlbert Camus’s Caligula, staged by French director Jules Audry. Upcoming productions include works by Sophocles, Shakespeare and Chekhov.
The Ivan Franko Theatre has tirelessly pursued international links, completing tours to the United States, Canada, Italy and Poland. It is currently developing Ukraine’s first Shakespeare Festival to feature both domestic and international productions. It has also put together the Gogol Fest and multi-disciplinary
Porto Franko festivals. This is an experienced and versatile group, one open tointernational collaboration and creative exchange, which is ready to tour.
(https://www.britishcouncil.org.ua/sites/default/files/theatre_profile_if_nadt.pdf)

They are an experienced and versatile group, open to international collaboration,
creative exchange, and ready to tour.
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2023

DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS

Rostyslav Derzhypilsky
General director and artistic director - actor, director,
producerat the Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theatre
Interview date: October 12, 2022

Repertoire without Russian
In 2019, our Theatre attained national status. From that time, we began to precisely plan our work as a theatre center for the whole of Ukraine. To that end, we
invited the best directors in the country for our productions. In 2022, we had
agreements with several Ukrainian and foreign directors.
We always planned our repertoire to include both classical plays and modern
132

drama. We also included Russian authors, Chekhov and modern playwrights.
The premiere of a play based on Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot was scheduled to takeplace here on March 12–13, 2022.
I have long dreamed of staging a work by Dostoyevsky, but at this moment,
after Russia’s invasion, all plays by Russian authors have been removed from ourrepertoire. Currently, staging Russian plays is out of the question.

February 24
At the beginning of the war, especially after learning about all the military horrors
and murders, the question for me personally was, Is there really a need for atheatre in such times? But I did not remain in such as confused state for long.
Literally just a few days after the war started, we turned our theatre into ahumanitarian and logistical center for transport and aid, supporting the soldiersof the Ukrainian Armed Forces and displaced persons from the eastern andsouthern parts of our country.
Our actors, even stars who are widely known in Ukraine and abroad, havebecome logisticians. Before the war, they participated in theatre projects acrossEurope, even starring in movies and television projects. The people therefore
placed a lot of trust in these actors, and in our team in general.
Funds from countries around the world immediately began to flow into thebank account of our public organization, which was established long ago to
support our Theatre. In just a few days, we collected a lot of goods for humanitarian aid: medicine, household items for displaced persons, and many other things.
This work was led by our employees: actors Nadiya Levchenko and Ivan Bindarand our chief choreographer Dmytro Leka. They communicated with parties
around the world.
My deputy managing director, sound engineer, and some technical staff
went to the front, but I tried to retain our actors because replacing them would
make it nearly impossible to recreate the synergy we had developed as a troupe.
Our sewing department, which in normal times sews costumes for thetheatre, began to sew items for the military.
Many refugees from Kyiv, Kharkiv, and eastern and southern Ukraine
appeared in our city. Some lived in our theatre for a while. Therefore, our actors

133

created a kind of counseling center for refugee children, where they could play,communicate, and spend time.

When theatre becomes more than theatre
We quickly resumed actual
theatrical activities. Here is
why: A few years ago, we set
up a stage in our theatre’s
large basement, where weplayed Shakespeare’s Hamlet
and Romeo and Juliet. This
basement became a bomb
shelter for use during air
raids, a time when many
people came to us, including
displaced persons. I must

HamletTheatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2023

DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS

confess that such scenes werevery difficult to watch, because
everyone there was psychologically traumatized. Among the
refugees were pregnant women,
women with small children,
even people bringing pets.
They were all very scaredduring the air raids, even to thepoint of sickness. In those first
Romeo and Juliet

days, therefore, all our theatre
employees approached them as

psychologists and tried to calm them down.
Then a thought came to me: Why not risk doing what we know best?
I didn’t know what plays would be best to perform for these people. Come134

dies, for people who have witnessed horror and violence? Tragedies, despite ourbeing surrounded by tragedy ourselves?
But we took that risk, and in early March we put on our first performance.
That was Aeneid, which is based on a burlesque travesty poem by the Ukrainian
writer Ivan Kotlyarevskyi and the first literary work published in modern
Ukrainian (in 1798). We next played Hamlet, to show our gratitude to the peopleof Great Britain for their unprecedented support of Ukraine, then Nation, basedon the works of contemporary Ukrainian writer Maria Mathios.
All doubts about the people’s need for theatre evaporated when we reada social networking post by one of our viewers. A woman from Bucha wrote
the following:
When the war came and the bombing began, I took my family, my children
and hid them all in the basement. I didn’t cry then, because I understood that I
had no right to cry, that I had to keep calm and strong, that I am responsible formy family’s safety. We sat in the basement for a week, afraid to go upstairs
because everything outside and on the street had been destroyed by rockets. I
didn’t cry then, either, because I understood that I had to provide my family with

food, water, and warmth.
When I realized it was time
to move on, we gathered ourbelongings and fled our city
under bombs. Even then I did
not cry, because I understoodthat I was responsible for myfamily and had no room for

On August 22, 2021, before the war began, Aeneid was staged on
the summit of Mt. Pip Ivan.

panic. When we arrived in
Ivano-Frankivsk, I still did
not cry, because I knew I still
had many issues to solve,
starting with finding housing
for my family and children.
But one day, during yet
another air raid, I got to135

watch a performance at theIvan Franko Theatre. I burst
into tears from the firstwords

spokenwhentheNation Photo: Bohdan Savliuk

director and actors cameonto the stage and started the play, and I cried through the entire thing, until thelast sound of their performance. After that, I felt better. I looked at the world
around me and gradually understood what I had to do next, how to continue
existing for my family. I didn’t miss a single performance after that.
These words really struck us. We once again realized how theatre can be a
powerful therapy. Art can accomplish even things professionals cannot. A traumatized person must make the decision to visit a psychologist or psychotherapist
and request treatment, and the specialist must seek an individual approach foreach patient. But those visiting the theatre can subconsciously “live through”
their trauma. They can experience the catharsis that audiences have sought at thetheatre for thousands of years, and they can leave cleansed and changed.
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2023

DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS

We thus introduced our“Bomb Shelter Theatre” project,and during the whole of Marchwe put on plays in our theatre
basement. So far as I know, we
People gathered for a performance in a theatre
basement bomb shelter. Photo: Bohdan Savliuk

were the only theatre in Ukrainethat continued its activities
from the beginning of the war.

Interestingly, we even managed to provide large-scale performances in ourbomb shelter. Before that, I had no idea what unusual content was possible insuch a limited space.
As early as April 2022, we returned to our usual theatre format, utilizing fivestages. When an air-raid alarm sounded, the show would (and still does) stop.
Everyone, both actors and audience, heads for the bomb shelter, waits until the
all-clear is given, then returns together to finish the performance.
136

What to stage during the war, and whether to stage about the war
During the first six months of the war, I found it difficult to read books or watch
serious films or plays. But I understood that the theatre must move on and that
we theatre people should react to what is happening.
But what should we stage plays about? We had extensive discussions withfriends and colleagues who are theatre scholars, and we finally realized that intimes like these, it is possible to use what we call the “poster style.” While I lovethe subtle emotions in Chekhov’s plays and the psychological dramas of
Dostoyevsky, these do not work during war, because our world has been reduced
to black and white. A style like the unequivocal presentations of propaganda
posters is thus better suited.
At that time, the famous Ukrainian composers Roman Grygoriv and Illia
Razumeiko, who primarily work in contemporary opera, were at the Theatre.
Roman is also a member of the Presidential National Orchestra, so we had theidea of developing a joint project with the Presidential Orchestra, with theirmusical element (more than fifty musicians) and our cast on stage, and me asdirector. We created Fightfor Ukraine as a performance concert in the posterstyle,

includingspiritual

Ukrainian and world music,
Ukrainianpoetryclas-

sics by Taras Shevchenko
and Vasyl Stefanyk, andFight for Ukraine

Ukrainian military songs.
This performance presented themes of Ukrainian identity and how Russia
had destroyed us in previous centuries. Some very politically incorrect things
were often spoken on that stage. But we realized that such was necessary for bothus and our audience. That held for both western Ukraine locals and, most interestingly, for refugees from the east and south of the country, within whom a
Ukrainian spirit had already sprouted. We realized that they too needed to beable to recognize themselves as Ukrainians. Even in the Russian acculturated

137

east, there are now people who self-identify as Ukrainian. That’s pretty cool too.
A new Ukrainian nation is arising before our eyes.
I am very reserved about topical drama on subjects related to modern war. I
know there have been many readings of Ukrainian authors here and in Europe,and that documentary theatre has become very popular. But I think a certain
time should pass so that we can view current events from afar, from a little distance. Right now, only painful reflections are possible, but theatrical art calls fora more refined understanding and artistic generalization.
In the West, everyone is very interested in our reaction to these military
events, but I want to prevent Ukrainian art and theatre from being associatedsolely with war, so that we do not reduce ourselves to war victims, forevercrying and bemoaning our fate. We must maintain a higher level of artistic
accomplishment.

Our plans regarding Ukraine
Our repertoire of course includes domestic classics. But it so happened that as
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2023

DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS

director I had never staged a classical Ukrainian work. That is why I want torealize such productions now, but we will of course interpret them from modern
perspectives, not in classical presentations.
We have planned premieres of plays by Ukrainian playwrights, including
Sorochintsy Fair by Hryhoriy Kvitka-Osnovyanenko and Forest Song by Lesya
Ukrainka. And we will definitely stage comedies! There is no need for avoiding
levity. Without doubt, we need to heal the nation, and theatre has proven itself asa powerful therapy. We are currently working on these performances, with premieres scheduled for the end of October and November. Other than that, I am
afraid I am not yet at liberty to speak.

After the interview: Marina Kotelenets
Five months have passed since I recorded theseinterviews. Five months of war. During thattime, the Ukrainian theatre had to act as did all138

Ukrainians throughout our country: to conduct
military operations, while at the same time saving
lives and everything connected with them.
Theatres have resumed their work to the extent
possible, restoring previous performances and evenpreparing premieres. During this period, many
stages in our country presented performances about the war. But audiences, as
might be expected, currently prefer “light” performances. Comedies, melodramas, and detective stories have traditionally led box office sales, and such trends
have only strengthened during the war. Also, live concerts by orchestras andclassical ensembles have suddenly become wildly popular. Many are defiantly
held by candlelight, metamorphosing uncertainty regarding the availability oflight and electricity (since buildings and entire urban districts can lose power at
any time) into an exquisite aesthetic gesture.
But the most important trend today is incredible activity among young
Ukrainian playwrights and their incisive, gut reactions to the shocks of war.
Throughout the world today, there is unprecedented interest in our authors.

Readings, performances, and festivals with Ukrainian playwrights and actors arebeing held all over Europe and in the United States. Collections of their new plays
have been released in France and the US.
Texts by today’s Ukrainian authors are in many respects journalistic anddocumentary. They are like transcripts of the lives Ukrainian people are currently experiencing, the trials and travails of ordinary people. Their historicalvalue is undeniable, but farther down the road we will see them flower into great
artistic results.
In the meantime, the Ukrainian text that has become best known to theworld is Natalia Vorozhbit’s Bad Roads, which the author wrote in 2017 about thestart of the war in eastern Ukraine, which stretches all the way back to 2014.
Kotelenets, Marina
Marina Kotelenets graduated from the Kyiv National I.K. Karpenko-Karyi University of Theatre,
Cinema and Television (M.S. Theatre Studies) and the Taras Shevchenko National Universityof Kyiv (M.S. Psychology). Marina worked as an art critic and journalist for Ukrainian
publications, then began teaching at her alma mater Karpenko-Karyi University in the
Department of Theatre Studies. Since 2011, she also works at the UPO All-Ukrainian League
of Authors as an expert in working with theatres and playwrights. Since 2016, she has been
director of the All-Ukrainian League of Authors.

139(Translation: Tatiana Vernoslov and Tony Gonzalez)

Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2023