The production “Against” uses plays by modern Ukrainian playwrights about the country’s struggle for its freedom, written after February 24.
On February 24, the anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the actors of the Dnipro Academic Theater of Drama and Comedy “Dramikom” will perform the one-act play “Against” in Kyiv.
It was staged by director Anton Mezhenin based on the texts of modern Ukrainian playwrights — Iryna Harets, Ihora Bilitsa, Lyudmila Tymoshenko, Maryna Smilyanets, Nina Zahozhenko. All of them were created after the start of a full-scale invasion.
Premiere on the stage of the National Academic Drama Theater named after Lesya Ukrainka.
“Contrary” is a unique creative project that reflects the events of the present and the past. The performance combines documentary, modern drama, play and plastic theater (choreographer Yevhen Karyakin).
“It’s about everything we experienced during the Revolution of Dignity, throughout the Russian-Ukrainian war, what we’ve been feeling since February 24 and what our Ukrainian people have been fighting for for 400 years,” the theater says. — The project deeply and accurately articulates the experience of war, the defense of one’s own independence and freedom. The music and songs to the words of Serhiy Zhadan and Oleg Kadanov, which sound in the performance, reinforce its important meanings and messages.”
The production brings us back to the most iconic events and episodes of this war with its heroes and symbols, and, contrary to the enemy’s plans, encourages us to live, fight and win.
One of the main characters of the play “Against” is played by a participant of the Revolution of Dignity Valery Lagodaa native of Nikopol, which is now mercilessly shelled by the Russian occupiers.
“When Maidan took place in 2014, I was a graduate of the theater college in Dnipro. It was the time of final exams, between which I ran to local squares and demonstrations, because it was impossible to watch people being beaten and killed for freedom and remain silent, – recalls Valeriya. — In January 2014, together with our classmates, we went to audition at the Donetsk Drama Theater. But fate decreed otherwise and left me in the Dnipro. In 2022, when the full-scale invasion began, my family and I decided to stay in Ukraine and continue working on the cultural and educational front in our theater.”
Performance duration: 1 hour 30 minutes. Age restrictions: 16+
Today, DRAMiCOM is a theater that has managed to get rid of its Russian-speaking past. During the war, he produced five premieres, three of which were based on modern Ukrainian drama.
The play “Against” Premiere in Kyiv
When: February 24 at 6:00 p.m
Where: National Academic Drama Theater named after Lesya Ukrainka (Kyiv, 5 Bohdan Khmelnytskyi St.), main stage
Ticket price: 150-500 UAH.
Immigrant actors will play “King Lear” in Kyiv. Shakespeare’s tragedy united non-professional actors from different cities who found a new home in western Ukraine.
Maria Kataeva
