The team of the leading capital theater maintains a firm and unshakable position regarding the impossibility of participating in international events in which representatives of the aggressor country participate.
As reported on the collective’s official page on the Facebook social network, more than four months ago, the Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theater agreed to participate in the Theater Olympiad with the plays “Arturo Ui’s Career” and “Caligula” only after receiving assurance from the organizers that there are no representatives of the aggressor country Russia in the program.
“In a letter to the organizers dated January 19, 2023, our theater once again announced our unshakable position and emphasized that calls to find a “dialogue without politics” and restore “broken bridges” with Russian artists are absolutely unacceptable,” the post on team page.
However, despite the full understanding and solidarity with Ukraine expressed in response, recently the program of the Olympics was supplemented with the play “REX” staged by the artistic director of the Alexandrinsky Theater Valery Fokin. His film “Petropolis” starring Anton Shagin, a Russian actor who actively supports the war against Ukraine, was also screened as part of the Olympics.
“Our theater sincerely sought to join a major world theatrical event and did a lot of work in preparing for the screening of Ukrainian plays in Budapest, but we cannot agree with the dubious “neighborhood” in the program of the Theater Olympiad,” the Franka Theater claims, stressing its unshakable position regarding the impossibility of participation in international events to which representatives of the terrorist country and persons who justify Russia’s aggression are invited.
Despite this, the team of the Ivan Franko National Theater understands the importance of presenting Ukrainian culture abroad and constantly works on the development of international cooperation with colleagues from all over the world.
Currently, the theater is preparing to participate in several international festivals in Europe, news about which will appear a little later.
