In the bunker: Scene from Rostislav Derschipilskyj's “The Song of the Forest on the Field of Blood” at the Ivano-Frankivsk National Theater
Image: Ivano-Frankivsk National Theater
This time the Ukrainian theater festival GRA is taking place under wartime conditions. The stages honor the frontline service of their artists, some of whom come by as spectators on their home leave. A report.
AWhen I received the invitation to become an international jury member of the Ukrainian theater festival GRA at the end of last year, my feelings were conflicted. When I was in Kiev last April, I was able to see for myself that the theater in Ukraine is alive and well attended, perhaps even more so than before the war. During the first six months of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, theaters were closed, before that there was the pandemic, and audiences appreciate being able to go to the theater again.
At that time, during the break of a play, I met some Ukrainian actors who were fighting in the war. They wore military uniforms and had been released from the meat grinder of Bakhmut for a short vacation. “What is it like there in Bakhmut – terrible?” was the question I managed to force out of myself. “Well, how should I answer . . . Terrible,” a young actor-soldier replied briefly. I didn't ask him anything else. We finished smoking and went back to watch the second half of the play.
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