Sometimes it happens like this: theater season is finished, the actors go on vacation, but then suddenly they gather one evening to play a show. It happened this time at First Ukrainian Theater for Children and Youth. The play was chosen from the latest theater’s premieres – Dogs. This is Kostiantyn Serhiienko’s short story Goodbye, Yar! adapted by director Yevhen Chystoklietov. The tragic story of free dogs’ fate (and between the lines: the fate of free people – the allusions of our time’s hopelessness and calamity turn dogs into allegorical images), which enter their doomed life with honesty and light.
In this production, the director had his debut as an actor. A human – Yevhen Chystoklietov will abruptly come to the forefront and lead us into the world of Yar. It will last for only a moment, and then the audience will emerge into the painful animal life – the act develops rapidly despite third-person perspective of the text. The audience will have no time for a respite, not an opportunity to shed a single tear... Actors will impress with perfections of physical shape, with their immense concentration. If one considers that actors should be advocates of their characters, they would see perfect advocates in this play. The work of choreographer Ninel Zberia is impressive. But if you think that dancing takes most of the play’s time, I would have to disappoint you – her work is subtle, but evident in every motion of the actors (though gentle pet Dogs played by Alekseienko sisters would dance, coyly and seductively). Here we see charming Vasyl Balitsky, and in a moment, a sharp movement of his hands and a facial expression – before us is Black, a violent cur leading a pack of stray dogs. And in another moment Proud – played by Dmytro Bartkov – will cross the entire stage in one jump, look into the audience’s hearts with his open eyes of a child, and the audience will watch the world through his eyes. Wisdom and goodness will shine through the eyes of Big-Head – played by Bohdan Balko, as they will not be obscured even when he puts his dreamed-about hat on... Tenderness will emanate from the performance of pained Crumbs by Mykhailo Ponzel, and Dachshund, played by Liubov Movchan, will grimly guard her bow-tie. The death of Lame – Sasha Tryfoniuk – will also be a bright, memorable episode... As will be another, about the incredible dreams of the dogs in the pack, cuddled into a ball somewhere in the back of the stage; everyone in their sleep saying their innermost desires. One wants to defend and protect them, as if you are able to change the course of the play from the audience... but it has its own set of event, in a moment the “soloist” will be a cat with a Japanese name Yamamoto. Oleksandr Chesherov is a perfect cat! Looks like his paws are ready to tear someone’s skin off. He can be a friend but stay true to his cat’s nature – and I do not know whether I write about the cat character, or about the real actor Chesherov... It is difficult to understand the subject of Chystoklietov’s play – is it about dogs, or about humans? It hurts for every dog who is abandoned, but then you will have allusions with the cruelty inherent in this world... and for one show, there’s an allusion too many. But most importantly, this performance gives great hope for the future of Ukrainian theater. At least in Lviv. And of course, at First Ukrainian Theater for Children and Youth.
