Vissarion Belinsky once wrote in his article about the theater: “Do you love the theater? With all of your heart… with all the devotion born of sparkling youth…” For many years these lines have lived a life of their own — some theater-goers tend to recall them with special clarity at the beginning of the fall, for this part of the year is associated with the end of summer vacations, the beginning of the school year, and the start of the theatrical season. It is at the start of the fall that the actors’ creative energy receives a special fresh impetus, with the stage directors totally immersing themselves in rehearsals and critics wishing to become part of the audience rather than doing their job. Theatergoers frequently stop in front of posters to study the repertoire. Will the Ukrainian drama companies pique their audiences’ interest, pleasantly surprise, and justify their confidence?
UKRAINIAN PROSE OR CHERCHEZ LA FEMME
This September the Ivan Franko Ukrainian Drama Theater will offer its stage version of Olha Kobylianska’s V nediliu rano zillia kopala (On Sunday Morning She Gathered Herbs, 1909; script by Neda Nezhdana; directed by Dmytro Chyrypiuk). The drama company’s artistic director, Bohdan Stupka, admits that he has seen quite a few interpretations of this text, but he regards V. Vasylko’s latest version as the most interesting one. The Franko drama company’s objective is to have their say, to make a new statement on the matter of Ukrainian prose writings turned into stage productions. The Franko company, in fact, allows one to share some of their professional secrets. Thus, the style of the plot and the very genre took time to come to fruition. The original idea was to stage a musical, yet the crew eventually followed a different course. The audiences will pass judgment on the result.
In addition to classical Ukrainian prose, the Franko drama company plans to stage Milk and Blood, a novel by Luko Dashvar (this unusual pen name was adopted by the Ukrainian author Iryna Chernova, winner of the Word Coronation Award). Although this project is being treated with caution at the company, the very fact that Yurii Odynoky is the stage director means that it will be accomplished and that the theater-goers will enjoy the beautiful Marusia with a coral necklace on the stage of Ukraine’s number one drama company.
Incidentally, this stage version may be the reason for public interest in the original text. There was a similar situation with Maria Matios’ Solodka Darusia (Sweet Darusia) at the Ivan Franko Theater, when people left the theater after the performance and hurried to the nearest bookstore to buy the book.
CLASSICS
As usual, Kyiv’s stage directors remain interested in foreign classical plots, including drama and prose. In the new season the Youth Theater will stage Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. The classical text will sound in a new way, considering that the company’s artistic and stage director, Stanislav Moiseev, assigned one of the main parts to the recklessly eccentric actor Oleksii Vertynsky. This company’s audience will most likely witness stunts and new renditions of classical lines.
The Franko Theater plans to stage The Tempest. Andrii Bilous, a young albeit experienced stage director, envisages a project based on prose, after his successful production of Richard III. This time it will be Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron at the Kyiv Academic Drama and Comedy Theater on the Left Bank
Oleksii Lysovets will stage Luigi Pirandello’s pastoral comedy Liola at the same company. I might as well point out that the Left Bank Theater has for a number of years successfully performed “Not Too Much Wine… or 70 Revolutions,” based on Pirandello’s short stories. This time Kyiv theater buffs will enjoy the celebrated Italian’s dramaturgy. The stage director Yurii Odynoky plans to stage J.B. Priestley’s The Scandalous Affair of Mr. Kettle and Mrs. Moon (starring Volodymyr Nechyporenko). The premiere is scheduled for November.
The new theatrical season offers room for impressionistic plays. Iryna Klishchevska, the artistic and stage director of the Koleso (Wheel) Theater, will stage a play based on the Freudian devotee Arthur Schnitzler’s Der Ruf des Lebens. At one time this play at the Youth Theater was subject to critique, yet it won its audience. This time Koleso will present an altogether different plot entitled Zabavky (Child’s Play).
The Drama and Comedy Theater on the Left Bank will adhere to lasting cultural values, thanks too the company’s artistic director Eduard Mytnytsky. This trend is, in fact, the company’s unwritten motto. This season’s repertoire includes the premiere of Chekhov’s Three Sisters, a play that will distract the audience from daily chores while keeping their minds occupied.
And, of course, Mikhail Bulgakov’s timeless novel The Master and Margarita, with its characters being currently viewed as a kind of archetypes. The Ivan Franko Theater plans to stage this play with its multilayered image-bearing plot and inimitably variegated style.
FAIRY TALES
Ukraine’s drama companies make their plans with an eye to the younger generation. The Youth Theater makes every such play a big mystery and somehow every such production wins all kinds of awards and, most importantly, attracts an ardent youthful audience. This season’s repertoire includes the Grimm Brothers’ K nig Drosselbart (King Thrushbeard), staged by Yulia Maslak, music by Yurii Shevchenko, production design by Olena Bohatyriova.
The Ivan Franko Theater plans to stage I. Nebesny and A. Navrotsky’s Kotyhoroshko (The Rolling Bean) and V. Vasalatii’s Cinderella.
The above is just a glimpse of the repertoire and premieres. Quite a number of actors and stage directors have declined comment, either because they are superstitious or for professional reasons, so watch the posters and try not to miss a good performance.
The Ivan Franko Academic Drama Theater and the Koleso Kyiv Theater opened their doors on September 4. The Kyiv Academic Drama Theater on the Left Bank followed suit on September 8. Kyiv Academic Youth Theater in Podil did so on September 15.
