Such is the title of a dramatic trilogy written and directed by Vladyslav Troyitsky, starring the Bozhychi folk performing group. The first part, “Life,” premiered at the Dakh modern art center, to be followed by “Creed” and “The Earth” on the same premises.
The trilogy is meant as a reminder to man of his roots. If you are irresistibly drawn to the Ukrainian countryside, if you are fond of Ukrainian colloquialisms, juicy phrases, and folk songs, you must watch this play. You will find yourself involved in the game almost instantly. You will be met by the key characters — the Bridegroom, Fiancee, Concertina player, and Widow — in the foyer. Singing, they will show you in the audience and seat you at a table with plates of potatoes, bread, fatback, pickled cucumbers, sauerkraut. You will be served vodka and kvass. They will drink and talk with you. In a word, you won’t be someone in the audience, but a guest in a Ukrainian village home. You will watch scenes from life in the countryside: wedding; wife seeing her husband off to the army; mourning a fellow villager killed in battle. The performance is the result of serious work by the producer and cast. Bozhychi tries to preserve folk authenticity and reproduce it onstage with almost jeweler’s precision. Hence the freedom of improvisation, unusual sincerity, and naturalness of the actor’s intonations, complete absence of dramatic affectation. And the vernacular is conveyed with all its rugged charm.
Actually, the play is listened to rather than watched. There is no plot as such. Daily matters are discussed, routine household chores done, intermingled with a wedding party, other festive and solemn occasions, monologues followed by dialogues. In contrast, “Life” teems with songs (borrowed by the cast — undergraduates and graduate students of the Folklore Chair, Tchaikovsky Music Academy of Ukraine — from genuine folk performers). This is the most attractive aspect of Vladyslav Troyitsky’s pilot project. An attempt is made to convey the atmosphere of a vanishing culture, with the viewer being totally immersed in it. Nor is it coincidental that many in the “audience” join in a folk song, as though cued by the producer who wanted everyone to take part in the show.
