The production Eight Short Compositions from the Life of Ukrainians for a Western Audience, which premiered in mid-March at the Archa Theater and was based on a text by the Ukrainian writer Anastasia Kosodii, will be presented for the last time on its home stage.
The audience will have the opportunity to see her on the boards of Archa on September 23 and 24 for the last time. Before that, it will be performed on September 18 as part of the International Theater Festival in Pilsen. Next year, the creators plan to present the production mainly abroad.
“Eight short compositions from the life of Ukrainians for a Western audience are a reaction to Russian arrogance directed against the peaceful Ukrainian nation. Five performers from different European countries, Ireland, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden and Ukraine meet on stage. In the metaphorical space of the theater defined by text projection, musical composition, singing and personal statement, the production searches for hope rooted in the tradition and routine of everyday life,” describes the theater director Jana Svobodová, who created a stage for the text, which is partly based on the personal experiences of the author and her family during.
After its presentation at the Prague Quadriennial, the production met with great acclaim from the international professional public. In the future, the creative team plans to present the production at festivals in the Czech Republic and abroad. English, Ukrainian, Irish, Swedish and Dutch are heard from the scene. The text, as written by the author, is shown in Czech and English.
“How to talk about Ukraine? In the theater, but not just any! Theater that avoids the trap of sentimentality that is quickly felt and quickly forgotten. As well as the traps of rational and disengaged detachment. Anastasiia Kosodii (text) and Jana Svobodová (direction) found the right balance. …. A theatrical ceremony that challenges us in its diversity and leads us to think, to a different feeling of what the flowing river of media floods us with every day.” – French critic Stéphane Gilbart (Journal de bord – de scène – Les théâtres)
The production was created in cooperation with the Jam Factory center in Lviv as part of the international project Artists in War.
