British director teaches documentary theatre to Ukrainian students

Tommy Lexen, the founder of the London BeFrank Theatre, will tell about his method of working with documentary material and will conduct the trainings in Kharkov, Lviv and Kiev.

He’ll stay in Ukraine from 26 September to 7 October in the framework of the program of Kharkiv Theatre na Zhukah “Theatrical Window to Europe”. The project is supported by the European program TANDEM “Dialogue for change”.

The producer of “Theatre na Zhukah” and the curator of the program “Theatrical window to Europe” Dmitry Ternovoy believes that nowadays the audience for the documentary theatre has formed in Ukraine.

“Society has changed dramatically, and, I think, today there are quite a lot of people who would like to see in the theatre performances that reflect real events. But the theatres often lack knowledge of how to make such stagings. I think the trainings will give some impetus to the students to take up the documentary genre more seriously, “- he said.

Last April in London, BeFrank Theatre put on stage the play “The Point of No Return” about the February events on the Maidan. Tommy Lexen had worked on it for over a year, and it was praised by the critics and the audience. The British director said that he is happy to share his experience with Ukrainian students.

“We strive to make an honest theatre based on real-life stories, and I think that Ukrainians will benefit much from learning about our way of working,” – he said.

Apart from the trainings for the students, the joint sessions for exchanging experience with the local theatres are also planned in all the cities: with “Theatre na Zhukah” in Kharkov, theatre “Peretvorennya” in Kiev and the Les Kurbas Theatre in Lviv. The Swedish actress of Ukrainian origin Svetlana Beeba, who was the director of stage movement in the play “The Point of No Return”, will be helping Tommy Leksen.

In 2011 Theatre na Zhukah launched the educational project for students of theatre schools ‘Theatrical Window to Europe”. The directors of Western theatres conduct the master classes for Ukrainian students. Previously, students were introduced to the methods of work of contemporary Polish theater, a traditional French commedia dell’arte, and to the Georgian dance.

The TANDEM program “Dialogue for change” is implemented in the framework of public initiatives of MitOst and UNAEDI. It is designed to support cross-border cooperation and cultural development of civil society.