The new play by Dmytro Ternovy wins the “Calmius” literature contest

The play “39 or the Apocalypse Bus” was recognized as the best work in the nomination “adult drama” at “Calmius” literature contest.

The “Calmius” literature contest of Eastern Ukraine was carried out this year for the first time. There were more than 2000 applications of works in Ukrainian for it. 227 contestants have been chosen for the final. On December 11th-12th, in the city of Kramatorsk, they awarded the winners in seven nominations (the children’s and the adult poetry, prose, drama as well a political essays).

The play “39 or the Apocalypse Bus” reconstructs the ambient of a town on a border to the war zone, where the attempts of the people to hide away behind their day-to-day affairs get destroyed by external threats. The action takes place inside of a city bus which turns out to be an “unusual” one: it makes no stops, it keeps going faster and faster and the passengers cannot communicate with the driver. As a result, nobody can guess, where and when the bus goes and what they will find in the end of this crazy journey.

The play was finished in early 2015, it bases fully on Kharkiv events, many names and events are recognizable. Many conversations between the passengers have been painted from life.  “It is very emblematic that the play has won at “Calmius”, in the front-line city of Kramatorsk”, – Dmyto Ternovy mentioned.

There are 41 protagonists in the play, but the author says, “the theater makes everything possible, so it can surely be staged with a smaller number of actors”

The “Calmius” festival was designed as a de-occupation instrument for Donbass. The competition final turned into a literature and artistic festival with artists from all over Ukraine, which contained performances, workshops, presentations, book exhibitions, concerts. We expect a two-part “Calmius’ almanac to be published soon. It will contain all winning works. They plan for a presentation of the almanac.

Dmytro Ternovy is a play writer, co-founder of Theatre na Zhukah, curator of “Theater Window on Europe” project. “Calmius” is the second major contest where he has won as a play writer. In 2012, his play “Break Down” where the events on Maidan were predicted, won the major European drama contest of Eastern Europe “Speaking about Boarders. Living at Times of Change”. The play was published and staged in Germany and Austria, translated into German, Polish and French. Another play of his “The Harlequins” was shown in Theatre na Zhukah several years long.