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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.

The dance group “Elva” from Tbilisi arrived in Kharkiv to conduct a series of master classes on Georgian national dance.

“We have been waiting for their arrival for a long time and we’re happy that we are finally able to realize our dream,” – said Dmitry Ternovoy, the producer of Theatre na Zhukah.

“Zhuki”s met the Georgian group at the theatre festivals in the Czech Republic, where they took part in their workshops several times.

“We are very fond of these guys, they are wonderful people, terrific dancers and teachers, and we have been trying to organize their training in Kharkov for several years. We planned a similar project in the spring of 2014, but there were just the days when separatists seized the Kharkiv Regional Administration. So we had to cancel the visit of Georgians, because it was impossible to guarantee their safety, “- said D.Ternovoy.

Now the project has been made possible due to the German program DAAD, which supports a variety of training programs and exchanges in Ukraine.

Classes will be organized primarily for students of theatre schools in Kharkiv: Kotlyarevsky Kharkov National University of Arts and Kharkiv State Academy of Culture.

“This project is a part of our long-term program “The theatrical window to Europe “, which we started in 2011. The program is oriented exactly to the students of theatre universities in Ukraine. Its aim is to introduce the students with a variety of modern theatrical culture and schools that exist in Europe, “- said D.Ternovoy.

He also said that in the nearest future in the framework of “Theatre window to Europe” a few more events that have received grant support from European institutions will be held. The training of the British director Tommy Lexen on documentary theatre, as well as joint sessions on musical theatre conducted by the German filmmaker André Erlen and composer and singer Mariana Sadovskaya.

Earlier in the framework of “Theatrical window to Europe” “Zhuki”s have organized the visits to Ukraine of Polish theatre “Scream” (School of Grotowski) and “Brama” (Stanevsky school), French actors Mark Jacquet and Gilles Sovestre (commedia dell’arte). The theatre colleges and universities in Kharkov, Kiev, Nikolayev, Lvov, Dnepropetrovsk were involved in various projects of “Window to Europe”.

The Chamber Dance Group Elva was established in Tbilisi in 2010 and aims to support various social and educational projects, the popularization of Georgian culture in the world. The group participates regularly in various international projects, including the European program EVS «Youth in Action”. It has the extensive experience in conducting workshops and trainings on the Georgian dance at the festivals in the Czech Republic, Poland, Spain, Greece, Norway and other countries.

The project of Kharkiv “Theatre na Zhukah” and London BeFrank Theatre Company will receive the support within the framework of European programme “Tandem”, aimed at the development of cultural and civil society in Ukraine and strengthening its ties with the European countries.

The representatives of two theatres met on the forum of the “Tandem” programme in November in Lviv. Twenty representatives of cultural organizations from Ukraine and European countries were chosen on a competitive basis to participate in the forum. Within a few days, the participants had a possibility to find common ground with potential partners and to develop the idea of joint actions. According to the announced results, 12 out of 20 projects, proposed by tandems, will receive the financial support. The English-Ukrainian theatre project is among them.

The main part of the project will be master classes and workshops for students of Ukrainian theatre institutes. The British guests will show how the information that surrounds us can be converted into a theatrical action.

“BeFrank Theatre” makes the stagings on the documentary basis, deeply exploring contemporary social processes in different countries. In April 2015 the staging “The Point of No Return”, based on the events of the Maidan, will be released in London. To make this staging the group leader Tommy Lexen came to Ukraine on purpose, interviewing people in different cities, studying the sentiment of people. He takes from the air the up-to-date information and makes an interesting performance on its basis – this is a foundation of his work.

In Ukraine, which is now changing rapidly, such productions that acute match the reality are in demand, but very few people know how to make them qualitatively. We hope that our project for students will push the development of documentary theatre in Ukraine “, – said the producer “Theatre na Zhukah” Dmitro Ternovyj.

The trainings and the workshops by Tommy Lex and his colleagues are planned to be organized in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Lviv in the fall next year. Also the public discussions, joint trainings and master classes of “Zhuki” and BeFrank Theatre are to be hold.

In addition, D.Ternovyj said he intends to look for opportunities to organize in Ukraine the showing of the English production about Maidan. “These performances followed by discussions with the audience would give us the opportunity to see ourselves and our own events from the other point of view, it is better to hear and understand each other, and thus reduce the barriers that divide us,” – he said.

“Theatre na Zhukah” launched an educational project for students of theatre schools “Theatrical window to Europe” in 2011. Within the context of this project the directors of Western theatres periodically give master classes for Ukrainian students. Previously, students were introduced to the methods of work of modern Polish theatre and traditional French commedia dell’arte.

BeFrank Theatre (http://justbefrank.eu) was found in 2010. It makes showings based on real life stories, current events, key social and political events, uniting journalists, scientists, musicians, political experts in the process of work in order to examine different points of view on the major issues of global peace.

“Theatre na Zhukah” was opened in December 2007. It has both classical and contemporary plays in its repertoire. Based on the national tradition, it is opened to the perception of creative experiment of other schools. It’s been an active participant in many festivals, including the foreign ones. It also has an extensive experience in the implementation of various international projects.

TANDEM programme “Dialogue for Change” is being implemented within the framework of community initiatives of MitOst and UNAEDI. It is based on the belief that in the transition period of crisis Ukraine is going through cultural cross-border collaborations supports not only the dialogue, but also allows for the development of new forms of civic engagement, supporting a process of social transformation.

“Theatre na Zhukah” on the occasion of its birthday releases a new show – “The Mad Day” based on the classic French comedy written by Beaumarchais – “The Marriage of Figaro”.

“Once we had removed from the repertoire the romantic comedy “Twelfth Night”, based on the namesake play by Shakespeare, we missed having the easy and fun play. We started to work on Beaumarchais’ play over a year ago, even before all the political turmoil. Working on the show helped us, at least during rehearsals, to turn ourselves off from this wave. We hope that our performance for the audience will be an excellent opportunity to relax, to spend a nice theatrical evening and to fill oneself with positive emotions”,- said the director and artistic director of the theatre Olga Ternova.

She also noted that she still tends to not repeat genres of plays, enabling actors to learn something new, so “The Mad Day” is made in the spirit of eccentric comedy.

The performance comes out on the occasion of the birthday of “Theatre na Zhukah” (which is on December 16). The first private showing of the comedy took place on Sunday, December 14. It received the warmest response from the audience. On December 21, the theatre will mark its seventh anniversary with “The Mad Day”, inviting its closest friends to see the show and a traditional skit. And since January, after the Christmas holidays, “Zhuki” will start to show “The Mad Day” for a wide range of audience as a repertory performance.

“The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro”, written by Beaumarchais, is one of the most famous classic comedies in the world. It was written in 1779 and was soon banned from staging by King Louis XVI, who responded to play with these words: “It’s disgusting, the play will never be shown, this man laughs at all that should be held as sacred in the state.” However, in 1784, the premiere took place with triumph. The story “The Marriage of Figaro” acquired worldwide fame in 1786, when the namesake opera written by Mozart appeared. Beaumarchais wrote that he wanted to create a high sample of the comedy, as opposed to boring plays that repel the viewer from the theatre, making him to “rush to the boulevards, to the stinking gathering of booths, where decent freedom, banished from the theater, turns into a unbridled licentiousness, where young adults acquire some senseless rudeness, and where it loses taste to all decent things, along with the moral feeling.”

“Theatre na Zhukah” launched the full-functioning Ukrainian and English versions of its site. From now on almost all the information about the theatre team will be represented here in three languages.

“The Russian version is the basic one for us, because, in general, we show performances in Russian. But we are the Ukrainian theatre, and want others to identify us this way”, – said D. Ternovyi.

In addition, he noted that the theatre team felt the need in the English-language resource as far as a couple of years ago, considering it as the important tool for the development.

“We’ve been following the European direction for a long time, implementing several international projects. We’ve launched the project “Theatrical window to Europe “. We are participating in international festivals, keeping in touch with our colleagues abroad. At some point it became clear to us that we must have the English version of the site, as a permanent working tool that provides new opportunities for the development,”- said the producer of the theatre.

The theatre team decided to create not only the representational pages, but to make fully translated versions of the main sections of the site.

This job has been done by the theatre actors.

In addition, the direct links to the social network pages of the theatre has been added to the site (Facebook, Vkontakte, and Youtube).

In different years “Theatre na Zhukah” implemented a number of international projects. In particular, the team has staged the experimental blitz-performance with the volunteers from Germany, Japan, Poland, and Sweden. The theatre also organized the International Theater Festival-Workshop “Hartenberg” in the Czech Republic. Besides, the theatre team launched “The theatrical window to Europe”. Under this project the theatres from Poland and France came to Ukraine with the master-classes and performances.

The charity theatrical marathon “Nebayduzhіst” aimed to help people affected by the military actions started in Kharkiv.

12 theatre troupes and one circus studio initiated the action. The participants of the marathon hope to be joined by other theatres in the city, including the state ones in order to increase the amount of aid.

The prominent non-state Kharksv theatres participate in the marathon, such as “Prekrasnye cvety”, “Theatre na Zhukah”, “Timur”, “P.S.”, “Kotelok”, theatre workshop “Vinora”, theatre “Mozhet byt’”, “Teatr 19″, “Arabeski”, the Centre of Contemporary Art “Novaja scena”, “Sakhalin”, “Madrigal” and the circus art studio “Staryj cirk”.

Each of them will show one or several performances; all the funds raised will be directed to charity. After the performances it is planned to organize the fundraising, as well as charity sale of various handmade souvenirs.

The participants of the marathon have agreed to donate all the finds raised for the purposes of buying warm clothes for the refugees, medicines for the wounded and protective equipment for soldiers.

In total starting from mid-September and ending late October the participants will show 17 different performances.

The action started on September 14 with the new performance “Ex Nihil” staged by “Theatre na Zhukah”. The final performance, according to the current plans, will be the play “Northern Lights”, staged by theatre “Kotelok”, that will be shown on October 23.

The poster of the marathon (designed by Sergey Chebotarev) can be found here.

The performance of the Baden State Theatre “Hohe Auflösung” (“High Resolution”), based on a play written by one of the founders of “Theatre na Zhukah” Dmytro Ternovyi, was praised by critics in Germany.

Last week, the main German-speaking theatre web portal Nachtkritik.de, which illuminates the theatrical life in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, included this staging to the Top-10 performances that are recommended to view.

The most popular and influential theatre magazine in Germany “Theater heute” (“Theatre Today”) is planning to publish the play “Detalization”, on which the performance is based, in its August issue. The review on the staging, the interview with Dmytro Ternovyi and the director of “Theatre na Zhukah” Olga Ternova will be published in it as well.

The reviews on the play were published in a number of specialized, social and political media in Germany. The excerpts from some publications are below.

Die Deutsche Bühne (one of the leading Germany’s theatre journals):

The playwright Dmitro Ternovyi plunges the viewer into the world of conflicting emotions, where laughter gives way to anger…

This is a complex play. In this text the almost documentary density is connected with a comic story, so it cuts straight to the heart…

The director successfully keeps up with this breathtaking pace. She has masterfully created the performance with the tragic final preceded by the chaotic action, harmoniously combining the first and the last scenes…

Her honest way of dealing with the text, that won the competition “Talking about borders” in 2012, has turned the staging into a real political theatre. The masterpiece of the director is based on the virtuoso play with the scenes. The play was translated by Lydia Nagel using very lively and clear language…

Mina Salefur is working on the fine line between grotesque, the tabloid comedy and tragedy… and she is doing it in a magical and easy way…

Grandiose job of the entire ensemble, and more than a promising director Mina Salefur shows how, through the cultural and artistic boundaries are being overcome by theatre…

Nachtkritik.de (independent theatre portal in Germany, Austria and Switzerland)

In 2013 D. Ternovyi received the most significant dramatic Eastern European prize “Talking about borders…” This is not a purely documentary play, but it is full of historical motifs and riddled with political intuition… This is a very bold mixture of tabloid and political theatre, pop and surreal play forms, while it’s still a “well-made-play” … Not only people, but also objects are speaking in it…

The text of the play is interesting by itself, but it’s a tricky for staging… Mina Salefur managed to convey both comedic and serious nature of the play, having found the right tone to tell the story of a young couple who lives in an apartment over the revolutionary Maidan …

Protagonists tend not to interfere in the tumultuous events around them, but of course, they do not succeed in doing it…

Five actors play 21 characters, some of which are objects, and all events are unfolding in the room where the walls are built of sandbags …

The director manages to create the brilliant final of the play. In the text the violinist comes to perform on the Maidan, but in the play stone, that has been thrown in the first scene, hits Elena at the moment when she begins to interfere events…

Deutschlandradio (National Radio Company of Germany):

The play is about how do people act during the revolution. The main action takes place in an apartment above the Maidan, and a young married couple is in the spotlight. He is a violinist who’s trying to get a Schengen visa for touring abroad. She has isolated herself from the outside world: the TV does not work, window facing the Maidan is behind the curtains, she just wants to wait until these events end. Then the tabloid political comedy starts: there is an illegal migrant, chased by the police. There is also a curious neighbor and a policeman. People are being interwoven, so the story arises. On one hand it is comic, but at the same time it represents the insightful look at serious political events. Moreover, there is a surreal world, for example, the world of tableware in bourgeois apartment with sitcoms playing on TV. In the scene about getting a Schengen visa the folders, printings and guns are talking to each other …

The director managed to combine all these elements into a whole piece. Mina Salefur finds ingenious solution of the scene where paveblocks are lying on the Maidan, leading the conversation. In the original, this part appears closer to the finale, but the director puts it at the beginning of the play. There is a young stone, who doesn’t want to be trampled on, it dreams of flying. And he really takes off, and then there is the last scene when the main character is looking out the window. The stone breaks into it and there is a beautiful and terrible at the same time illustration of what happens during a revolution. What is the release for some, for others becomes death …

Especially interesting is the fact that the play was written in 2012, and even then the author wrote about the events on the Maidan, the snipers on the roofs, so it is not just a political farce, but the really perspicacious analysis…

Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany’s largest daily newspaper):

This is the crazy complex theatre text, in which the scenes are solved in different styles and cannot be reduced to the same level. However, one look prevailed in the play by Mina Salefur – the actors are playing in the spirit of comedy.

Schwäbische Zeitung (one of the main regional newspapers)

This is one of the most interesting premieres of the season. The Ukrainian author Dmitro Ternovyi had written a play about the situation in his country before similar events actually happened… He finished “High resolution” in 2012, at a time when it was impossible to even imagine that in February 2014 Maidan will happen and Yanukovych will be overthrown. Playwright wrote the text combining different genres: it’s the gutter comedy a la Feydeau, and suddenly – a documentary theatre, and surreal scene in the spirit of Alfred Jarry …

Badische Neueste Nachrichten (regional political newspaper):

When it is impossible to find the right tone for a horror picture of the situation, the language of comedy saves the situation. Dancing gun, talking printings (phenomenal costumes by Mary Anderski)… The Children’s Choir of teenagers who want to get individual Schengen visas for the joint tour, the meaningless interview with Olga Ivanovna, a soft drink manufacturer, – all these are parts of the great farce staged with stunning performance of the actors.

In the end, visas are obtained, but Andrei doesn’t want to go anywhere. The fifth stone from the first scene comes, bringing death. Just exclaimed: “What a wonderful life!” is immediately replaced by the phrase “What a horrible death!” Then – thunderous applause.

(Sincere thanks to Rybalkina Marina for her help with the translation from German)

The play “Detalization”, which in German translation of Lydia Nagel received the title “Hohe Auflösung” (“High Resolution”), was written in 2012. It won the main dramaturgical competition in Eastern Europe “Talking about borders. Living in an era of change.” In Austria, the text is published as a pamphlet with the circulation of 11 thousand copies. On June 9 the “Hohe Auflösun” was premiered at the Baden State Theatre in Karlsruhe, becoming part of its repertoire.

The idea of the contest “Talking about the borders” for the states of Eastern Europe was proposed by Austrian director Christian Papke in 2004. Each year the competition is held in the new country. It is organized by the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, with the support of several non-governmental agencies in Austria and the participating countries. In Ukraine, the competition was held in 2012 with the support of the Austrian Cultural Forum.

Dmytro Ternovyi first tried his hand at drama writing as a student (he graduated philological faculty of Kharkiv National University named after V.N. Karazin). For many years he worked as a journalist, collaborating with leading national media in Ukraine.

In 2006 together with his wife, a poet and a director, Olga Ternova he created “Theatre na Zhukah”. He’s been also a producer and an actor there. In 2010 he returned to drama writing and recently wrote a number of plays and skits, some of which are included to the repertoire of “Theatre na Zhukah”.

The play written by Dmitrо Ternovyi, who is the producer, the actor and one of the founders of the “Theatre na Zhukah” in Kharkov, was premiered at the Baden State Theatre (Karlsruhe, Germany).

The performance was staged by Mina Salehpour. A few months ago she was awarded “Faust” – one of the highest theatrical awards in Germany for the best innovative work. She also has a number of festival awards.

The staging is based on the play “Detailzation”, but in the German translation, made by slavicist Lydia Nagel, it is called Hohe Auflösung (“High Resolution”). This play, written in 2012, won the main dramaturgical competition in Eastern Europe – “Talking about borders. Living in an era of change.” It has largely anticipated the revolutionary events of the past winter. The main action takes place in the apartment with the windows overlooking Maidan, where the uprising is taking place. The text contains many analogies with the realities that emerged later, such as barricades, dismantled pavement, armored personnel carriers in the streets, snipers on rooftops.

As stated D. Ternovyi, who attended the premiere on June 9 in Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, the performance was of great interest: apart from the usual audience, it was visited by major theatrical German critics and representatives of different media. In his opinion, such interest is explained by the actuality of the text, the increased interest in Ukraine, as well as by the fact that this is the first staging of a Ukrainian play created in modern Germany in many years.

According to D. Ternovyi, the production was warmly welcomed by the audience. “People rose in applause, the actors returned to the stage to be recognized by the audience more than a dozen times, and the majority of the audience participated in the discussion that took place after the performance,” – said the playwright.

Speaking about his impressions of the performance, he expressed his gratitude to everybody who created the staging: “I know that the play is difficult for the actors, because they have to “jump” from one genre to another, but this is a thing which makes it interesting. I think that Mina with actors created a very interesting staging: there are a lot of unexpected decisions in the play, excellent acting performances, and also the very strong, touching final has been found.”

“He also paid attention to the work of the scene-designer Jorge Enrique Caro: «Lovely, very effective set design accurately reproduces the image of the performance.”

“I had been waiting for this event for a long time, and these were the memorable and happy days. The premiere day was also important for me, because since then all copyright restrictions with regard to the play have been removed. After the premiere in Germany the organizers of the dramatic contest have confirmed to me that the strict embargo on other productions of “Detalization” was removed,” – he said.

According to the contest “Talking about borders. Living in an era of change”, the text of the play-winner cannot be printed and the play cannot be staged anywhere until 11 thousand copies of the text is issued in Austria and in Germany. At present, both these conditions are fulfilled.

“Of course, I really want “Detalization” to be staged in Ukraine, but for now we’re considering to show the German staging in several cities of our country. And of course, we are all waiting for the reaction of German critics to this event,” – said D.Ternovyi.

In the Baden State Theatre (Karlsruhe, Germany) the work on the play about Maidan, which was written by the Ukrainian playwright a year before the revolutionary events in Kiev, has started.

The premiere is scheduled for June 9. In mid-February the reading of the play performed by the actors took place on the small stage of the theatre.

The play “Detalization” (the German version – «Hohe Auflösung») written by Ukrainian playwright Dmytro Ternovyi was completed in November 2012. It was acknowledged as the best at one of the main dramatic competitions in Eastern Europe – “Talking About Borders. Living in an era of change 2012”.

According to the author, when he was writing the play, he assumed that the described events may occur in 2015 during the presidential elections.

“The events of the play mostly take place in a living apartment with windows facing Maidan. The protest actions in the play are not described deliberately; however they bring color to all the events until they burst into the life of heroes. Of course, it had been impossible to foresee everything that really happened in the revolution days – this is a work of art and a complete coincidence could not be possible. But during all these events, I flinched each time I discovered new analogies between the text and life: barricades, dismantled pavement, slingshot for stones, armored vehicles on streets, snipers on rooftops,”- said Dmytro Ternovyi.

He told that very many people came to the presentation of the play in Germany.

“I must admit, I never expected that the preliminary reading can cause such an interest. The hall was completely filled, and after the break, I was answering questions from the audience about the situation in Ukraine have for half an hour, gave several interviews to the media. Our country is on everyone’s lips in Germany, and the Germans are genuinely trying to understand the situation and support us, “- the playwright said.

The play was translated in German by a Slavic linguist Lydia Nagel.

The young talented director Mina Salehpour is working on staging the play in Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe. A few months ago she was received “Faust”, which is one of the highest theatrical awards in Germany for best innovative work. She has also several festival awards. The idea of showing the Germany-staged play in several Ukrainian cities has been discussed.

The presentation of the German edition of the play and the author’s reading of “Detalization” is scheduled for April.

“Talking About Borders” is a theatrical and literary project, which idea was proposed by Austrian director Christian Papke in 2004. Each year the competition is held in a different country. It was held in Ukraine for the first and only time in 2012. The project is organized by the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, with the support of a number of non-governmental entities in Austria and the participating countries. Members of the international jury unanimously acknowledged “Detalization” as best among more than 50 pieces submitted for the competition. The play has an unusual structure, as written at the junction of different genres that are usually not combined within a single work. One of the features of the text – some objects like the cobblestones on the pavement, a cup, a plate, a gun etc. talk like they are animated.

Dmytro Ternovyi first tried his hand at drama as a student (he graduated the faculty of philology V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University). For many years he worked as a journalist, collaborating with leading national media in Ukraine. In 2006 he and his wife, poet and director Olga Ternova created “Theatre na Zhukah”, where he’s also been a producer and actor. In 2010 he returned to the drama and recently wrote a number of plays and stagings, some of which are included in the repertoire of “Theatre na Zhukah”.