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Representatives of Russian-speaking theatres and theatre community in Kharkov signed a petition which stated their position on Russia’s attempts to protect the Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine by an armed invasion. They emphasized that they have put on stage plays and performed in Russian for many years and they have never been oppressed doing their work, no matter what was the language policy in Ukraine at any given time.

“No one ever forbade us, no one’s forbidding now and we’re sure that no one will forbid us to think and create in Russian,” the statement says.

“In this regard, we deem it necessary to state that we don’t need protection of any kind from the Russian state. Thousands of theatre-goers also have no problems watching plays staged in Russian here. Even more so we are absolutely against the troops invading to Ukraine under the guise of protection,” the document says.

Signatories expressed their outrage over visiting Russians who had stormed the building of the regional state administration in Kharkiv, and had hoisted a Russian flag over it. Signatories also expressed sympathy for those who got hurt during a clash – the famous writer and poet Sergei Zhadan was among them.

They believe that the Russian military aggression against Ukraine will lead to the results that are diametrically opposed to the declared ones: Russian language and Russian culture – which are the objects of “care” – will be irreparably damaged.

Appealing to all Russians who are responsible for making the relevant decisions and can affect the situation, they encouraged: “There’s no need to protect anyone here!” If we have a problem, we are able to deal with it under the current legislation of Ukraine. Let everyone deal with the problems of his own state, it would be the best guarantee of our good-neighborliness and mutual understanding.

The appeal was signed by representatives of Theatre na Zhukah, Theatre -19, author theatre “Kotelok”, Kharkov State Academic Puppet Theatre n.a. V.Afanasev, Kharkiv Theater for Children and Youth, Kharkiv State Academic Theatre named after Taras Shevchenko, Kharkiv state academic Russian theatre named by A.S.Pushkin, theatre “Sakhalin”, “Druz’ja Eynarda”, “Laboratoriya teatrra”, “Center for Contemporary Art ” Novaya Stsena” theatres “Mozhet Bit”, “Madrigal”, “Lanzheron”, “Prekrasnye Tsvety”, student theatre “Politehhnik” and children’s theatres “Sorvantsy” and “Timur”.

Among the signatories – the Merited Artists of Ukraine and the honoured art workers, theatre critics, the head of the Kharkiv inter-regional branch of the National Union of the Theatre Workers of Ukraine Sergey Bychko and the president of theatrical and design festival “Zhivi!” Vladimir Kakurin.

Here’s the text of the appeal. You can put your signature as well.

“Zhuki” will show their own version of Shakespeare’s tragedy “Romeo and Juliet” on October 7. This play will be the first one to be performed on the small experimental stage of Mykolaiv Art Academic Theatre of Russian Drama, which is currently being rebuilt.

The producer of the Theatre Dmytro Ternovyi said: it will be the first time that “Zhuki” take part in a professional theatre festival.

“It’s a big responsibility, but we feel that we are going to the next level and, hopefully, our performance will prove this point. So we consider the trip as a milestone event for the theatre,” he said.

Theatre and artistic director of “Theatre na Zhukah” Olga Ternova will hold a master class for students of the local theatre schools and for young actors of the Mykolaiv Theatre of Russian Drama.

More than twenty theatres from five countries (Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Poland, and Belarus) will attend the International Festival Homo Ludens, which will be held at three venues. There are some well-known theatre groups among the participants, such as “Teatr u Mosta” from Russia, theatre “Verim!” from Ukraine, Puppet Theatre “Gugutse” from Moldova and others.

Mykolaiv is a lucky city for “Theatre na Zhukah”. This is a city where theatre gained “Silver mask – 2010″ (for the play «We care a lot») and “Golden mask – 2011″ (for “Plastilin Mira”) at the International Festival of Youth Theatre “Southern Masks.” “Romeo and Juliet”, that will be shown at Homo Ludens festival, is a new staging made by “Zhuki”. The play opened this March and was highly praised by audience and critics.

“Zhuki” have started working on two new plays that will be staging at the same time.

As the director and artistic director Olga Ternova said, one of the plays will be staged without a literary basis for the first time.

“This is a staging in which we are interested to try completely new forms. All the participants of the action will become its co-creators. I hope it will be interesting and unexpected. And we also started working on a classic bright and merry comedy of situations”, she added.

One of the plays is planned to be opened before the end of this year. Another one will be opened next spring. Traditionally “Theatre na Zhukah” does not reveal any details until the premiere.

In this season of “Zhuki” are also planning to say farewell to three plays in their current repertoire: “Vybor” (“Choice”) based on Grigory Gorin’s play “Forget Herostratus”, “Ehay!?” (“Go ahead”) based on Nina Sadur’s play and William Shakespeare’s romantic comedy “Twelfth Night”.

“These are our debut works and each of them is very dear to us, but we keep moving forward, growing, changing, and staging new plays, so it becomes increasingly difficult to keep the long repertoire list. We have planned farewell showings of all three performances,” said Olga Ternova.

The season opens with two most recent stagings: “Zhuki” will show the fairy-tale “The story told by a little spirit who lives in a castle behind a hearth” based on Anatole France’s novel “Honey-Bee” on September 21 and Shakespeare’s tragedy “Romeo and Juliet on September 28.

In the coming season, the theatre is going to take part in two international festivals and to continue the project “Theatrical window to Europe”. Within the framework of this project some prominent theatre groups from European countries are invited to Ukraine. They perform and hold master classes for theatre students.

”Theatre na Zhukah” was opened in late 2007. The theatre team has staged twelve plays, including international performances. “Zhuki” participated in a dozen festivals in Ukraine, Poland and the Czech Republic. There are eight performances based on classical and modern drama works in the repertoire of the theatre.

French actors Marc Jaquet and Gil Sauvectre will hold master-classes on commedia dell’arte for the university students who study acting in Kharkov, Nikolayev and Kiev. Their visit to Ukraine is a part of the project called “Theatrical Window to Europe” started 2 years ago by “Theatre na Zhukah”.

The producer of the “Theatre na Zhukah” Dmytro Ternovyi said: “From 18 to 30 March 2013 the French actors will hold master-classes at 6 theatre universities and colleges. I’m sure everyone who comes to their classes will gain unforgettable experience. We took part in their training ourselves a few times – it was not only informative but also very amusing”.

Students who come to the training will learn basics of commedia dell’arte studying characters and their relationships. They will also gain particular skills of working with masks.

“French actors has brought masks of all the commedia dell’arte characters. These masks were made by the guidance of Italian masters. It might be very interesting for young actors”, – said Ternovyi.

Participating at the international theatre festivals “Theatre na Zhukah” seeks to invite to Ukraine masters who impressed the troupe. All trainings are practical and designed for a big group of students.

Marc JACQUET and Gil SAUVESTRE represent the Regional Centre of Dramatic Art (CRAD) founded in 1940 in Clermont-Ferrand. It is supported by the city council. Marc Jacquet graduated Charles Dullin’s School of Dramatic Art. He also studied at the Jacques Lecoq School. Jacquet was taught by some of the French masters of commedia dell’arte. He also has solid experience of teaching the acting technique. Gil Sauvestre studied at the Jacques Lecoq School in Paris. He also attended many classes taught by the teachers from France, Italy, USA and Belgium. Both actors participated at the international theatre projects and festivals.

The art of commedia dell’arte will be taught to the students of Kharkiv State Kotlyarevsky University of Arts, Kharkiv State Academy of Culture, The National University of theatre, cinema and television of Karpenko-Kary, Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts, and Mykolaiv Arts and Culture College.

In 2011“Theatre na Zhukah” launched a long-term project called “Theatrical window to Europe” which main goal is to deepen knowledge about European culture tradition. Thus Ukrainian students get the opportunity to explore different theatre schools. In 2011 Poland theatre “Krzik” visited Ukraine which was a part of the project. In 2012 another Poland theatre “Brama” showed their performances in Kyiv and Kharkov. They also held master-classes based on Grotowski and Stanevski Systems.

Commedia dell’are or masked comedy is a form of folk (market-place) theater. The performances are improvisational, though based on a script containing a brief plot. Actors who play commedia dell’arte wear masks. Theatre originated in Italia in 16th century. Commedia dell’are became a well-known art form in France. West-European drama theatre was influenced by commedia dell’arte. Theatre troupes that played commedia dell’arte were the first professional groups of actors in Europe. They knew about basics on acting and directing plays. The most famous characters of commedia dell’arte are Pantalone, Arlecchino, Colombina, and Brighella.

“Theatre na Zhukah” staged a tragedy “Romeo and Juliet” written by William Shakespeare. The play will be opened on March 16 and 17. The showings will go on in April.

The director Olga Ternova said that this is not a classical interpretation of the famous play.

She said: “The chosen theatrical way helps us to express what we wanted and to bring it to the audience”.

Olga Ternova, who is an art director of the theatre, added that, there was not a particular decision made about the way of staging.

She said: “The idea to stage Shakespeare’s play was brought to us with the form. The material, the staging image, and scenography – everything stuck together simultaneously. Hopefully, we’ll speak the same language with the audience”.

She added: “The troupe has gained absolutely new experience. This is a significant step forward for every one of us. We got up a play with a few debutants who will perform on the stage for the first time”.

There are no seats available for the first two performances. The audience is welcomed to visit showings in April.

“Theatre na Zhukah” is the only theatre in Kharkov which is currently showing “Romeo and Juliet”. This is the second play of Shakespeare which theatre chose to stage. Since June 2009 the comedy «Twelfth Night, or What You Will» is presented here.

Dmytro Ternovyi, who is a co-founder of the “Theatre na Zhukah”, celebrates his victory at the International Drama Competition “Talking about borders” organized by the Austrian government and non-governmental institutions.

The play “Detalization”, written by the dramatist from Kharkov, was acknowledged as the best among the 50 plays that took part in the competition. It’ll be translated into German soon. There will be the scenical reading of the text at the book fair in Leipzig. Later awarding ceremony will take place.

Besides, according to the competition rules, in 2013-2014 the play will be staged at The National Theatre in Karlsruhe. It will also be published in an edition of 11.000 copies. Part of the edition will be distributed to the most important theatrical institutions and libraries in Europe.

The winner of the contest was announced on February 25. Dmytro Ternovyi got to know about winning the competition the next day. He was congratulated by Austrian director Christian Papke who started the intercultural initiative.

While considering the plays jury didn’t know which author wrote a particular text. This makes the contest special: the names become known when the winner is announced. Christian Papke said this year the decision of the jury was unanimous.

He also mentioned the unusual structure of the play – it includes many genres, which authors don’t usually mix. In his opinion, the topic of the play absolutely corresponds to the idea of the contest. “The play reflects my personal feeling of the times we live in. The events take place in the city where protests are happening, which makes the conflict more acute. The mix of genres gives actors freedom to interpret. Moreover, the play gives a possibility to analyze the events deliberately and from different points of view. This explains the name of the play”.

The contest jury included theatrical expert, the founder of The Les’ Kurbas State Centre for Theatre Arts, Nelli Kornienko, the general director of the National Theatre in Karlsruhe Peter Shtuler, the promoter of the Nuremberg State Theatre Klaus Kuzenberg, Austrian correspondent Neuer Zurcher Zeitung Charles Ritterband, and Ukrainian writer Serhiy Zhadan.

“Talking about borders” is a theatre and drama project. Authors are encouraged to consider about living in a period of change. In 2004 the idea of this contest was brought by Austrian director Christian Papke. Every year the competition is held in a new country. Previously it was held in Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Bulgaria, and Romania. Austrian Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs organizes the event. The support is brought by Austrian non-governmental organizations and countries that participate in the contest.

Dmytro Ternovyi was born in Kharkiv. In 1993 he graduated the Faculty of Philology of V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. He wrote his first play at the age of 22. From 1992 to 2010 he worked as a journalist collaborating with the most prominent Ukrainian mass media (Interfax-Ukraine, Business, Expert-Ukraina etc.). In 2006 he and his wife Olga Ternova, who is a poet and a theatre director, created “Theatre na Zhukah”. In 2010 he returned to the drama writing. He’s created a number of plays and stagings. Some of them were put on stage in the “Theatre na Zhukah” such as “We care a lot”, “Plastilin mira”, “Dorothea”.

“Theatre na Zhukah” from Kharkov is taking part at the international festival “Bramat”, which opened on September 20 in Goleniow (Poland).

The new version of the play “Dorothea”, which will be shown in English on September 22, was staged especially for the festival.

“Dorothea” is a new play which was staged by “Theatre na Zhukah” last December.

This is a tragic love story between a successful composer and a girl who is forced to live in a madhouse.

The English translation was made by Anatoliy Bakinovsky, who is one of the actors at the “Theatre na Zhukah”.

“Bramat” festival is a prominent event in a theatrical life of Poland. The 13th edition of the festival is already being held. Many Poland theatres come to this event. Sometimes there are guests from other countries, such as Germany, Greece and USA. “Theatre na Zhukah” is the only one participant from Ukraine.

Overall, there are 20 events scheduled at the “Bramat” including performances (indoors and outdoors) and concerts.

The festival “Bramat” is organized by the Poland theatre “Brama”. They first debuted in Ukraine last year, having being invited by “Theatre na Zhukah”. They made a couple of performances and hold master-classes at the theatre. Their visit was a part of the project “Theatrical window to Europe” organized by “Zhuki” with the support of Poland institute in Kyiv and Adam Mickiewicz Institute.

The director of “Theatre na Zhukah” Olga Ternova and the participants of the International Theatre Festival Workshop “Hartenberg” will make a blitz-performance called “A Medieval Dream”.

The staging will become an important part of the festival involving every participant and blurring out distinctions between theatre schools.

While topic of the last year team performance made by the followers of Lecoq actor school was fantasies about the future, this time it’ll be about distant past. The director Olga Ternova follows the Stanislavski system, which she supplements with her own best practices.

The spectators will dive into the atmosphere of medieval dream, where joyful areal performances are replaced either by the intensity of battle, or by the mystery of wandering lights, or by the appearance and flight of the dragon.

The performance will include musical and plastic compositions rehearsed during the festival days. Another part of the showing based on the acting exercises is completely improvised, which makes the performance especially alive.

All the participants will perform wearing white robes. The castle will be decorated with ribbons, candles, bright lanterns (made especially for this performance), and flags depicting mythical creatures. All these features will emphasize the aura of fabulousness that is typical for this unique place.

The performance, which is meant to last 45 minutes, will be ready after 5-6 rehearsals. About 50 people from different countries will participate, gaining the skills of a plastic and emotional teamwork in a short time.

Apart from that “Theatre na Zhukah” will show its new play “Story told by a little spirit who lives in a castle behind the fireplace” staged by the fairytale story “Honey-Bee” written by Anatole France.

As it was reported before, during the festival days participants will be able to explore various theatre schools and trends: there will be classes on the basics of the Stanislavski system, Lecoq method, Commedia dell’arte, theatre of the oppressed, Plastic Theatre. The activities on national and Georgian dance are also scheduled. This year individual participants and teams from Ukraine, France, USA, Georgia, Russia, Colombia, Belgium, and Great Britain will come to Hartenberg.

International Theatre Festival-Workshop “Hartenberg” has been held every summer since 2010 in the castle Hartenberg placed in northwest Czech Republic (near Karlovy Vary). The main idea of the festival is to exchange creative experience, which is gained when different theatre schools get in touch and work together. The participants represent alternative (non-state) theatre groups, consisting of both professional and amateur actors. The festival follows the principle of “three in one”, combining several of interesting opportunities for the team members, such as trainings and master classes, making team performances and showing their own plays. The festival is an important component of a larger project on Hartenberg becoming the multinational cultural center – a place where different knowledge, cultures and ideas blend and the paths of creative people from all over the world are intersected.

Hartenberg the castle (http://www.hartenberg.cz) was built in the 12th century. During its centuries-old history it has been damaged many times, particularly in 1985 because of the fire. One of the brightest pages in the annals of the castle is associated with the name of the great German poet Johann Goethe, who stayed in Hartenberg and wrote several of his works here. The castle is actively restored with the help of volunteers from dozens of countries around the world.

The unusual drama and musical theatre from Poland, which has traveled many countries, will debut in Ukraine.

Theatre “Brama” is invited by “Theatre na Zhukah” that organizes Ukraine-Poland education and cultural projects in order to introduce Poland theatrical tradition to Ukraine. It is commonly known that Poland actors and directors greatly influenced modern European theatre.

This is not a commercial project. It is supported by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland, Adam Mickiewicz Institute, and Polish Institute in Kiev. Consulate-General of the Republic of Poland in Kharkov and National University «Yaroslav the Wise Law Academy of Ukraine» also helped to carry out the project.

Producer of the “Theatre na Zhukah” Dmytro Ternovyi said: “We watched the play “Emotion in Sound” at the theatre festival in Poland. This performance left us breathless, so we invited actors to share their gift with Ukrainian theatre-goers. That’s how our dreams became reality”.
He added that “this performance” breaks down the usual image of Poland theatre as rough, social and provocative.

“Emotions in Sound” is a wonderful and stunning performance. The actors play, sing and dance. Moreover, there is a dramatic component. The performance is based on ethnical songs of different regions, such as Scandinavian countries, South-Eastern Europe, Armenia, Georgia, Spain, and Ukraine,” – said Dmytro Ternovyi.

He continues: “This is the second year in a row that we invite Poland theatres to Ukraine. They perform and hold master-classes. This is the way we crack open the theatrical window to Europe”.
He also added that now that “Brama” travels to Ukraine more people will be able to enjoy their performances.

Last year Poland Theatre “Krzyk” performed at the stage of “Theatre na Zhukah”. This time “Brama” will perform in several spaces, such as National University «Yaroslav the Wise Law Academy of Ukraine» and Youth Drama Theatre. We are also grateful to the Theatre “Dah”, which gave us their space, so “Brama” will perform in the capital of Ukraine”, – said Ternovyi.

On April 2 “Brama” will show “Emotion in Sound” in Kiev. They will perform in Kharkov on April 3-6 on the small stage of the Student Palace National University «Yaroslav the Wise Law Academy of Ukraine». They will show performance “We”.

Moreover “Brama” will hold master-classes for students of the theatrical institutes. On April 2 they will teach at The National University of theatre, cinema and television of Karpenko-Kary, and on the April 5 they will visit Kharkiv State Kotlyarevsky University of Arts.

Brama (Goleniow) is a non-governmental theatre which represents the alternative theatrical movement. Last year they marked their 15th anniversary. The troupe performed in almost two dozen countries, such as Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Norway, Lithuania, Latvia, Spain, Scotland, USA, Peru, Japan, Argentina, Georgia, Scotland, Serbia, Bulgaria, India, Cuba, and Mexico. But they have never performed in Ukraine before. They participated in many international festivals and gained many theatre awards.