Category: News

“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 main German theatre magazine “Theater heute” (“Theatre Today”) in its latest issue of the August-September published the full text of the play “Detalization”, written by the Ukrainian playwright Dmitro Ternovyj.

The monthly magazine with a circulation of 15 thousand copies regularly publishes in German the most interesting works of the world modern drama in the form of inserts into the edition. The magazine has been issued since 1960 and is considered to be the most influential professional issue in the German-speaking world. It’s also a founder of the major theatre awards in Germany.

Also in “Theater heute” the long article was released written by the editor France Ville (Franz Wille), who attended the June premiere based on “Detalization” in Karlsruhe and interviewed D. Ternovyi (the translation of the full text of the article “The Dream about Maydan” can be found in the section “Publications” in Russian).

F. Ville notes that in the play, that was written a year before the revolution, the playwright had “mysteriously overtook reality, anticipating the events on Maydan.”

“With all the enthusiasm from Euromaydan there’s a strange feeling arising that reality is catching up with the play and the events are taking place one after the other as it had been written in it. Suddenly, the fantasy has become a document that put into writing the part of European history at its turning point, “- he wrote.

Noting that the genre of “Detailization” is constantly and consistently changing, he links it to the circumstances of life of Ukrainians: “From the boulevard comedy, through the rebellion of objects in the spirit of Kafka, to the naturalistic image of departmental dictatorship – in order to make a tragedy from melodrama: the picture of reality that all the time spontaneously, may change its appearance. Generation of Ternovyi, Ukrainians who are a little over forty, have experienced at their native country a set of realities. From the post-Soviet depression and hopes for the new government, from the triumph of the Orange Revolution and the rollback under Yanukovych to Euromaydan which again makes everything possible and at the same time brings with it many risks”.

“At the same time, the author criticizes the staging: “The director Mina Salefur and her scenographer  Jorge Enrique Caro made ​​from the “Detalization” a funny revolutionary tourist staging, in which actors “who are behind grimacing masks in the spirit of fun children’s theatre have fun during all five acts of staging, and all this safely gets along with bright director’s crackers and graceful operetta policeman”.

“Premiere in Karlsruhe hit the mark. In this regard, Dmitro Ternovyi is out of luck, “- he says, at the same time noting that the play, which could “fly pass the theater” or “fade away in a small private Ukrainian theatre”, today, due to dramaturgical competition, has been put into “orbit of the West”.

The play “Detalization” which in German translation made by Lydia Nagel received the name “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 work is published as a brochure with a circulation of 11 thousand copies. On June 9 “Hohe Auflösung” was premiered in Baden State Theatre Karlsruhe, becoming part of its repertoire.

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

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

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”.

“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.

Play “Detalization” that won the annual contest “Talking about borders” was presented in Vienna. The international drama competition was organized by government and non-governmental organizations in Austria.

The awarding ceremony took place on May 16 in the chamber theatre Garage X. Austrian cinema and theatre actors such as Karin Lischka, Till Firit and Toni Slama read through a big piece of the text composed especially for the evening.

“The atmosphere of the evening was very warm: the cozy theatre in the centre of the city was all booked up. The first reading was wonderful. I’m heartfully thankful to all the organizers, to Christian Papke, who is the author of the contest, and to the representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who supported the idea,” – Dmytro Ternovyi said.

He added this is a first time he realized that the first reading of the play might become an independent theatrical genre.

Ternovyi said: «Speaking frankly, I never thought it would be so interesting. The casting has been very successful. Toni Slama recently got a national award for best male performance. Karin Lischka starred in dozens of plays and films – a lot of Vienna theatres would love to hire her”.
He also said that the excellent translation of the play makes it easy to understand for the German speaking auditory. Lydia Nagel, the professor of Slavonic linguistics at the Vienna University, is the one who is translating the play into German.

He said: “I’m sure of translation quality, because I saw how audience reacted while listening to the play”.

By the end of 2013 the play will be published with the number of copies estimated 11.000. They will be distributed to the most important theatrical and literature institutions in Europe. The next theatrical season “Detalization” will be put on scene of the national theatre in Karlsruhe (Germany). Until it happens the play can’t be published or put on stage in other countries, which was a competition rule.

“Talking about borders” is a theatrical and literature project. It was started by the Austrian director Christian Papke. Every year the contest is held in different countries. 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 which participate in the contest. “Detalization” was acknowledged as the best play among more than 50 dramatic compositions. The decision of the jury was unanimous.

Dmytro Ternovyi started writing dramatic compositions in his student days. He graduated the V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. He worked much as a journalist collaborating with the prominent national Ukrainian mass media. In 2006 he and his wife Olga Ternova created “Teatre na Zhukah”. He also plays in some stagings. In 2010 he got back to writing. Recently he wrote a couple of plays and dramatizations. Some of them were put on stage at the “Theatre na Zhukah”.