A scene from a Ukrainian manufacturing of The Witch of Konotop. On the window, Olena, performed by Mariia Rudynska, is the love curiosity of the primary character however doesn’t love him again. And a three-witch refrain is seen proper.
Ivan Franko Theater
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Ivan Franko Theater
KYIV, Ukraine — Witches are having a second in Ukraine. Each feared and revered, these beings are thought to own supernatural powers that can be utilized for good and dangerous. Over the centuries, witches have been blamed for every kind of issues taking place to Ukrainians: droughts, floods, illnesses — even falling in love and beginning wars.
Now they’ve taken middle stage in a darkish musical comedy titled The Witch of Konotop, with performances promoting out all summer time on the historic Ivan Franko Theater within the capital Kyiv.
Folklore delivered to life
Primarily based on the 1833 satirical fiction by Ukrainian author Hryhorii Kvitka-Osnovianenko, the story pokes enjoyable at Ukrainian literature’s tendency to deal with disappointment and tragedy. It takes place within the 1600s and follows the primary character, Zabryokha, a Cossack army chief, in his unsuccessful journey to get rid of witches whom he blames for his misfortunes.
All through the fast-paced, witty hour-and-a-half manufacturing, the viewers is handled to fantastically detailed Ukrainian people costumes and beautiful vocals set to conventional Ukrainian music.
Essential character Zabryokha, performed by Nazar Zadniprovskyi, and his crafty assistant, Pistryok, performed by Mykailo Kukuyuk, spend a lot of the play blaming others for his or her misfortunes and conspiring. They finally flip to a witch for assist, in hopes she will change their fates.
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There’s rejection, there’s love.
And there’s, in fact, a witch hunt.
Moreover, in a twist that echoes in the present day, the primary characters obtain orders to hitch a marketing campaign to fend off an overreaching czarist Russia.
One play, many takeaways
Life below a sinister Russian menace could be the obvious theme from this play. But, a fast survey of the forged and viewers at a latest efficiency reveals the manufacturing’s true flexibility.
“Don’t kill ladies, don’t mess with ladies,” says actress Kateryna Artemenko, who performs one of many townswomen mistaken for a witch. She spoke to NPR backstage earlier than the present.
“No, it isn’t a joke, in fact,” Artemenko says. “The principle message is about folks making an attempt to idiot their future, however future will discover them.”
Actor Nazar Zadniprovskyi, who performs the ill-fated Cossack commander Zabryokha, views this play as a lesson in avoiding accountability. The 2 lead characters keep away from going to army drills so that they don’t should go to battle, he says, and many individuals see a parallel with Ukrainian males dodging conscription in the present day.
Zadniprovskyi additionally attributes the play’s recognition to the clips which have gone viral on social media. There, Ukrainians from all walks of life weigh in.
Viewers member Markian Halabala of Kyiv says seeing buzz concerning the play on-line is what first piqued his curiosity. He says it was tough to get tickets as a result of the play sells out so shortly. When he lastly noticed it, he felt the message was that you just shouldn’t intervene in God’s will — like Zabryokha does within the play when he asks a witch to forged a spell on a lady to make her fall in love with him, though she loves another person. Halabala likens it to Russian President Vladimir Putin making an attempt to intervene in Ukraine’s path ahead as an unbiased nation.
Nevertheless, theatergoer Olha Vasylevshka of Kharkiv says she thinks the play is about love.
“In fact if the love is true, it doesn’t want any outdoors help,” she says, laughing. “But when the love will not be true, nothing can assist it, not even a witch.”
Offered-out reveals
Critics say audiences’ many interpretations of The Witch of Konotop are only one cause it’s been so widespread.
Ivan Franko Theater press liaison Olena Kyrychenko-Povolocka informed NPR the manufacturing has stuffed their practically 800-seat home for each efficiency this summer time and she or he expects to proceed that success. The play has dates on its web site by way of mid-September.
Another excuse for the play’s recognition could also be its ties to not solely Ukrainian folklore, but additionally to Ukraine’s real-life city of Konotop recognized for witches.
Close to the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, a video surfaced on-line of a lady shouting at a Russian soldier sitting atop a tank.
“Do you even know the place you might be?” the girl shouts in a raspy voice. “You’re in Konotop — each second lady here’s a witch.”
She goes on to warn the soldier he won’t ever get an erection once more.
The video went viral in Ukraine, not simply due to the girl’s defiance, but additionally as a result of the video was from Konotop and Ukrainians instantly bought the reference.
Witches have lengthy been a staple of Ukrainian folklore. Believed to have other-worldly powers, they had been typically scapegoats for when dangerous issues occurred — similar to droughts, floods or illness. Within the play, the witches — seen right here performed by Anna Rudenko, Anastasiia Rula and Kateryna Artemenko — function a refrain and a plot machine.
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There’s been an total push to rejoice Ukrainian tradition and literature since Russia’s invasion. Putin has repeatedly mentioned victory means nothing in need of Ukraine not simply dropping its sovereignty — but additionally its id.
Ukrainians’ renewed curiosity in their very own tradition has pushed them again to theaters. Virtually all functioning theaters within the nation have returned to promoting tickets to full homes, in accordance with Olha Baibak with the Nationwide Union of Theater Employees of Ukraine.
“There’s a rising curiosity within the theater all through the nation,” Baibak wrote in an e mail to NPR. “New audiences have come, folks go for communication, for remedy, to stay some type of expertise.”
She says additionally they come to get away from actuality.
Performing additionally gives actors an escape.
Actor Mykhailo Kukuyuk, who performs the character Pistryak, the primary character’s crafty assistant, says it’s typically tough to dam out the challenges and horrors of battle taking place outdoors the theater. However performing is an honor that reminds him what he believes Ukrainians are preventing for.
“For theater, for handsome, lovely ladies. It’s the main points, the sparks that make us alive — it’s arduous to place into one sentence,” he says.
Polina Lytvynova contributed to this report from Kyiv.
