Duration — 1 hour 35 minutes without intermission
Location — big stage
What comes to mind when we think about Lesya Ukrainka? A sickly and weak girl who laughed through her tears? The author of «The Forest Song» and the poem «Contra Spem Spero»? The woman on the banknote or the woman from the portrait under embroidered towels?
What if we say that Lesya Ukrainka was rebellious and feminist? And that she opposed Russian colonialism, she never was a «friend of the proletarians», and she fought for Ukrainian identity. And that Lesya Ukrainka was stylish, she traveled to European capitals, and visited the largest European theaters. Moreover, Lesya was a political activist, donated to the preservation and research of cultural heritage, and she was friends with the bohemians of her time. This woman created an original history — her story. That’s why we created a performance about Lesya Ukrainka and what you might not have known about her before — to learn more about ourselves as well.
«It’s not peace we need to worry about now»
Photos by Viktoria Dzyziuk
Director — Lenka Udovički
Playwright — Oksana Danchuk
Composer — Nigel Osborne
Lesya. Herstory team:
Cast: Nazar Bonyashchuk, Zoriana Dybovska, Vasyl Kolisnyk, Sofia Leshyshak, Serhiy Lytvynenko, Tayisiya Malakhova, Isabel Merkulova, Anastasia Perets, Mykhailo Ponzel, Andriy Roschis, Tetyana Shelelio
Produser — Veronika Skliarova
Choreographer — Viktor Ruban
Set Designer — Oleksiy Khoroshko
Costumes artist — Yulia Rybka
Media artist — Denys Beliaev
Illustrator — Dina Chmuzh
Lighting designer — Artur Temchenko
Construction manager — Serhii Stoliaruk
Props, decorator — Marta Bozhyk
Sound engineers — Volodymyr Pomirko, Liubomyr Ishchuk
Director asistant — Vladyslav Bilonenko
Composer asistant — Marichka Chichkova
Production manager — Yuriy Zakharko
Dressmaker — Iryna Musikhina
Costumiers — Halyna Hladun, Diana Yanchuk
Media equipment support — Pavlo Kovalsky
Stage technicians — Oleh Zherebetskyi, Yuriy Zakharko, Rostyslav Kolachnyk, Volodymyr Prodyus
PR — Viktoriia Dzydziuk, Rostyslav Kuzyk
Design — Mariia Mykytenko
With the support of: Parade-Fest
Premiere — May 5, 2023
Lenka Udovički is a Serbian drama and opera director and activist. She is the Artistic Director of the Ulysses Theater and co-founder of the School of Acting and Media at the University of Rijeka (Croatia).
Lenka Udovichki has worked with a number of European and American theaters, operas and philharmonics, including the English National Opera Studio, Globe Theater, Opera Circus, Zagreb Philharmonic and UCLA Live. She has been a visiting professor at the California Institute of the Arts and the University of California, Los Angeles.
Nigel Osborne is a British composer, teacher, and author of music therapy methods. He is a Professor of Music at the University of Edinburgh, Professor of the Faculty of Drama at the University of Rijeka, a consultant to the Chinese Music Institute of Peking University, and a member of the British Academy of Composers.
He has taught at the Higher School of Music, Theater and Media in Hannover. For more than 30 years, he has been providing music therapy to war-traumatized children from all over the world. Nigel Osborne’s music therapy methods have been widely implemented in the Balkans, the Caucasus, the Middle East, East Africa, Southwest Asia and India. For his methodology, Nigel Osborne received the Freedom Prize of the Sarajevo Peace Institute.