Cultural life in Ukraine: between air strikes and songs
Cultural life in Ukraine: between air strikes and songs
Olha Mesheryakova does not know what will bring the next year for you, your family or your business in the war -plagued capital of Ukraine. Nevertheless, she is confident that she will take part in a dozen performances in the Kiev theaters in 2025. The thought of it gives you hope.
hope in difficult times
"This creates a certain expectation, gives a kind of structure and great support at a time when the world around me has gone.
cultural interest remains unbroken
It is by no means the only one that burns for the theater. In order to get tickets for a popular performance, like thousands of other Ukrainians, she has to feverish for months.
in the middle of Kiev, on a darkened road, the cars slowly moved when hundreds of people flock to the small, historical building of the Ivan Franko National Academic Drama's theater, which is only a few hundred meters from the presidential residence.
theater as a retreat
Since the reopening six months after the start of the comprehensive Russian invasion in 2022, the theater has been sold out almost every day.
During this time, the theater has changed, its actors and its audience. The director, Yevhen Nyshchuk, voluntarily served in the military in 2022, as did many of his colleagues. All three actors who play the main roles in "three comrades", an adaptation of the post -war novel by Erich Maria Remarque, were on the front and were only able to return to the stage a year later.a new understanding of the theater
"Remarque sounded very different. The reality of the war, which has already affected all, has changed us. I felt that the perception of the audience for the theater has changed that it has more appetite to this exchange of energy," explained Nyshchuk.
nyshchuk noticed this changed appreciation for remarques works, because he and his colleagues continued to serve in the armed forces. In order to be able to perform the pieces, they received permission from their command to short -term holidays.
cultural performance despite war
Since the outbreak of the war, the Ivan Franko Drama Theater has organized more than 1,500 performances in which over half a million spectators took part. Seventeen pieces were premiered, including "the witch of Konotop", a mystical piece that researched the topics of love and power. The tickets were sold out within minutes, and many Ukrainians sat on a waiting list to get tickets when they are available.
"Thousands of tens of thousands of spectators want to be in the theater. I don't find an explanation for this," said Uryvskyi, the director of the theater. Sold-out ideas are now common according to the websites and e-ticket services of most Kiev Theater.
The real encounter with reality
Uryvskyi emphasizes that not everyone comes to the theater to escape the sad reality of the war. It is often the opposite.
"Sometimes someone has to deepen and understand himself. He or she does not need a comedies, no distraction. It needs a serious dialogue. Maybe it has to let out the emotions in the theater," said Uryvskyi.
Even if people want to escape the war, they often cannot, since performances are regularly interrupted by air -raid protection sirens. The audience has to leave the theater building and bring themselves to safety in the nearest subway station. If the danger passes within an hour, the performance continues. Otherwise the performance takes place on another day.
books as an escape point
The number of bookstores in Ukraine has increased from 200 before the war to almost 500. The largest among them, Sens, opened in the middle of the war in Kiev's Hauptstraße. With over 57,000 books available, the shop is overcrowded at all times of the day and recorded more than half a million customers this year. The event program of the business is fully booked in advance.
for the founder, Oleksiy Erinchak, seemed logical to the opening of such a large -scale project in war times. At the beginning of the war, he was the owner of a small bookstore that opened on the eve of the invasion. It became a volunteer center in the first months of the conflict and grew so popular that Erinchak was thinking about a new, larger space.
reading as survival aid
"A book is the most convenient way to spend time during the war when it is impossible to predict anything. Many people have switched from the Russian language to Ukrainian. They try to understand what it means to be Ukrainians. And books help enormously," said Erinchak.
According to the Ukrainian Book Institute, the number of adults who read books every day has doubled to 16 % during the war.
"Maybe it is simply the war or the stress, and a person simply hides under the ceiling, opens a book and travels to other worlds to escape the whole. Or she does not travel to other worlds, but dives deeper to understand why this has happened in our lifetime. And books actually provide many answers that feel, understand and help you to feel better," he explained.
music as a consolation
Some songs before the end of an anniversary concert this autumn one of the most famous Ukrainian bands, Okean Elzy, an air raid in Kiev was announced.
Part of the audience went into the subway to search for protection, accompanied by the band. There, on the subway levels, the performance was continued with a speaker instead of a professional sound system and only with guitars-hundreds of voices sang every hit.
"The 30th anniversary concerts of Okean Elzy reflect our history. We have been together for 30 years: at big concerts and in bunkers, in stadiums and in rifle trenches ... But it is not about the place, but about our community," the band later posted on their Instagram account.
In the almost three years since the extensive invasion, Okean Elzy's front man Svyatoslav Vakarchuk gave over 300 concerts for the military, often on the front lines. In some videos that have been posted on the band's social media, artillery winner can be heard while Vakarchuk sings for the soldiers. Okean Elzy has already donated almost 280 million UAH ($ 6.7 million) for the armed forces in Ukraine, said a spokesman for the band.
culture and resistance
The Ivan Franko Drama Theater also regularly organizes charity performances and has already collected over 1.2 million USD for the armed forces. In addition, it offers its stages space for troops who have lost their theater due to the Russian line -up or can no longer perform in their theater due to unfavorable security conditions.
The pulsating cultural life in the cities behind the front stands in the strong contrast to the the front areas of Ukraine, where Russia continues to achieve area gains.
Yegor Firsov, a main sergeant that has been fighting against the Russians since 2022, is generally positive about an active cultural life, even if some fight at the front "in real hell".
"When it comes to women and children, I and my comrades support the commitment," he said. "Because people distract themselves from their stress, and in such difficult times they want to experience something real, and bookstores and theater represent the real, life."
and on the rare days when Firsov succeeds in coming from the front to Kiev, he also visits concerts.
"Culture is part of our lives, it acts both about war and leisure, because even we, soldiers, need spiritual healing, have to distract us to stay resilient."