Exploring Kyiv’s original small theaters
Once autumn arrives in the city, beachgoers and sunbathers will have already returned from the seaside and are be starving for fresh emotions. The new theater season will hopefully satisfy their intellectual desires. The big theaters like Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theater, Lesya Ukrainka Russian Drama Theater and Left Bank Drama Theater as always will be the most popular. However, Kyiv can offer a much wider array of theaters. In fact, some smaller theaters boast brilliant actors, a wider repertoire and a full house. Moreover, these small stages are becoming a promising alternative to old, traditional theaters. I’ve asked my friends Alyona and Danil, real theater aficionados, to guide me around Kyiv’s small original theaters.
New Theater on Pechersk aka Kryzhovnik (Gooseberry), according to Alyona, was founded by pupils of Nikolai Rushkovskiy, an actor of Lesi Ukrainki Russian Drama Theater and renowned teacher at the KarpenkoKariy Theater Institute, straight after finishing their studies. The former students not only play, but stage performances by themselves. The theater is very small but the size evokes a cozy atmosphere. While waiting for the third bell (calling you to the play), you can gape at old music instruments exhibited in the hall or have a cup of tea sitting among antique furniture. To buy drinks and sweets you should help yourself at the table and deposit money into a special box nearby –Kryzhovnik trusts its audience. Visiting Kryzhovnik for the first time, check out the plays “Zakon Tango” (“The Law of Tango”), “Sluga Dvuh Gospod” (“Two Masters’ Servant”) or “Pyat Rasskazov Pelevina” (“Five Stories by Pelevin”) based on humorous stories by modern Russian author Viktor Pelevin. Although in Kryzhovnik they try to find room for everybody, it’s better to buy tickets (Hr 25-30) in advance.
Drama Theater on Podil is located at Hostiny Dvir, on the site of the former market. In the middle of the performance during my first visit to the theatre, I was stunned by a strange rumbling under my feet. As Alena whispered into my ear, it was the sound of a passing tram. Surprisingly, it didn’t ruin the atmosphere in the hall – so much I was gripped by the action onstage. Most actors of the theatre are likewise former pupils of Nikolay Rushkovskiy. Among the leading actors is the couple Sofia Pisman and Sergiy Siplivy, who teach stage speech at KarpenkoKary institute. The repertoire’s main plus is that it combines Russian and Ukrainian performances. By the way, among the biggest achievements of the theater is the Zolota Pektoral 2004 Award granted for the best performance – their version of Chehov’s “Dyadya Vanya” (“Uncle Vanya”). While the seats and even steps usually sell out during performances (choose “V Stepah Ukrainy” (“In Ukrainian Steppes”) or “Faraony” (“Pharaohs”), you might manage to get tickets (Hr 25 to Hr 30) at the last moment.
Koleso is among those few theaters that stage performances in Ukrainian. Moreover it bears traditional Ukrainian motifs based on the theories of Ukrainian theater director Les Kurbas, who lived and worked in the beginning of the 20th century. Buying tickets, which are more expensive in comparison with other small stages – around Hr 3550, choose the play “Heneraly u Spidnytsyakh” (“Generals in Skirts”) or “Udavaniy Hvoriy” (“Pretended Invalid”). The spicy part of these performances, according to Alena, is a combination of music, dancing and singing, all mixed with brisk humor.
Lots of useful information about Suzirya (Constellation) theater I learned from enthusiast Danil. He appeared to be its adherent frequenter and from the very beginning recommended me to see the performances “Parnas Dybom” (“Parnassus on End”), “V Malomu Koli Kohannya” (“In a Small Circle of Love”), “Zanoza” (“Splinter”), and “Zhenshina v Peskah” (“Woman of the Dunes”). The location of Suziria is a story in itself. It actually wasn’t designed as a theater, but as a house. Thus, listening to music streaming from the white piano in the hall, recall that you are standing in the former library and when taking your seats to watch the play, try to imagine a New Year tree that was standing in the middle of the room some hundred years ago. During renovation of one of the rooms, theater posters covering the walls were discovered under wooden panels. Now the rarities are hanging in one of the halls. If you get interested, you will find even more interesting facts during the excursion held before the performance. Suziria is in fact on its way to become a truly academic theater, meaning a salon, where the intellectual and artistic elite of the city will gather regularly.
I can’t avoid including in this list the Dakh Center of Modern Art, which is either praised as the center of alternative art in Kyiv or dismissed as a gathering of amateurs. The main attraction and heart of the performances is ethnorock music band DakhaBrakha. The classical plots, including Shakespeare unfold before your eyes to the beat of drums and national Ukrainian vocals. From time to time Dakh conducts exhibitions and organizes social eventns, for example it invites children to paint pictures on a chosen theme.
New Theater on Pechersk (3 Shovkovychna, 253-6550);
Drama Theater on Podil (4 Kontraktova Ploscha, 425-5489);
Koleso (8 Andriyivsky Uzviz, 425-0527);
Suziria (14B Yaroslaviv Val, 272-4188);
Dakh Center of Modern Art (136 Chervonoarmiyska, 529-4062).
