KYIV: Sitting in a circle the day before opening night, Ukrainian war veterans and drama students took turns reading their lines from a script that traveled centuries to reach them.<\/p>\n
At the center was Olha Semioshkina, directing the group through her adaptation of \u201cEneida\u201d by Ivan Kotliarevskyi \u2014 an 18th-century Ukrainian reimagining of Virgil\u2019s \u201cAeneid.\u201d This production, though, had a modern-day message about resilience in the face of the war that\u2019s nearing its fourth year since Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
The actors \u2014 men and women in their 20s to 60s \u2014 included Ukrainian military veterans who had returned from the front with amputations, severe burns and sight loss. Others had endured war on the homefront. Many had never set foot on a stage before this play.<\/p>\n
It took more than a year to prepare for Thursday\u2019s premiere at Kyiv\u2019s National Academic Molodyy Theatre.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew the guys had just come back from rehabilitation, and we had to start from the very beginning,\u201d Semioshkina said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe spent about four months simply learning to communicate, to fall, to group, to roll, to get together,\u201d she said. \u201cThen we began developing the body, taking off prosthetics and learning to exist without them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 51-year-old director\u2019s concept was simple: \u201cEvery man on stage is Aeneas. Every woman on stage is Dido.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Virgil\u2019s epic, Aeneas wanders after the fall of Troy, searching for a new homeland. In Kotliarevskyi\u2019s satirical adaptation, the Trojan hero becomes a Cossack, rowdy and earthy.<\/p>\n
On Kyiv\u2019s stage, Aeneas wears prosthetic limbs and bears scars from the war that began with Russia\u2019s Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
\u201cAeneas is a hero who goes through a lot in search for his land,\u201d Semioshkina said. \u201cHe preserves humor, passion, he falls, he goes through horrors, drinks and parties. But he is a human, and he has a goal \u2014 to find his place and preserve his family.\u201d<\/p>\n
She draws parallels between the veterans who endured combat and the character they play on stage. \u201cAeneas is the one who went to war. Yes, he returned mutilated, broken,\u201d she said, but the actors bringing this adaptation to life \u201care learning to live\u201d again.<\/p>\n
Where myth and reality converge<\/p>\n
During rehearsal, Yehor Babenko, a veteran of Ukraine\u2019s Border Service who suffered severe burns early in the Russian invasion, delivered a line with a grin: \u201cFeeling burned out at work? We have a lot in common.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later in the play, his monologue also hit close to home as he spoke about fire taking his hands, ears and nose. \u201cI won\u2019t be able to show children a trick with a missing finger,\u201d he says. \u201cMaybe the one when all 10 fingers disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n
The opportunity to perform onstage, Babenko said, has been a healing journey.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, theater is both psychological and physical rehabilitation. I\u2019ve noticed I feel my body better, feel more confident in public, express my thoughts better.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Babenko, the story of Aeneas resonates beyond the stage. \u201cIt\u2019s about searching for your land,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd for our country, that\u2019s very relevant now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Breaking character to tell their own stories<\/p>\n
The play\u2019s final act departed from epic poetry altogether as the actors stepped forward to tell their own stories \u2014 about combat injuries, lost brothers in arms, displacement and life under occupation.<\/p>\n
One veteran described losing his leg in a drone strike and using a machine gun as a crutch to reach cover. A female actor recounted living under Russian occupation with her two daughters.<\/p>\n
Another, who volunteered as a medic, first in 2014 when Russia illegally annexed Crimea and pro-Russian forces captured parts of Ukraine\u2019s Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and again after the 2022 Russian invasion, spoke of returning to war in her 60s.<\/p>\n
Andrii Onopriienko, who lost his sight in a Russian artillery strike near Avdiivka, in the Donetsk region, in 2023, narrated much of the performance in a deep, resonant voice. At one point he sang: \u201cLet our enemies dig up holes, install crosses, and lie down on their own,\u201d as the rest of the cast joined in.<\/p>\n
Onopriienko initially refused to join the project. \u201cI didn\u2019t understand what I would do on stage blind,\u201d he said. He later was persuaded that there would be a role for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s positivity, laughter, support,\u201d he said of rehearsals. \u201cNo matter what mood you come in, you leave with a big smile; Here you distract yourself from the present. You enter another world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite war, the show must go on<\/p>\n
Onstage, prosthetic legs and arms were removed and put back on as part of the play\u2019s visual language. Long metal rods doubled as swords, oars and crutches \u2014 used as both an artistic instrument and a tool to help actors with amputations keep balance.<\/p>\n
The war intruded even before the curtain rose on Thursday. An announcement asked the audience to follow the usual theater protocol and silence their phones \u2014 then warned that in case of an air raid, they should head to the basement shelter. If a blackout occurred, it added, the show would pause for the backup power generators to be turned on.<\/p>\n
As Babenko delivered his monologue minutes before the performance ended, the power did go out.<\/p>\n
Semioshkina stepped onto the stage with a flashlight, followed by others holding flashlights. Babenko delivered his lines in the beam of the improvised spotlight. The audience, some quietly weeping, some laughing through tears, stayed.<\/p>\n
When the last monologue ended and the curtain fell and rose again, the cast was met with a standing ovation. As they bowed a second time, the electricity returned, and the applause swelled.<\/p>\n
For Semioshkina, the message of veterans on stage extends beyond epic poetry and the theater walls.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to send a message to all veterans who are sitting at home: Come out,\u201d she said. \u201cCome out. You can do something. Live. Don\u2019t close yourself off. Live every single minute.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KYIV: Sitting in a circle the day before opening night, Ukrainian war veterans and drama students took turns reading their lines from a script that traveled centuries to reach them. At the center was Olha Semioshkina, directing the group through her adaptation of \u201cEneida\u201d by Ivan Kotliarevskyi \u2014 an 18th-century Ukrainian reimagining of Virgil\u2019s \u201cAeneid.\u201d …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":94082,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94065"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94083,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94065\/revisions\/94083"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}