ЛЮТИЙ | FebrUaRY

Teatr Varta, Lviv

Two people dance while several people are in the background – sitting, standing or playing music.

LIUTYY © Andrii Pasternak

Through words, movement and music, a group of artists tells the stories of soldiers and volunteers who were performing with them on stage just yesterday. This is a story about the complexity and multilayered nature of our identity, as well as the fractured process of realising and accepting it.

This event is part of the Herstory Treffen.

“ЛЮТИЙ” (Liutyy) is a Ukrainian word that has two meanings. The first is the month of February, in which Russia started a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Another is the emotion of fury, the one that comes when someone tries to destroy everything you love. The performance “ЛЮТИЙ | FebrUaRY” was born under the influence of radical changes in circumstances and a very intense experience of massive catastrophic events that are taking place in Ukraine today due to Russian aggression.
The text is based on interviews with Ukrainian volunteers, military personnel as well as personal statements of actors. It is intended to give voice to the stories of Ukrainian women and men who today are fighting for their freedom.

In the performance, along with verbal expression, there are body texts that help manifest difficult experiences and express something that cannot yet be named in a conventional way. It is accompanied by live music.

“Our task is, on the one hand to preserve our own vulnerability and ability to empathise, and on the other hand to find ways to cope with this reality, which we did not choose, but in which we must win. Through difficult dialogue with each other and with ourselves, we find shared values and a healthy sense of our identity, which consists of the stories we share.” – Nina Khyzhna

Biography:

Nina Khyzhna is a Ukrainian theatre director, performer and choreographer. Her aim is to use theatre as a safe space for dialogue and as a social tool for introducing themes of tolerance, inclusion, equality and security into social discourse.

Artistic Team

Nina Khyzhna – Director, Choreography
Nick Acorne – Composition
Liuba Ilnytska – Dramaturgy
Tymofiy Irklienko – Stage Design

With
Olena Bazhenova, Vladyslava Chentsova, Ivan Drobot, Mykola Naboka, Artur Rozbytskyi, Taras Volokh
Danylo Bilous, Ivan Korolev, Andriy Kizim – Live Music

In the performance there are stories of Oleg Kadanov, Tetyana Golubova, Vasilisa Haydenko, Yaroslav Podshivalov, Kateryna Pereverzeva, Luna and Pythagoras, personal statements of the performers and texts by Serhii Zhadan and Oleg Kadanov.

The event is funded by the Federal Agency for Civic Education/bpb.