The first performative reading of the drama by Lena Kudaeva, with some staged elements. The young Ukrainian author describes her work as “a text about childhood. A terrifying text that had to be fought for, tearing it from every cell of the brain. It is a text about love, hatred, resistance, forgiveness, and fear.” The whole revolves around a difficult relationship between a daughter and her violent father suffering from alcohol addiction. Narrated from the perspective of the victim in a non-linear fashion, through non-chronologically arranged moments, flashes, and glimpses of the past, it is similar to browsing through a very old family album, and opening it on random pages. The project, still a work-in-progress, features Nina Batovska, a Ukrainian actress who arrived in Poland after Putin’s invasion and currently works at the Silesian Theatre in Katowice. The reading will be accompanied by a discussion with Lena Kudaeva, Anna Korzeniowska-Bihun, Tomasz Fryzeł, and Olga Maciupa entitled “New Ukrainian Drama after 24 February: Internal and External Perspectives”. Insect, the book resulting from the cooperation of the Ukrainian Institute, the Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute, and the Cultural Workshops in Lublin, will be available for purchase. It contains three plays selected in 2022 as part of the Ukrainian Institute’s “transmissionUA: drama on the move” programme, dedicated to the promotion of contemporary Ukrainian drama in European countries. The winning texts are Lena Kudaeva’s Insect, Oksana Savchenko’s Noc zakryje poranek (literally “Night will Obscure the Morning”), and Polina Polozhentseva’s Oszczędzajcie prąd (“Save Electricity”).

Partners and co-organisers of the event are the Boska Komedia / Divine Comedy International Theatre Festival in Kraków, the Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute in Warsaw, transmission.UA: drama on the move, and the Cultural Workshops.

* Admission to the event is free. Tickets are required and can be obtained by writing to the following address: sklep@boskakomedia.pl