Ukrainian choir to sing at Festival d'Avignon – photo
The Festival d'Avignon, one of the oldest theatre festivals in Europe, will host a performance dedicated to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine with the participation of a Ukrainian choir. The production is directed by Marta Górnicka, a playwright, author and founder of the Political Voice Institute at the Maxim Gorki Theatre in Berlin.
The Avignon Festival posted the programme of the event on Wednesday, 3 April.
"A chorus of women hailing from Ukraine, Poland, and Belarus to speak about the war and face the forces of destruction together. When traditional music meets the political demands of the present, the stage becomes the possibility of a newfound community," the description reads.
The production uses Ukrainian ethnic music and traditional children's games. The team was advised on these issues by folk singer Hanna Okhrimchuk and actress Venera Ibrahimova. The choir included women and girls aged 9 to 72, all of whom had lived through the experience of war: evacuations from Mariupol, Kyiv, Irpin and Kharkiv, escape from political persecution, and refugee shelters.
4448 – number of deaths of mothers and children in Ukraine from the outbreak of the war to the present day, 29 September 2023
Photo: Marta Górnicka
Polish historian and theatre director Olga Byrska, who supports Ukraine and explores the Russo-Ukrainian war on her social media, also joined the production.
Marta Górnicka said that the play opens with a Ukrainian carol.
"The ritual of singing carols was performed only by women or women and children. It was always addressed to a specific person. People believed in the power of the song, believed that its words and wishes would come true. Today, these sung wishes are addressed to all people, for a new time, for life," she added.
Photo from the performance
Photo: Bartek Warzecha
The libretto from the play Mothers. A Song of Wartime was performed at the Avignon Theatre Festival in 2023. The premiere took place in September of the same year at the Powszechny Theatre in Poland.
The project is co-funded by the city of Warsaw and supported by the Ukrainian Institute, Polish NGOs and Warsaw theatres – Teatr Dramatyczny and Nowy Teatr.
About the festival
The festival in the French city of Avignon is one of the oldest and most respected theatre events in Europe. In July, it brings together festival directors, critics and theatregoers to see new theatre companies. And, of course, at the festival, the participants seek out new work opportunities, such as collaborations or tours.
Theatre companies represent national programmes from different countries. In 2022, for the first time since independence, the Ukrainian pavilion Pavillons du Futur appeared at the Avignon Festival.
The event was founded in 1947 and has been held annually since. The creator was French theatre director and actor Jean Vilar, who shaped the festival's programme. All directors after him also have complete freedom and opportunity to build their own structure of the theatre event.
Every year, Avignon hosts about 300 performances from representatives of different countries, most of which are original contemporary works and were premiered at this festival. More than 125,000 tickets are sold for the performances.
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