Theater in Ukraine

Ukrainian Discourse Theatre in Lviv, Ukraine. 1864.

Theater in Ukraine (Ukrainian: Театральне мистецтво України, Teatralne mystetsvo Ukrayiny – Theatric Arts of Ukraine) is a form of fine arts and cultural expression using live actor's performance in front of spectators. Ukrainian theater draws on the native traditions, language and culture of Ukraine. The first known records of Ukrainian theater trace back to the early 17th century.

History

Origins

The origins of Ukrainian theater go back to ancient folk games, dances, songs and Rituals. In the 11th century entertainers known as skomorokhy performed in Ukraine. Also Pre-Christian performance in Ukraine was enriched by a "deep reverence and respect for the Supreme Being."^[1] Medieval and Early Modern

There were elements of theater during church ceremonies, evident from the frescoes of Saint Sophia's Cathedral in Kyiv (eleventh century). The Lviv Brotherhood School and Ostroh Academy were considered important centers for the development of religious drama at that time.

The first written references to theatrical performances in Ukraine date back to the second decade of the seventeenth century. The performances were brought from the West by Jesuits who were joining the brotherhood schools and other Ukrainian schools. The performances were used on a large scale as Jesuit propaganda.^[2] The texts of the plays "Christmas Day proclamation", which was performed in honor of the '' Bishop of Lviv Jeremiah Tisarovsky "(c. 1615 AD) and Jacob Javantovich" (1619 AD) have survived to this day. Records also exist of two Ukrainian plays that were performed, in honor of the death of ''John the Baptist'' on August 29, 1619, near Lviv.^[2]

17th to 19th Centuries

In the 17th and 18th centuries the performance of Nativity scenes and Christmas plays at local events spread. And in the 17th century vertep, portable puppet theaters, became popular.^[3]

The first stationary theater in Ukraine was opened in Kharkiv in 1789.^[4][5] In the rest of Ukraine theatrical troupes toured and performed "on the road".

In the early 19th century theaters started to appear in Kyiv (1806), Odessa (1809), Poltava (1808).^[6] In the second half of the 19th century amateur theater became popular. The first Ukrainian professional theater (1864–1924) was the Ruska Besida Theater in Lviv.^[7]

Ivan Kotlyarevsky, one of the founders of Ukrainian literature and theatre.^[8]

20th Century

Mykola Sadovsky established the first resident theater in Kyiv in 1907.^[9] Soon after Ukrainian statehood in 1918 the State Drama Theater was created.

The "Young Theater" (later the theater "Berezil") was created in Kyiv by Les Kurbas and Hnat Yura. Les Kurbas (who worked as a director, actor, dramaturge and interpreter of world literature) brought the works of William Shakespeare, Henrik Ibsen, Gerhart Hauptmann, Friedrich Schiller and Molière to the Ukrainian stage. With the creation of Berezil theater its stage became a sort of experimental ground. Berezil introduced for the first time the plays of renowned Ukrainian writers and dramaturges Mykola Kulish and Volodymyr Vynnychenko. Les Kurbas was repressed during the Stalinist period but is now viewed as a very important source of inspiration for contemporary Ukrainian artists.^[10]

Les Kurbas, before 1933.

While the Young Theater was promoting Avant-garde Theater, The State Drama Theater continued traditions of realism. Ivan Kotlyarevsky, who headed the Poltava Theater,^[8] was viewed as a founder of classical Ukrainian drama while Hryhoriy Kvitka-Osnovyanenko plays also found widespread acclaim.^[11]

Modern

In 1988, Volodymyr Kuchynskyi and his colleagues formed the Lviv Young Ukrainian Theatre, which they later renamed the Les Kurbas Theatre. The Les Kurbas Theatre has become the premier avant-garde theatre in Ukraine, receiving recognition and state support from the Ukrainian government.^[12]

Ukrainian Theater has been increasingly integrated into European culture and there are a number of international theater festivals, which are held in Ukraine every year.

Notable Individuals

Important Ukrainian playwrights from before 1917 include: Mark Kropyvnytsky (1840–1910), Ivan Tobilevich (1845–1907), Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky (1864–1913), Ivan Franko (1856–1916) and Lesia Ukrayinka (1871–1913). A new era began after the Communist revolution, important writers since include: Mykola Kulish (1892–1962), Ivan Kocherha (1881– 1952), Alexander Korniychuk (1905–1972), and Oles` Honchar (1918).

Many notable 19th century Ukrainian theater luminaries started out in amateur theater such as: Mykhailo Starytsky, Marko Kropyvnytsky and Ivan Karpenko-Karyi. The leading 19th century female star of the Ukrainian was Maria Zankovetska. The renowned theatrical family of Tobilevychi also rose to prominence in the 19th century: Ivan Karpenko-Karyi, Mykola Sadovsky and Panas Saksahansky (stage names) all not only acted and directed but also created their own acting troupes. Their private estate, Khutir Nadia, near Kropyvnytskyi, is a national historic site.

Talented Ukrainian actors who've appeared on the Berezil stage include: Amvrosiy Buchma, Maryan Krushelnytsky, Olimpia Dobrovolska, Oleksandr Serdyuk, Natalya Uzhviy, and Yuriy Shumsky.

Theater Companies

Theater in Ukraine includes music-drama theaters, theaters of opera and ballet, theaters of operetta, puppet theaters and others. Ten theaters were officially recognized as national. There are more than 120 theatres (state-funded and independent) in Ukraine, and the audience numbers around 5.6 million per year.^[13]

Notable theaters include The Dakh Contemporary Arts Center opened in 1994^[14]

Books about ''Ukrainian drama and theater''

''History of Ukrainian drama''

The book is written by the Ukrainian critic and translator Ivan Stichenko. It consists of five chapters. It is the first illustrated history of Ukrainian theater. It discusses historical issues, about ''The Development of Theater Art'', and about ''Latin-Slavic folk rituals, Latin-German folk rituals''. Drama and "The Evangelization of Christianity in Ukraine''. The book also gives an analysis of the works of the satirical poet and writer Theophanes Prokopovych'^[15]

''Theater and Drama: A Collection of Critical Essays on Dramatic Theater and Literature''

It is a collection of the most important articles of Mykola Kindratovych Voronyi (1871–1938), on the art of theater and theater literature, and what is the work of actors and directors, the nature of the audience, and, what are the ways that may contribute to the development of theater in the future.^[15]

See also

• Gogolfest
• List of theatres in Ukraine
• Theatre of Coryphaei

References

1. The Ukrainian Quarterly. Ukrainian Congress Committee of America. 1987. p. 209. The Christian faith, enriched by the pre-historic elements of a deep reverence and respect for the Supreme Being, so well-expressed in the pre-Christian theater in Ukraine, is reaffirmed in the Millennium of Ukrainian Christianity with a fully developed Christian – philosophical wordly perception. That faith has also accepted external, dramatic and musical forms of the liturgical ritual in which the people can also find the continuation of the ancient Slavic culture of Ukraine and the continuation of Ukrainian Christianity and its Eastern Church.
2. "Дмитро Антонович. Український театр. Українська культура. Збірка лекцій". litopys.org.ua. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
3. Литературная энциклопедия 1929—1939, Article "Вертепная драма".
4. Ivan Katchanovski; Kohut, Zenon E.; Nebesio, Bohdan Y.; Yurkevich, Myroslav (11 July 2013). Historical Dictionary of Ukraine. Scarecrow Press. p. 254. ISBN 978-0-8108-7847-1. From the early 19th century, Kharkiv became an important center of the Ukrainian cultural renaissance. Classicist writer Hryhorii Kvitka-Osnovianenko lived and worked there, as did the writers of the Kharkiv romantic laid the foundations of modern Ukrainian literature. Many of the early Ukrainian miscellanies were published there, as well as the first periodicals in Russian-ruled Ukraine, including Ukrainskii vestnik (1816–19) and Ukrainskii zhurnal (1824–25). The first professional theater troupe in Ukraine was established in Kharkiv in 1789, and the earliest modern Ukrainian plays were performed there. A clandestine hromada functioned in the city from the early 1860s, and a Prosvita branch was active after the Revolution of 1905.
5. The Ukrainian Quarterly. Ukrainian Congress Committee of America. 1947. p. 253. Kharkiv was the first Ukrainian city to boast of a permanent theatrical group (1789).
6. Академія наук Української (1969). Soviet Ukraine. Editorial Office of the Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia, Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian S.S.R. p. 525.
7. Ukraine, a Concise Encyclopedia. Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. 1987. p. 176.
8. USSR Information Bulletin. The Embassy. 1943. p. 2. Ivan Kotlyarevsky, founder of Ukrainian literature.
9. "Theater". www.encyclopediaofukraine.com. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
10. Evtuhov, Catherine; Stites, Richard (2004). A History of Russia: Peoples, Legends, Events, Forces Since 1800. Houghton Mifflin. p. 383. ISBN 978-0-395-66073-7.
11. "Kvitka-Osnovianenko, Hryhorii". www.encyclopediaofukraine.com. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
12. Onyshkevych, Larissa M. L. Zaleska (1995). "Volodymyr Kuchynsky's 'Theatre of Inquiry'". Slavic & East European Performance. 15 (1): 34–49.
13. Mygashko, Elena (24 June 2018). "Contemporary Performing Arts In Ukraine. In Search Of A Lost Identity". The Theatre Times. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
14. "Contemporary Performing Arts In Ukraine. In Search Of A Lost Identity". The Theatre Times. 24 June 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
15. "مواد أُضيفت حديثاً – المكتبة الرقمية العالمية". www.wdl.org. Retrieved 9 March 2021.

Bibliography

Larissa M. L. Onyshkevych. „Ukrainian Theater.” In Ethnic Theater in America, 525-48. Ed. Maxine Schwartz Seller. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1982. Reprinted as “Ukrainian American Theatre”, in The Ukrainian Heritage in America. Ed. W. Dushnyk. New York, Ukr. Coord.Com. in the U.S., 1991, 221-229.

Larissa M. L. Onyshkevych. “Toronto’s Avant-Guard Ukrainian Theatre”. The Ukrainian Weekly.  April 17, 1986. 9, 15.

Larissa M. L. Zaleska Onyshkevych. "Volodymyr Kuchynsky’s ‘Les Kurbas Theatre’ from Lviv.” Slavic & East European Performance. 15(422), 2, 1996, 68—73.

Larissa M. L. Onyshkevych. “Inspector General from Kyiv on Stage in Philadelphia”, Slavic and East European Performance. 25, 2, spring 2005, 80-84.

Larissa M. L.  Onyshkevych. “’White Butterflies, Plaited Chains: A Live Metamorphosis by Theatre-in-a-Basket from Lviv, Ukraine.” Slavic & East European Performance. 26, 1, 2006, 84—90.

Larissa M. L. Zaleska Onyshkevych. “Echoes of Chornobyl at the LaMama Theater”. The Ukrainian Weekly. Feb. 16, 1992, 10, 18.

Larissa M. L.  Onyshkevych. “The Kurbas Theatre’s Productions of Marusia Churai and Kaminnyi Hospodar [in Lviv]. The Ukrainian Weekly, March 22, 1988, 10,13.

Larissa M. L.  Onyshkevych. “On the Stages of Ukraine in 1990: From Sholom Aleichem to Mykola Kulish.” Slavic and East European Performance, 11, no.1 (1991): 49-57.

Irena R. Makaryk. About the Harrowing of Hell. A 17th Century Ukrainian Play in its European Context. (Dovehouse, 1989)

External links

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
• Dmytro Antonovych. Ukrainian Theater
• الأدب الأوكرانى

Theaters' website from Ukraine

• Ukrainian theatrical world
• teatre.com.ua
• Magazine «Cinema-Theater»