On the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine Pushkin House is hosting the reading of three anti-war plays, all written in 2022. Playwrights are determined to speak out about the tragedy of the war, document its horrors and implications, understand the current situation, and seek ways to oppose the rhetoric of animosity and the legitimisation of Russia's imperial aspirations.
The plays will be read in Russian with translation provided via projection.
This event is free, but donations to Helping To Leave are encouraged. Helping to Leave is a network of volunteers that helps Ukrainians affected by war – including those who have been forcibly deported to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine or to Russia. It works 24/7 providing consultations to those seeking help, guiding them through the evacuation process, and connecting them to volunteers on the ground for all humanitarian needs.
The plays will be read on this day by professional actors and playwrights who have found themselves in several cities around the world, including Belgrade, Berlin, London, San-Francisco and Tbilisi. The event at Pushkin House will be be livestreamed at the following link:
The Q&A will be livestreamed here:
ABOUT THE PLAYS
Sergei Davydov: The Border
Read by Anatolii Stepaniuk
In Davydov's dramatic poem, the war in Ukraine divides the hero from his mother. He watches as his life and everything he believed in is crumbling and he decides to leave the country, not understanding how to stop the catastrophe. But then there is another sorrow – his mother has a heart attack.
Natalya Lizorkina: Vanya is Alive
Read by Irina Kara
The world of Alya, the protagonist of the text, is turned upside down. "Death" means "life", "in captivity" means "absolutely free". Alya awaits her son’s return from the war and hopes for his rescue. But her hopes turn out to be in vain, and later Alya herself becomes a victim of the state.
Alexandra Sokolova: Aunt Klava, NATO, and The Pregnant Cow
Read by Alexandra Sokolova
In Greenwich, London, where the imaginary line on the ground sets the zero hour for all the world's clocks, Anya is awoken in the middle of the night by an unexpected phone call from Tula. Anya's aunt Klava had a dream about a pregnant cow and believed it was a sign from her deceased sister, Anya's grandmother, who had saved her during the Second World War.
The plays have been translated from Russian into English by Tatyana Axelrod.
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHTS
Sergei Davydov is a playwright, screenwriter and prose writer. He was born in 1992 in Togliatti, and graduated from the Faculty of Humanities of the Higher School of Economics with a degree in Philology and Literary Mastery. Sergei began writing plays at the age of nineteen. He is a participant of the Lyubimovka and Za!Text festivals, and a laureate of the Culmination, Eurasia, Remarka, and Characters competitions. His play Republic was particularly noted by the Golden Mask national award.
Natalya Lizorkina is a dramatist, born in 1990 in Moscow. She holds a degree in editing from the Fedorov Moscow State University of Publishing and graduated from the showrunner course at the Moscow Film School (mentors Fedorovich and Nikishov). Her plays were shortlisted three times for the Lubimovka Young Russian Playwrights Festival and were also included on the longlist of the All-Russian STC Author's Stage competition and the Remarka competition. She works as a screenwriter and creative producer.
Alexandra Sokolova is an actor, director, playwright and stand-up comedian. She graduated from the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts in St Petersburg, and later pursued Theology and Music at the St Petersburg Theological Academy and Seminary. Believing that originality is borne out of trauma, she strives to transform a unique trauma into a universal narrative that is understood by many – from the personal to the universal. As an artistic director and creative producer, Alexandra has experience in working with teams around the world.
Photo by Lelia Milaya: Borodianka, Kyiv Oblast, in the aftermath of the Russian occupation