History knows many examples when it was during wars that new theatrical initiatives appeared, which became a symbol of spiritual fortitude and thirst for life and creativity even under the most dire circumstances.. This is what happens today, and the renaissance of Ukrainian theaters is the best proof of this.

However, theater becomes a salvation not only for people within the country, but also for Ukrainians abroad. After the start of a full-scale war, among the wave of migrants in Poland there were many Ukrainian actors and actresses, often with experience working on Ukrainian stages. Not wanting to leave what they loved, they began to organize, and already at the end of 2022, Ukrainian-language acting courses were created in almost every big city in Poland. Some of them have grown into Ukrainian-language theaters, which are gradually forming their repertoire and becoming an increasingly visible element of the traditional vibrant theatrical life in Poland.

This article is about several theater initiatives that have appeared in recent years in Warsaw, and about the people who became their authors..

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In 2012, for family reasons, actress and director Maria Ruda-Tokarczuk was forced to leave for Poland and suspended her acting and directing activities.. “In Poland they told me that it was impossible to either continue my studies here or play in local theaters, so I focused on getting a different profession,” says Maria.

However, in 2023, against the backdrop of a full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, Maria felt that it was time to return to her old plan - the creation of a Ukrainian classical theater. “The Small Stage project became a breath of fresh air when I was depressed, suffocating from everyday life, gray days and not developing personally in any way. I always thought it was unreal. But once I took an exam at an acting school, I realized: what I lack, I can create myself. And she opened a circle, from which the theater later grew,” says Maria.

Bows after the premiere of the play “Dim Bernardi Albi”. Photo: “Small Stage”.

Over the two years of its existence, the Mala Scena theater has rallied around several dozen actors - professionals and amateurs.; presented to the Warsaw audience the premiere of the Ukrainian-language play “Dim Bernardi Albi” based on the play by the Spanish playwright Federico Garcia Lorca; held Ukrainian evening parties in Warsaw, an evening of Ukrainian poetry and created a children's theater group. Now “The Small Stage” is preparing the premiere of the second performance - “Otak Having Died Guska” based on the play of the same name by Mykola Kulish.

“Ukrainian classical theater in Europe should be. I think there is a prospect for this in Poland, since the Ukrainian diaspora here is huge, and one’s own is still one’s own. Warms the soul, pleases the eye, enchants the ear,” says Maria.

Ukrainian evening parties in Warsaw, organized by the Mala Scena theater.

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Spouse-actors Maria and Sergei Berezhko (Honored Artist of Ukraine) ended up in Poland after the start of a full-scale war. A few years before 2022, we moved from Kharkov to Kyiv, where Maria worked at the Lesya Ukrainka National Academic Drama Theater. A full-scale war forced the family of actors to move to Warsaw.

“We did not perceive this as emigration. It seemed that this was temporary, so they didn’t think about continuing acting in Poland. “During the entire first year after our forced departure, I was recovering,” says Maria Berezhko.

Sergei and Maria Berezhko on the stage of the theater.

However, later Maria and Sergei realized that they could not do without their favorite activity, and began working at home on restoring Sergei Berezhko’s play “Little Friends of Mischief”. Later, Polish friends helped find a place for rehearsals, for whom the first pre-premiere showing of the play was arranged.. At the same time, Maria got a job in a kindergarten and quickly realized that her theatrical creativity could manifest itself there too. This is how the idea of \u200b\u200bthe Ukrainian children's theater MANGO arose.

Polish institutions also helped the development of a theatrical career in Poland - first, Maria and Sergei received a theater scholarship at the Polish Theater Institute, and later they were invited to work at the Arnold Schiffman Polish Theater. This summer, Maria and Sergei received another scholarship from the Theater Institute to create the play “Stolen Happiness” based on the play by Ivan Franko. The play premiered on November 8 at the Polish Theater.

Maria Berezhko during her residency at the Polish Theater, preparing for the children's play “Farming the Fox”.

“The experience of theatrical life gained in Poland, of course, differs from Ukrainian. We are used to working in state theaters, where everything is done for us by assemblers, costume designers, make-up artists, etc.. This is great and we miss it so much. When we started creating the MANGO theater, we realized what it’s like when you’re responsible for everything yourself. This routine is exhausting. Organization, PR, attracting viewers - all in one family. It's complicated. Therefore, we are now looking for opportunities to unite with other Ukrainian theater initiatives and further move towards creating children’s theaters,” said Maria Berezhko.

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The war radically changed the life and career of actress Daria Gomez, who also found in the theater not only professional fulfillment, but also psychological salvation.

Before the war, her activity was mostly acting - in films, advertising and TV series.. Sometimes she played in independent performances, taught a private course in public speaking.

“After emigration, everything changed,” recalls Daria. — I was confused, devastated. Felt helpless with my experience, education and outlook on life. I hardly remember the first year of the war. Trying to come to my senses, I explained to myself that I wouldn’t be able to engage in acting abroad without knowing the local language.. However, she was in no hurry to learn the language because she believed that the war was about to end. Finally, because of this vicious circle, I became depressed. Fortunately, at that moment I met old friends, met new people, and I formed a cool company that gives me strength and faith to move on.. I am reassembling myself and my work and feel that I have become broader than the previous Daria-actress. The search begins. Looking at my confused actress friends, I understand that someone must lead this movement. And we begin to stage the play “Women in the Dark,” in which I take on directorial duties. This project is currently on pause because we are still looking for funding. But he gave me a boost. Now I have two ongoing performances as a director: “Without Dahu” - a search performance in a bar format and “Srodna” - a chamber poetic performance, which premiered at the end of September. And on October 24, the premiere of the play “Station” directed by Svetlana Doronchenko took place on the stage of the Polsky Theater, where I participate as an actress.”.

Daria Gomez in the play “Station”, director Svetlana Doronchenko.

Daria believes that Ukrainian plays/performances can become a permanent part of the theatrical life of Poland. But only with the support of Ukrainian society - foundations, ministries, consulates, media, philanthropists, and most importantly - the Ukrainian viewer. “I urge everyone to go and support Ukrainian art in Poland! " Together with her colleague and friend Irina Yusukhno, she created the creative association Sumish_tut, which should unite creative people in Warsaw and help implement Ukrainian-language projects.

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Irina Yusukhno on stage in the play “Akin”, directed by Daria Gomez.

Irina worked as an actress for six years at the Chernigov Regional Drama Theater under the direction of Andrey Bakirov. At the same time, together with her sister, she founded the theater studio “Bila Valiza” and taught there. After leaving the drama theater, she created her own project - the Dessert Theater, in which she staged the children's play "

Irina spent the first year after the start of a full-scale war in Germany. " She helped take my godchildren out of Poltava - their family was waiting for them in Dresden. During this trip, through friends, we accidentally learned about a family of Belarusians who were ready to provide shelter. We decided to take advantage of this, so I lived in Germany for a year. I fell in love there, and my partner and I decided to move to Warsaw,” says the actress.

In Warsaw, Irina actively participates in theater projects and initiates her own. He plays in Daria Gomez’s plays “Srodna”, “Without Dahu”, “Two Women”, as well as in the play “Station” directed by Svetlana Doronchenko based on the play by Alexander Vitra. Took part in the filming of short films at the Warsaw Film School; together with Daria Gomez, she initiated a series of readings of plays by playwright Irina Serebryakova, and now Irina Yusukhno plans to restore the children's play “Aladdin” in Warsaw.

“I believe that performances in Ukrainian can become part of the theatrical life of Warsaw, but they will also function in the Ukrainian-Belarusian “bubble” (local Belarusians are very fond of Ukrainian creativity and support our actors). This will be a local story. If Ukrainians start staging plays in Polish, then we will create healthy and good competition for local artists, which will motivate each of us to develop. I think we have good potential,” says Irina. At the same time, she admits that it was in Poland that she learned to write applications and win residences and grants. This made it clear that a freelance artist is real, and there are quite a lot of such people in Poland.

Irina Yusukhno in the play “Station”, director Svetlana Doronchenko.

\? Don't know. Every day I have different opinions about this. There is a feeling that there is no longer home, but here is not home yet. This feeling is very strange. I would really like to return, but I don’t know if we, those who left, will be accepted by those who stayed. I already feel some distance between us even from my acquaintances and friends, not to mention social networks. In Poland, every micro-achievement is difficult. And you appreciate it all. And if you leave, you can lose it all, and you definitely wouldn’t want that.. Although, on the other hand, returning to Ukraine, I would be able to implement all my acquired experience. I think the experience of those who left can be extremely useful for the development of Ukraine in the future. I have such ambiguous feelings, and I think about it every day,” admits Irina Yusukhno.

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Another story for the actor and founder of the Skovoroda Foundation Roman Skorovsky from Lviv. In 2010, he became the artistic director and director of the Proscenium Theater at the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, and in 2019 he moved to Warsaw.

“My daughter has been doing ballet since she was six years old.. From the age of ten she worked in the children's ballet troupe of the Lviv Opera and Ballet Theater. Performed children's solo choreographic numbers in performances. Teachers of the Warsaw “Young Polish Ballet” invited her to study in Warsaw, so in 2019 our family decided to move to this city. Now the daughter is a soloist in the troupe of the Young Polish Ballet,” says Roman.

At the same time, the man immediately planned to continue to engage in theatrical activities, because he had many friends and acquaintances with actors both from Ukraine and Poland, and the experience of working with them on theater stages and film sets.

Roman's first, largest and permanent project in Poland is the SKO International Theater, founded in 2022.

“Our theater quickly became a unique artistic space, open to meeting artists from Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, Italy, Spain, Argentina, Israel, as well as representatives of other nationalities. Bringing together a diversity of cultures, traditions and languages, our theater focuses on the exchange of experiences and joint creativity. This is a place where boundaries are blurred, and art becomes a universal language of consent,” says Roman Skorovsky.

He is confident that Ukrainian drama has a chance to become part of the repertoire not only of theaters in Poland or Europe, but also of the world. “Unfortunately, today a significant part of European film and theater directors, if they have heard about Ukrainian classics, then only about Taras Shevchenko and Les Ukrainka. Only now they are little by little discovering the world of Ukrainian literature (its classics). But, as always, in this world everything depends on politics. Where and in what direction “politics goes,” the world will become acquainted with Ukrainian drama, literature, theater and art in general,” says Roman Skorovsky.

“I am very glad that back in Ukraine I had the experience of collaborating with good actors and directors, and moving to Warsaw gave me even more opportunities for cooperation. I worked for such famous directors as Wojtek Smarzowski, Agnieszka Holland, Dariusz Gajewski, Olga Hajdas, Kasia Adamek, Michal Rogalski and others. This gave me valuable experience as an actor and director, and I hope that my collaboration with these directors will continue, as well as collaboration with other directors and actors in Poland and Europe,” concludes Roman.

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Actress Svetlana Onishchak played in the Kiev theater " Her creative portfolio includes work in South Korea and China, where she toured as a musical theater and show ballet actress..

“When the war started, I was in Kyiv. Spent the night with a cat in a bomb shelter for three days. It was scary, and a few days later I left for Ternopil, to visit a friend. And two weeks later I left for Poland. There was no talk of continuing acting. I understood perfectly well that this was a leap into the abyss, and did not understand how life would go further.

In Poland, I ended up in the city of Torun, where I lived for a year, working as a maid in a hotel. Once I saw a casting announcement on Facebook: a Polish director was looking for Ukrainian actresses in Warsaw who could sing. I responded, although I didn’t even imagine that I could go to Warsaw and return to acting. To my surprise, I was invited to the casting. I prepared the Ukrainian-Polish song “Hey, Falcons” from the film “With Fire and Sword”, played the guitar and sang. There were many more different tasks from the director, we talked, she was very interested in the culture, folklore, songs and traditions of Ukraine. Soon I was invited to rehearsals for the play. Rehearsals were long, we looked for forms, worked with voice and body, cried a lot, shared our stories and sang again. Monologues then emerged from this - each heroine shares her war story. The performance itself for me is a symbiosis of text, recitation, songs and movement. This is a female choir that talks about war, anger, life, courage and indestructibility, and also about the fact that you cannot endure this pain in hatred, because otherwise there is no light in the end,” said Svetlana.

Svetlana Onishchak (center) during the play “Mothers”. Song of the Hours of War"

The play where the actress was invited is called “Mothers”. Song of the Hours of War”, director Marta Gurnitskaya. These are the stories of women who survive war, persecution and emigration. In a sense, the actresses involved in the play play themselves, and their voices throughout the performance are intertwined into a single voice of women's pain caused by the terrible events of the war. The premiere took place on September 29, 2023 in Warsaw, at the Zygmunt Hubner People's Theater. For two years, in addition to Poland, the performance was shown on stages in Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Latvia.

Svetlana Onishchak on tour of the play “Mothers”. Song of the Hours of War"

“For me personally, participation in the play “Mothers”. Song of the Hours of War" I didn’t even imagine that I was capable of such a form of acting on stage.. It's not easy, but I think it's my small victory. Moreover, this way I can convey our history and truth to the viewer,” admits Svetlana.

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Odessa actor Valentin Yelenevsky worked in the “Theater on Chainy”, in the Odessa Puppet Theater, collaborated with director Kirill Sukhanov in the project “Jumanji”, acted in films, was engaged in teaching and coaching activities. At some point, teaching became the main activity for Valentin - he began teaching acting courses for adults. After the outbreak of a full-scale war, these courses were moved to Moldova, and in the summer of 2022, Valentin received an offer to teach acting courses in Warsaw. These were one of the very first and largest acting courses for migrants from the post-Soviet space in the Polish capital.

It was through the courses that he led that dozens of people began acting, and professional actors who came to Warsaw after February 24, 2022 were able to continue doing what they loved. “Acting changed my life.. And I’m glad that through teaching I was able to touch so many people and share this with them,” says Valentin.

In 2024, for the first time, he conducted a nine-month author’s course in the psychological theater “Contact” and participated in the acting project “Kazkotherapy” (initiated by Ekaterina Kvyatkovskaya, head of the “Artsad” club).

“I believe that Ukrainian performances are already an integral part of theatrical life in Warsaw. Many Ukrainian projects appear here. Valeria Obodyanskaya became the co-founder of the Polotno studio, which regularly stages performances. Denis Shepotinnik founded Human Studio. There is the “Small Stage” and many other cool theatrical initiatives,” says Valentin Yelenevsky. At the same time, it is admitted that in Ukraine he lived a more creative life than is possible in Poland. This is partly due to the numerous administrative functions. Valentin is now focused on integrating into Polish society and improving his proprietary coaching and teaching product. At the same time, he is open to participating in new theatrical projects.

Valentin Elenevsky. Photo by Inna Zinchenko.

“After leaving Ukraine, I soon realized that we have a lot of cool things that we didn’t realize before. When the war ends, I definitely plan to go to Ukraine. I would like to see my family, friends, my favorite places, just take a walk around the city. However, I'm not sure that I would like to live there.

It is unknown how long the war will last, how much effort and resources will then be needed to restore the country. Infrastructure, economy, living conditions. This is important to me. I am a person from a low-income, large family. I have lived with limited financial resources most of my life.. I would like to have the opportunity to start a family and raise children. This requires resources. My goal is to do what I love, but at the same time have more than a living wage. If I find such an opportunity abroad, I will stay here,” admits Valentin Yelenevsky.