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2 2 WWW. UNWLA.ORG “НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ЖОВТЕНЬ 201 7 1917/2017: TYCHYNA, Z HADAN AND THE DOGS by Olena Jennings Conceived and directed by Virlana Tkacz, “1917/2017: Tychyna, Zhadan, and the Dogs” was performed at La MaMa Experimental Theatre in June of this year. The title of Yara’s recent production “1917/2017: Tychyna, Zhadan, and the Dogs,” is a list of the show’s ingredients. The main text is Pavlo Tychyna’s po- etry collection Instead of Sonnets and Octaves . Published in 1920, this collection describes how ordinary people experienced the political chaos in Kyiv at the time Tyc hyna wrote about the political situation sur- rounding him, just as poet Serhiy Zhadan writes about the current political situation in Kharkiv; the band the Dogs performs his poems. The performance began in the theatre lobby with a history lesson presented b y Bob Holman. The audience learned about all the changes in government that happened in Tychyna’s time through “The Haberdashery of History,” an entertaining lesson in which Holman worked with Waldemart Klyuzko, who created the props for the opening. Holma n changed the hats on Klyuzko’s head as twelve regimes replaced one another in Kyiv from 1917 to 1920. Bob Holman and Waldemart Klyuzko in “Haberdash- ery of History.” Photo by Lee Wexler Darien Fiorino in Tychyna’s “Lull.” Photo by Yuriy Semeniu k Next we moved to hear Alexandra Koval perform Tychyna’s poem “War,” behind the sounding board of a piano played by Julian Kytasty. Ms. Koval emerged from behind the instrument as if she were a ghost, her body transformed by the sadness of the war. For th is author, the most powerful words the actress uttered were “My dream — my son,” evoking a mother’s experience with her son at war. In a different part of the room, poet Serhiy Zhadan read “Three Years We’ve Been Talking about the War,” a work about a man wh o returns from war afraid of everything. Zhadan stressed each carefully chosen word, anticipating tragedy. By now the audience was prepared and anticipated the way that en- tertainment, tragedy, and action would be woven together in the performance. Then we were led into the theatre itself. Tychyna’s poetry collection was dedicated to philosopher Hryhorii Skovoroda who wandered through Ukraine with his bandura. Strumming a bandura, Kytasty started the show by dedicating his performance in the production to Skovoroda. Poems from Instead of Sonnets and Octaves were performed by Marina Celander, Sean Eden, Robert Feldman, Darien Fiorino, Alexandra Koval, and Maria Pleshkevich. The actors’ movements were graceful and dance - inspired. At one point actor Darien F iorino moved across the stage as though he were floating. The script was created by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps. The actors worked with the set de- sign created by Watoku Ueno and lighting effects by Jeff Nash to create a space for the words. Images fro m Tychyna’s manuscripts and diaries were included in projections by Waldemart Klyuzko. Those as- pects of the performance that included the Tychyna poems and Yara actors were largely monochromatic, black and white projections with dark costuming.
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