Taking the Stage Annual Theatre Program Winners Announced

14 March, 2017

Taking the Stage is an annual theatre program that offers Ukrainian theaters and emerging directors an opportunity to stage the best of contemporary UK drama in Ukraine. Recently four winners have been announced and they will have an opportunity to stage their productions in Ukrainian theaters.  

The call was opened for theaters and emerging directors from around Ukraine to submit a joint application to stage one of six new UK plays that have been translated into Ukrainian for the first time. The committee has received 42 application forms and chosen 10 finalists, who performed parts of their plays during a mini-festival of New British drama on September 21-22 in Kyiv.
As the result of public reading, four winners have been announced - Olena Avdeeva, Kira Malinina, Yevhen Merzlyakov and Tamara Trunova. They will have an opportunity to stage their productions in Ukraine till March 2017 with the support of British directors and theatre professionals.
The program partners are the following ones: ‘Theatre Platform’ Public Organization (Ukraine) and leading UK theatres Young Vic (London), Live Theatre (Newcastle upon Tyne), Hull Truck Theatre (Hull) and Sherman Cymru (Cardiff) that stage new work.
Read: Interesting Spring Events in Kyiv

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Taking the Stage is built on the success of the 2015 British Council’s theatre program. As part of the program young Ukrainian director Olga Tututia-Prasolova directed David Harrower’s ‘Knives in Hens’ at Ivan Franko Theatre in Kyiv; UK-based stage designer Minglu Wang designed the first Ukrainian production of Shakespeare’s ‘The Winter’s Tale’ in Lviv; and a group of local theatre professionals made international connections and experienced the best of UK theatre during the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

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Read: Upcoming Concerts in March 2017
The dates for the premier performances have been announced last week:
March 5th, 2017 - Gods Are Fallen And All Safety Gone (directed by Kira Malinina), Theatre Laboratory, Kharkiv;
March 11th, 2017 - Lungs (dir. Yevgen Merzlyakov), Lugansk Regional Academic Ukrainian Drama Theatre;
March 25th, 2017 - The Pitmen Painters (dir. Olena Avdeieva), Studio Theatre Arabesque, Kharkiv; March 31st, 2017 - Under the Blue Sky (dir. Tamara Trunova) , Kyiv National Academic Operetta Theatre.
More information on plays and schedule can be found on British Council Ukraine web page
Photo source: British Council web page