Festival of Ukrainian Culture Set for Next Month at St. James Theatre

Kiev's National Academic Theatre of Russian Drama Lesya Ukrainka brings a festival of events celebrating Ukrainian culture to the St. James Theatre from 8 to 19 September 2015, curated by Mikhail Reznikovich, Artistic Director of the National Academic Theatre of Russian Drama Lesya Ukrainka. The festival, comprising four plays, two free film screenings and a photography exhibition, will give British audiences a rare chance to acquaint themselves with some of Ukraine's cultural masterpieces as well as its developing modern arts scene.

The cycle of four plays, Ward of the Manor, My Mocking Happiness, Life's Little Nothings and Don Juan, will be performed in Russian and live dubbed in to English by a translator who will be present in the auditorium.

To celebrate 50 years since its release, Serguei Paradzhanov's The Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors will be screened on Saturday 12 September and will be introduced by one of the films' stars, Larisa Kadochnikova, who will also play the role of Olga Knipper-Checkhov inMy Mocking Happiness. Earth, directed by Alexander Dovzhenko, will be screened on Tuesday 15 September.

A free photography exhibition, Ukrainian Culture Today, will be on display in the bar and front of house area of the theatre, showing beautiful images of the sites, architecture and people of Kiev and the Ukraine.

WARD OF THE MANOR

A new translation of Ivan Turgenev's comedic drama Fortune's Fool

Director Mikhail Reznikovich | Associate Director Leonid Ostropolsky

8 - 10 September 2015

Performed in memory of Russian theatre director Georgy Tovstonogov, who was a teacher of Mikhail Reznikovich.

Olga Korina left her family's country estate as a young girl, returning seven years later with her new husband State official Pavel Yeletsky.

Among those there to greet Lady Olga Yeletskaya, is Vitalii Kuzovkin, an old man born to nobility but now penniless. The good-natured Kuzovkin has long served the family and is de facto ward of the estate; he is also the family's longest running joke.

During a celebration for the newlyweds, dark secrets are revealed and the lives of Lady Olga, Yeletsky, and the devoted Kuzovkin are changed forever. True nobility does not reside in mere titles.

MY MOCKING HAPPINESS

By Leonid Malyugin, based on the letters of Anton Chekhov

Director Mikhail Reznikovich | Associate Directors Irina Barkovskaya and Leonid Ostropolskiy | Designer David Borovsky |

11 - 12 September 2015

My Mocking Happiness is drawn from Anton Chekhov's personal correspondence with his wife, Olga Knipper-Chekhova, and close friend, Lika Mizinova. Alive with intimate and personal detail, the letters reveal the writer's complex inner life and his musings on theatre, art, 20th century psychology, society and power. He also discusses his timeless dramas Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard.

Structurally similar to Jerome Kilty's 1960 play Dear Liar, My Mocking Happiness has been staged at the National Academic Theatre of Russian Drama Lesya Ukrainka for more than fifty years.

LIFE'S LITTLE NOTHINGS

Based on the short stories of Anton Chekhov

Director Mikhail Reznikovich | Associate Director Kirill Kashliskov

13 - 15 September 2015

The human condition is examined in this original handling of Chekhov's short stories A Daughter of Albion, A Tripping Tongue, Difficult People, A Happy Man and The Wallet. Each of the five episodes is separated by brief interludes of authentic, classic Russian romance tunes.

Life's Little Nothings offers a vivid, provocative and often hilarious take on those personal thoughts and feelings one might hope would forever remain undiscovered.

DON JUAN

17 - 19 September 2015

By Tirso de Molina |Adapted by Lesya Ukrainka | Directed by Mikhail Reznikovich

Noted early 20th century Ukrainian poet Lesya Ukrainka offers an original, authentically Ukrainian take on this timeless story of conflict between freedom and authority. In a departure from the original story by Tirso de Molina, the Ukrainian Don Juan introduces us to Dolores, Lesya Ukrainka's semi-autobiographical depiction of a young woman selflessly devoted to the Don.

THE SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS

In Ukrainian with English subtitles

12 September at 2pm

The Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors is a 1965 film by the legendary filmmaker Sergei Parajanov, based on the classic book by Ukrainian writer Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky. The storyline revolves around two separated lovers caught in a family feud and also features a detailed portrayal of Ukrainian Hutsul culture, showing Carpathian environment, family rituals, the beauty of Hutsul traditions, music, costumes, and dialect.

EARTH

Silent film

15 September at 2pm

Earth is a 1930 Soviet film by Ukrainian director Alexander Dovzhenko, concerning the process of collectivisation and the hostility of Kulak landowners

In 1958 the film was named as one of the best twelve films of all time at the World Exhibition in Brussels. Charlie Chaplin called Dovzhenko "the one and only artist, thinker and poet, given as a present by Slavs to the world".

For more information visit www.stjamestheatre.co.uk

All plays will be performed in Russian and will be live-dubbed in English to be enjoyed in either language.

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