Exploring Dramaturgies: Resistance and Activism in Ukrainian Theatre

Between the Euromaidan uprising and Revolution of Dignity in 2013/14, and Russia's full-scale invasion of 2022, Ukrainian playwrights, directors and dramaturgs have been at the forefront of their country’s grassroots political movements.

Join playwrights Anastasiia Kosodii, Lena Lagushonkova and Ukrainian theatre specialist Molly Flynn for an online discussion of theatre’s role in shaping political agency, supporting resistance efforts and community organizing in Ukraine.

This event is free to attend and open to all. When registering online, you will be able to make an optional donation to raise money for Razom for Ukraine, who are providing essential humanitarian war relief and recovery to citizens throughout Ukraine.

All funds raised will be paid by the d’n to Razom for Ukraine following the event and an update provided to attendees.

This event has been produced and organised by the dramaturgs’ network in partnership with the Ukranian Institute in Kyiv, Ukrainian Institute in London and Birkbeck Centre for Contemporary Theatre.

Date and time:

Wednesday 13th July

6 - 7:30 PM (BST, UK)

8 - 9:30 PM (EET, Ukraine)

Panelists

Dr Molly Flynn

Molly Flynn is a Lecturer in Theatre and Dramaturgy at Birkbeck, University of London. Her primary research is on twenty-first-century Russian and Ukrainian theatre, with a particular focus on documentary forms and political performance practice. She is the author of Witness onstage: Documentary theatre in twenty-first-century Russia (Manchester University Press, 2020) and her work has appeared in journals such New Theatre Quarterly, RiDE: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, Problems of Post-Communism, Open Democracy, and Calvert Journal.

Anastasiia Kosodii

Anastasiia Kosodii is a Ukrainian playwright, director, and one of the co-founders of Theater of Playwrights in Kyiv. Before the full-scale Russian invasion, Kosodii often worked with NGOs in Eastern Ukraine in towns on the front line of the war between Ukraine and Russia. Her international work is in connection with the Maxim Gorki Theater (Berlin) and Münchner Kammerspiele Theater (Munich) and the Royal Court Theatre (London).

Lena Lagushonkova

Lena Lagushonkova was born in the village of Stanitsa Luganska in Ukraine and graduated from the history department of Lugansk Taras Shevchenko. She debuted as a playwright in 2018 with the play BAZA, about women and prostitution. She is shef-playwriter off Odessa Vasylko Theatre and her plays include shorts of festivals Week Current Arts, Drama UA (Ukraine), Aurora (Poland), European Drama Award (Germany).