Ukraine director revives 'lost' Mariupol theater

MARIUPOL

The day after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, theater director Anatoliy Levchenko was due to stage an opening night in Mariupol.

But the port city has been under Russian occupation since it was flattened in a brutal siege in 2022 with Levchenko's former theater bombed despite civilians taking refuge there.

He was then captured by Moscow's forces and imprisoned in Donetsk for 10 months, before being released without charge and fleeing the separatist stronghold with his wife and son.

Almost two years later, he has revived his Mariupol company by staging a symbolic opening night of a dark comedy called "Light at the End of the Tunnel" in Kiev.

"This is a show for our family, so to speak, for our own people," Levchenko said in Kyiv's Les Kurbas Center, where Mariupol refugees made up much of the audience. The organizers had to squeeze in more seats to accommodate the audience on opening night.

His Mariupol Drama Theater was bombed despite the word "children" written in large letters on the ground, with hundreds believed to be hiding there. Its colonnaded building has become a symbol of Russian brutality.

Levchenko, 54, recruited young drama students from Mariupol for his new theater in the Ukrainian capital.

"We won a small grant competition, which was enough to pay the actors a little and rent a rehearsal room here in Kiev," he told AFP.

Levchenko said that when he was arrested and held on suspicion of terrorism, extremism and fomenting hatred after the 2022 invasion, he was questioned about his stagings. He suspects a former colleague may have denounced him for "pro-Ukrainian activities."

"It was very funny: 'Tell us about the play!'" he said. "I spend three hours telling them who enters when and says what."

"'Where is the propaganda of anything inhumane here?' I asked."

Some of his former actors have formed a new theater in western Ukraine and staged a show based on their experiences called "Mariupol Drama." Others have decided to stay and perform under the occupation.

"They are putting on plays for the Russian authorities and telling horror stories about how Ukrainian nationalists would not let them live peacefully," Levchenko said.