The Song of the Forest cover

The Song of the Forest

Lesia Ukrainka
Genre
portrayed in three carols
Duration
3:20 with two intermissions
Age restrictions
16+
Content warning
The performance contains explicit language
Date of premiere
March 25, 2011
Watch teaser

Lesia Ukrainka's classic text is a dramatic love story between the Forest Nymph Mavka and a young man, Lukash. In Andriy Prykhodko’s vivid directorial interpretation of Mavka’s story, the three acts of her chronicles encapsulate different periods of Ukrainian history. Its beginning coincides with the start of the twentieth century when Ukraine was at its last peak of cultural and national identity; when everyday life was filled with the vibrancy of its historical treasures, its clothing, its songs, its rituals, its traditions. The second and third “carols” shift to the starker period Soviet times and then onto the present, which harbors the bitter legacy of the past.

Since its 2011 premiere, this production of The Song of the Forest has been cited as one of the best Ukrainian works of the last decade. Its touching dramatic story is transcending, provoking, and inspiring. Authentic to a visceral core, its themes, music, colors, and movement evoke a true connection to the Ukrainian spirit which emerges from the song of its forest.

Director –Andrii Prykhodko
Musical Director –Mariana Sadovska
Set and Costume Design – Bohdan Polishchuk
Lighting Design—Petro Humeniuk
Choreographer – Ninel Zberia

Cast:
Mavka (A Forest Nymph)– Oksana Kozakevych / Maria Oneschak
Lukash – Denis Sokolov, Mykola Bereza, Andrii Kozak / Andriy Vodychev
Uncle Leo – Yaroslav Fedorchuk
Lisovyk (A Woodland Spirit) –Oleh Tsiona
Rusalka (A Water-dwelling Succubus) - Tamara Gorgisheli / Natalia Parkhomenko
Lukash’s Mother –Tetiana Kaspruk
Perelesnyk (The Spirit of Seduction) - Andriy Vodychev / Oleh Oneschak / Marko Svizhinskyi
Poterchata (The Spirits of Deceased Children) –Tamara Gorgisheli / Natalia Parkhomenko / Daryna Fedyna, Maryna Mazur

The project is supported by “The Foundation for Development of Ukraine”

Dates

Personalities

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