Choose one of the prominent Ukrainian theatre actors (actresses, playwrights).

Speak about his/her career. Why do you like him/her? Discuss the necessary professional traits a real actor has to possess.

Read the article about one of the best-known Ukrainian playwrights Sergey Danchenko. Make sure you study the language of the text to be competent in further exercises and discussions.

SERGEY DANCHENKO

"THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF HUMAN LIFE IS SPIRITUAL PERFECTION. AS LONG AS IT IS NOT TAKING PLACE, WE CAN SAY THAT HUMANKIND HAS LOST THE GAME.";

Serhy Danchenko, "Conversations on Theater "

 

Ukrainian theater has lost one of its best-known personalities with the passing of Serhy Danchenko, professor, actor and artistic director of Kyiv's Ivan Franko Theater.

Danchenko died at the age of 64. In his memory, the Ivan Franko Theater staged a week- long retrospective of his work.

Artistic director at Ivan Franko for more than 20 years, Danchenko had a tremendous influence on t heater both at home and across the former Eastern Bloc. He discovered and nurtured what would become the cream of modern-day Ukrainian theater – names like Bohdan Stupka, Anatoly Khostikoyev and Andry Zholdak, to name just a few.

Danchenko had theater in his blood. His grandfather was a theater director and his parents were actors. Danchenko followed in their foot-steps, entering the theater in western Ukraine and rising to the position of theater director himself at the Zankovetska Theater in Lviv in 1965. It was an exciting time. The 1950s witnessed the return to Lviv of a wave of Ukrainian intellectuals exiled to Siberia by the Soviet authorities. Danchenko was influenced by Lviv's cosmopolitan atmos­phere and became a member of a dissident group now known as the "'60s Generation."

The Zankovetska Theater became a cultural center, where actors interacted with composers, artists and playwrights. Through the Zankovetska, Danchenko helped preserve the integrity of Ukrainian theater, which, like most aspects of Ukrainian culture, had been largely forced underground by the Soviets. His first plays became landmarks of Ukrainian culture. His "Stone Master" reflected on freedom, his "Richard III" on the psychology of totalitarianism.

In 1978, Danchenko became artistic director of the Ivan Franko The­ater. In the face of opposition from the establishment, he made vast inroads on making all of Ukrainian theater more European. He raised artistic standards and refused to shy away from philosophical themes like the meaning of human existence.

"For me, the goal of life is to bring spiritual dimension to people's lives, and to turn them on the way to perfection," Danchenko once said. He remained loyal to that creed. In his interpretation of Shakespeare's "King Lear," the play becomes a metaphor for time and the destiny of man, reflecting Danchenko's own conviction that the future of humanity was in doubt. Only in madness, he says, can man see the truth – as is the case when the king and his jester swap roles.

Danchenko's choice of authors and plays, however, was never influenced by short-lived trends. He preferred classics to modern authors, never worrying about national borders and creating a theater that was universal rather than provincial. He gave more than two dozen plays he produced - including Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya," Lesya Ukrainka's "Stone Master," Jean Anouilh's "Thieves' Ball" and Ivan Kotlyarevsky's "The Aeneid" – an added dimension that made them classics of Ukrainian theater.

Danchenko is succeeded at the Ivan Franko Theater by Stupka, until recently Ukraine's culture minister and widely considered Ukraine's best actor. Stupka started out as a student of Danchenko, 34 years ago in Lviv, and worked closely with Danchenko until his dying days.

Kicking off Ivan Franko's new season at a press conference, Stupka noted that Danchenko's plays were not always appreciated by critics. But, he said, "We will very soon feel what Danchenko's death means for Ukrainian theater – not only actors and his theatre, but also the public."

In Danchenko's memory, Stupka will see through Danchenko's planned production of Ibsen's "Pere Gynt." He also plans on opening a small experimental theater - Danchenko's dream for many years – by the end of the year adjacent to the Ivan Franko The­ater. Naturally, it will be named after Serhy Danchenko.