What is the performance of « Cyborg Orius » and how Kharkiv Theater Oil Theater works
ANDThe Nafla Kharkiv Theater is celebrated for 7 years. Two of which fell on a pandemic, three – on a full -scale invasion. However, Nafta has become a phenomenon not only for Kharkiv, but for the entire theatrical sphere of the country. In addition to other professional awards that this theater receives, there is a Kurbas Prize: last year for the first time in history this state prize They were awarded the non -state theater.
7 years of existence – A remarkable term for an independent Ukrainian team that does not have sustainable state funding, a state building and a state booking of employees from mobilization. Taking advantage of the opportunity – The birthday of « oil », which almost coincides with the day of the theater, UP. Culture tells about the latest production of the collective about the ecocid and Kharkiv life of the theater as a whole.
Socially responsible theater – so positions itself « oil ». Among its topics are post -colonialism, civic responsibility, eco -awareness. And freedom and human -centrism. So, there are no sustainable hierarchies, as in post -Soviet state theaters. And the team is small, so it is easier for everyone to interact with everyone.
And the performances of this theater can be come in shorts. There is also no theaters of the buffet, which, sincerely speaking, sometimes upset the audience.
Naphtalab’s educational project at the Nafta Theater.
Alexander Osipov
In addition to productions, there are several educational programs and Hello’s Podkast About the Nafla Wave Theater. And only during the full -scale invasion, there were as many as 8 during the full -scale invasion.
Among them is the Impressionist Hartede 20which explores the Kharkiv avant-garde of the 1920s. Rainbow on Saltovka – Musical surreal about the role of the artist in the city during the war. Nobody Died Today – A documentary performance about the war created for the Western audience.
The performance of Artem Nasik « Rainbow on Saltovka », for which the theater received both Kurbas State Prize and the Game Prize.
Alexander Osipov
However, at the beginning of a full -scale invasion, the activity of the theater stopped for more than a year. Everything like everyone: someone went to fight, someone went to volunteers, someone saved children in the cities away from the front line. The founder of the theater Artem Mias He moved to Lviv. There he founded the new theater « Warta ». Inside the team jokes that if the artem is closed in the room, the next day he organizes the theater there.
On July 1, 2023, the Nafta Theater was again working in Kharkiv with a casting for the performance « Ram ». The team was updated, some actors from the guard moved to Kharkiv to work in Nafla. However, the main team remained unchanged: Co -founder of theater, artistic director, director and actor Artem Miasco -founder of theater, director, actress, choreographer and curator of educational direction Nina is predatory and the theater director Tatiana Golubova. From the Lviv period, the mustache has remained in the theater and strong ties with the theatrical environment of Lviv.
Frame from the performance of « Cyborg Orius »
Alexander Osipov
The last premiere in Nafta took place in February – this is an ecocid « The orgy of Cyborgs ». The name of the project is not sent to the defenders of the Donetsk airport. And to the « Cyborg Manifesto » feminist Donna Garavel. She calls the « Orgia of Cyborgs » modern wars in which equipment and weapons are firmly intertwined with human bodies and the environment. This idea of Donna Garavel was inspired by Lviv playwright Lyuba Ilnitskayawhich is in conjunction with the director Nina is predatory And put « Orgia … ».
Although « put » is not the word that comes to what is happening on the stage of « oil ». The performances here are collective artistic statements for a certain important topical problem.
The playwright Lyuba Ilnitskaya
Alexander Osipov
Luba often works on oil performances. She notes that art can really change society, but only when the community that creates it is adhering to the new principles of interaction itself – horizontal and mutually responsible.
In « Oil » there are in principle no performances, the texts of which were written « Somewhere not here » playwrights. They are all created directly by the team. So the playwright Lyuba Ilnitskaya worked in the theater itself as part of it.
The text of the performance consists of quotes, their own reflections, excerpts of works, motor scores and the bodies of the actors and actors themselves. And also from musical accompaniment, which is always created unique for every performance. And everything carries a certain idea or concept.
”We try to practice eco -awareness, for example, using materials and costumes from old performances in new works. Inside the team we build a horizontal way of interaction. It is also very important for us to counteract any manifestations of discrimination, homophobia and sexism« , – says the theater director Tatiana Golubova.
Costumes of the performance « Anti -Cyborgs » are made from costumes to other performances of theater « Nafta »
Alexander Osipov
The slogan of « orgy of cyborgs » has become « Last Anthropocene Show ». Director Nina Zhizhna created this performance on a proposal The Austrian organization Unit and for the Future Narratives for Planet Earth (Future Stories for the Planet Earth) with the support of Creative Europe.
Frame from the performance of « Cyborg Orius »
Alexander Osipov
In her performances, Nina often looks for a balance between realism and bizarre: « It seems to me that in my latest works, documentary and real, critical and specific view at the level of meanings, but in the form of some weirdness, fantasy, experimentality dominates. This is my rescue way to cope with the absurdity of reality and give yourself and viewers a space for reflection, rest, dreaminess and sensuality« .
Frame from the performance of « Cyborg Orius »
Alexander Osipov
The theme of the performance was chosen by the director almost immediately after the invitation to participate in the project.
”We now have no privilege to talk about the damage from plastic or air travel, although these topics remain important. Instead, in the context of the struggle for survival, it should be emphasized that Russia’s war crimes cause catastrophic harm not only to people but also to the environment. The scale of this influence is so huge that they cannot be fully aware or evaluated. Therefore, we decided to break this topic to attract attention to the war against Ukraine through the environmental dimension« , – comments predatory.
Footage from the performance of « Anti -Cyborgs »
Alexander Osipov
Creating this performance, the oil team sought not only to certify crimes and destruction, but also to expand the perception of the disaster beyond a purely human -centric view. The performance proposes to look at the events on an ecosystem, where a person is only one of its parts, not the main actor.
Footage from the performance of « Anti -Cyborgs »
Alexander Osipov
« When weapons are equally pierced by the concrete of buildings, the stems of plants, the flesh of animals and humans, when metals and sulfur from rockets flying over us and exploding, penetrate into the soil, bones, water and blood, are we able to see those others-non-human being destroying, as we do?”– said in the description of the performance.
Footage from the performance of « Anti -Cyborgs »
Alexander Osipov
Performers and performers of « cyborg orgy » are Artem Nasik, Denis Lomakin, Elena Bazenova and director Nina Zhizhna. The music was created by Nick Acorne, and Dasha Chechushkov’s decoration.
Footage from the performance of « Anti -Cyborgs »
Alexander Osipov
Since the topic of ecocid is extremely complex and complex, preparation for the performance included a research period where participants and participants attended lectures of ecologists, delved into scientific texts, analyzed artists’ works on a similar topic, for example, the works of artist Nikita Kadan.
The playwright Lyuba Ilnitskaya is shared by the peculiarity of the intellectual process of preparation for the performance: « We were looking for approaches how to talk about it, so we turned to the Western theoretical texts of Demos, Donna Garavel, Bruno Latur, publications of the intrict radical imagination. But in theoretical approaches, the most valuable were articles, considerations and public lectures of Ukrainian researchers asi Bazdyreva and Dariya Tsymbalyuk, artist Nikita Kadan, publications in London Ukrainian Review, absolutely impressive public conversation Global environmental.« .
The creators of the performance traveled to the de -industry of raisins in Kharkiv region, where employees of rescue services showed them the changes that the war made in the local landscape, destruction, places of mass burials. So the team “absorbed into your own bodies” Knowledge of catastrophe.
Frame from the performance of « Cyborg Orius »
Alexander Osipov
”We had to acquire this knowledge, to delve into the context, because This is not a play where it is enough to study monologues and take the stage. We formed the material all together, in the process of improvisations on the basis of our research, studied materials« , – says director Nina Zhizhna.
The playwright continues: « In parallel, in the theater hall, we groaned artistic forms that would be able to hold these experiences and allow us to touch on the non-human perspective of this war, to balance between imaginary/sensual/game stage existence and political/agent/factual evidence« .
Already On April 6, the team will show the performance « Anti -Cyborgs » in Kiev. After the discussion will take place.
Participation in the international project, within which the performance was created, provides a show in Austria in 2026. And this summer, the Orgia of Cyborgs will be shown at the Grand European Theater Festival, the details of which the team will be announced soon.
Footage from the performance of « Anti -Cyborgs »
Alexander Osipov
Creating such a performance, « Nafla » is aware of the scale and inevitability of environmental disaster. These losses of nameless creatures, organisms and ecosystems are immense. Crimes against the ecosystem continue daily, remaining unpunished.
Describing the performance, its authors and authors confess: « To be honest, we don’t know what to do with it. Therefore, we do what we can – we go on stage from the theater show to name crimes, to mourn their victims and to testify the disaster that grows and requires our response« .
