Five songs of Polissya
Luda Tymoshenko
The play consists of five short stories connected by one area - northern Polissia and takes place in the time space from 1940 to 2020.
The first novel "Baba Macbeth from the Gladkovichi" tells about the drama unfolding in a Polissia family in 1918, which we hear from the dialogue between Agafia and Adam, which takes place in 1940 in their village yard. An old couple's dog was poisoned and they argue about where to bury it.
The second novel "Jacket and Watch" takes place in 1959 in the prison. A young man is accused of brazenly murdering a graduate for a Swiss watch and a jacket. The suspect denies all accusations, but they do not believe him because he is not local.
The third novel "Tankman's Day" takes place in a public bathhouse in 1973. Tired elderly women soap each other's backs and chat about the tragic event that happened in the town on Tankman's Day. The chief of communications, a lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Army, shot himself in the head in front of his young and beautiful wife, leaving two children orphans.
The fourth novel "Oksanka" transports the viewer to the year 1997, to an abandoned soldier's barracks. Two teenagers, Andriy and Oksana, organized Oksana's self-abduction in order to get money from her parents, wealthy officers. But everything went wrong.
The fifth novel "Visiting the Golovykha" takes place in our time (2020). Two polite and modest girls with large shoulder bags walk into a village shop, in the middle of nowhere, where there is no mobile connection, to drink morning coffee. The owner of the shop - Golovykha - apart from coffee, leaves them to eat buckwheat soup and drink her moonshine. She is suspicious of travelers, because in their area there is illegal mining of amber and beryllium. The girls do not pass Golovykha's "lie detector" and now they are in danger of being fed to pigs.
Awards:
2020 - Grand-prix - Lypnevyj med contest ("Липневий мед") (Ukraine)
2020 - Shortlisted - Drama.UA festival (Ukraine)
2021 - Winner - “Transmission.UA: drama on the move. United Kingdom” drama contest (Ukraine)
2022 - finalist - International Contest "Aurora" (Poland)
Play is also translated into English
Performances:
2022 - Staged in Maria Zankovetska National Drama Theatre in Lviv, Directed by Ihor Bilyts (Ukraine)
Publications:
Aurora. Nagroda Dramaturgiczna Miasta Bydgoszczy Sztuki finalowe. - 2022 - 378 p.