“Acting as a rescue circle. How the theater helps the wives of the military in psychological rehabilitation – three women’s stories on March 16, 19:44: The next time the performance will be shown on March 22, 2025 at the Young Theater in Kiev (photo: Alexander Medvedev, NV) Author: Alexander Gorchinskaya on March 22, 2025 in the capital of Ukrainian theater. Mostly are amateurs in acting”, – WRITE ON: ua.news
The next time the show will be shown on March 22, 2025 at the Young Theater in Kiev (photo: Alexander Medvedev, NV)
On March 22, 2025, at the Medical Young Theater will show a play, the roles in which are played by the wives of Ukrainian servicemen. Mostly these are acting amateurs for which the theater became a rescue circle in difficult times.
Dialogues about internal experiences
On the eve of the wedding, the girlfriend’s company goes to the forest hotel of the valley. The bride – a kindergarten teacher named Sofia – is going to marry the military, who is called Andrew. Her future mother -in -law Olena doubts whether it will be better to postpone the wedding, and therefore decides to arrange a test for the bride.
At the heart of the plot-preparation for a girl-evening, the central action of which should be the melting of the bride. It is a traditional wedding ritual, during which the closest relatives weaned the girl’s braid, removing from her jewelry, which could only be worn unmarried, and covered their head with a headdress that women wear married. Such actions symbolized farewell to maiden and transition to a new status.
The performance of a meal is made of dialogues, through which the heroines share their own life experiences and tell about the difficulties that women whose men have gone to the army may face. The acting game is shaded by musical accompaniment: both modern and ancient Ukrainian songs are used. Red thread passes the melody of the song.
The performance also raises the topic of the importance of the environment: the viewer is thought that it plays an important role in our lives, especially when we are experiencing difficulties.
Working with emotions through the game
The idea of interaction through the theater with people who was directly influenced by the war began in 2022 with the social project the right to a dream, says in a comment by NV Alina Klimanskaya, a manager of the Draman Theatres Trust Cultural Center, who embodied the play. Then the organizers of the project selected performances and performances that inspire, induce to dream, and distributed tickets for free:
“We wanted to give people the opportunity to get rid of emotions, to restore emotional, psychological state through theater. Different types of leisure, such as reading books, attending performances, or something, is a way of emotionally switching from the context you usually stay. ”
Thus, for 2023–2024, Draman Theatres Trust spread more than 1,000 free tickets for various performances. However, over time, it became clear that sometimes it is not enough to be only in the role of the viewer. So they decided to conduct training, immersing people in acting not to bring them to the stage, but to unload their nervous system and switch. The idea in cooperation with the Fund of the Creed Life began.
“They planned to work with veterans and military, but faced a number of difficulties. First, it is difficult to gather together, and secondly, those who are in a difficult emotional state, sometimes not easy to delay in any activity-they do not go into such projects themselves, ”Alina Klimanska explains.
So they decided to work with families of military and veterans: they posted information on the Internet and organized a free recruitment. This initiative was supported (KCMD) and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science of the Netherlands. With a group of 20 women, they have been engaged in two months. The NV interlocutor remembers that the participants did not want to stop, so they created a play under them.
“The main idea of the performance is that victory is born in the arms of the dear. For the military support of relatives, it is very important, as is what you are perceived not just as a serviceman, but as a person and personality. I go not for the military, I go for Andrew, says our main character. “
In the course of classes with girls, measurements of their psycho -emotional state were carried out in order to keep track of what role classes in emotional recovery play. The results, according to the NV interlocutor, are striking: the feeling of loneliness decreased by 40%, the level of involvement in life and its various processes increased. This was made possible by working with emotions through a theatrical game.
“Theater is the most difficult art. This art is collective. In fact, it is not so easy to take a performance with the participation of people who had never had nothing to do with the stage, ”adds the founder and head of Draman Theatres Trust Alexander Situkho. His plans include spread this technique in working with other groups of people, such as internally displaced persons.
Women who recover through theater
Svetlana Bakhmetov is a teacher of solo singing and bandura game, the mother of two children. Her husband, commander of a landing platoon 36 brigade of the 1st Battalion of Marine Corps Ruslan Bakhmetov died in the war in the summer of 2023. Before going into the army, he worked as a director at the factory. He had golden hands, made stained glass out, loved the sea, was kicening. The woman says – she is lucky to meet the love of her life.
“It was difficult for me to realize that he was gone, and about six months I could not even utter the word” was “. I remember that during the funeral everyone looked at me as I behave. I quickly realized that it generally wanted to see the sobspita widow, but it does not help to live at all. On the contrary, you need to look for hooks for life, what you would like to do. I tried to do my best so my children would not fall emotionally. To do this, as a person who tries to live with loss further, I needed psychological support and. The theater was a good opportunity to switch, to unload, ”says Svetlana Bakhmetov.
She had no such experience before. The performance of the melting gave her the opportunity to move away from the usual roles and try herself in other role. In the performance she plays the mother of the bride.
“We were told: because you play the same life roles – the role of the mother, the role of the mistress, the role of the worker at work – it delay so that it is impossible to relax. So I really saw a great grain in this project, ”Svetlana Bakhmetov emphasizes.
Another actress involved in the performance, Yulia Korneev, is not relevant to the theater in ordinary life and works in a bank. She learned about the project from telegrams for relatives of servicemen. Her husband was mobilized in early 2024. It now serves as a part of the 110 separate mechanized brigade named after Mark’s General Horunzh.
“We are together 24 years old, and during this time for more than a month we have never parted. To realize that now this relationship will be at a distance, it was very difficult for me. In addition, he got into one of the hottest directions – Pokrovsky. Before that he had no military experience, he did not serve in the army for health reasons, ”Yulia Korneeva says.
She recalls that in connection with the mobilization of the man, she felt depressed, and although she received support from loved ones and colleagues, she realized that the most valuable was support from other women who are experiencing the same. Then to open up, to show emotions and tell about feelings – easier. So when she saw an advertisement advertisement, she decided to try:
“First, we came to a training where we worked with emotions in group classes. They did not expect that it would end up with a performance. This idea arose in the process. This is a cool experience: confidence is attached, the body of the body disappears, the fear of public speaking is overcome. This is about the support of girls, as well as the organizers. They praised us for everything that would not happen. ”
Oksana Motzak also tells his story NV. At the beginning of a full -scale war, her husband went to the front. On his vacation, the woman became pregnant, and on February 18, 2023 gave birth to a girl, who was named Emma. According to Oksana Motzak, during childbirth, the doctors did not believe her that she was feeling bad – it turned out that the baby was breathing. For almost six months, a woman, together with a newborn baby, spent in intensive care. On July 22, 2023, Emma died without being conscious.
“I was in such a crushed state that it is difficult to even describe it. The first days [після народження дитини] I had hallucinations: I saw the objects moving in space. If it were not my older children, probably, would go crazy at all, ”the woman recalls.
The advertisement of the recruitment was thrown into the group by Oksana Mozak after the birth of Emma met in the palliative compartment of the hospital – they were lying in the neighboring wards. The interlocutor remembers: she was very worried because she was not kicked out, because she could not come to the first class. As a result, the project has become something more than just shared rehearsals – it became a full part of their lives.
“At first there were two compositions of acts, and some people were squeezed because of personal circumstances. We remained. Unfortunately, now we all have a difficult fate. However, the theater allows you to be distracted, ”says Oksana Motzak.
She has a five -year experience with a kindergarten. She has now graduated from the master’s degree and works as a primary school teacher.
Knowledge and experience gained while working on a performance also uses in his work. Inspired by the process, on the eve of the new, 2025, together with her students staged a performance, to which she wrote the script and picked up music. This performance received good reviews from the students.
Oksana Motzak thinks: It is good that there are things that can distract people in difficult times. Ukrainians are an indomitable people who retain their inner core, a thirst for life under all conditions, she says:
“We are not used to pity, saying that everything is over. Whatever circumstances, people joke, laugh and sing – even on the front line. So we adapt to what is and we believe in the best. “
He was an actor in civilian life. Azov – about serious injury, difference between army and army and appearance at the Venice Film Festival