Voices of resistance: Ukrainian wartime drama in the European public sphere
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.28925/2311-259x.2026.2.7Keywords:
Ukrainian wartime drama, theatre of war, dramaturgical counteroffensive, cultural memory, trauma, European public sphere, Brecht, identityAbstract
The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how, since 2022, contemporary Ukrainian war plays performed in Europe have emerged as a distinctive artistic phenomenon and an integral part of the European public sphere. As such, they function both as acts of cultural resistance to Russian aggression and as a means of dismantling Russian imperial narratives while preserving Ukrainian national historical memory. The object of the study is Ukrainian war plays written after the Russian Federation's occupation of parts of Ukraine in 2014. The subject of the analysis comprises the artistic strategies employed by Ukrainian playwrights and the reception of these plays in European theatrical contexts, particularly their transition from dramatic texts to staged readings, translations, full-scale productions, and critical reception. The study's relevance stems from the growing presence of contemporary Ukrainian war drama within the European cultural and public sphere following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as well as the need for a comprehensive scholarly examination of this process.
The study employs a multi-level methodology, combining an analysis of the cultural circulation of contemporary Ukrainian war drama within the European theatrical landscape with case studies of selected staged readings and full-scale productions in Germany, the United Kingdom, and Poland. The study's novelty lies in its analysis of how contemporary Ukrainian war plays operate within the European cultural and public sphere.
Results. This study traces the development of contemporary Ukrainian war drama from dramatic texts and staged readings to translations, theatre productions, and critical reception across Europe. It demonstrates that theatre functions both as a form of cultural resistance and as a space for the public interpretation of the traumatic experience of war. The findings also show that Ukrainian playwrights have used theatre to transform the war from news reporting into a profoundly human experience, making individual lives and voices visible and comprehensible to European audiences and thereby fostering intercultural dialogue. Furthermore, the study identifies the artistic representation of women's experiences of war as one of the defining features of contemporary Ukrainian war drama, occupying a significant place both in dramatic texts and in their European stage interpretations.
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