Ukrainian-Swiss variations on the theme of Hamlet

The Dovzhenko Studio’s Unit No. 3, called Cinema Actor’s Theater, will host an original interpretation of Shakespeare’s drama-themed texts by writers from various historical periods on November 29 and 30. The show is called Hamlet. Babylon. The project is supported by the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation for Development of Ukraine’s i3 program, Contemporary Art Festival GogolFest, the Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine, and the City of Geneva’s Cultural Foundation.

“Hamlet. Babylon’s dramatic conflict comes from the character’s struggle with himself, overrun by the virtual world, his search for refuge in the land that we call home, and, eventually, his loss of himself as a person and an individual in the modern world,” the show’s director Dmytro Kostiumynsky said. “Hamlet is a victim of personal clones and personal avatars existing in the virtual world and complete irresponsibility for his own life. Vengeance is all he has left as he takes revenge on himself, his parents, and his ancestors for the modern humans’ inability to fulfill themselves.”

The play’s main theme is the Danish pilgrim’s travels through various countries where he performs plays in the language of the land where he is at the moment. He engages in an eternal quest for home, the land where one can take root, but is always leaving behind only ashes. The visual part of the show is the responsibility of TENPOINT (Oleksii Tyshchenko and Maksym Poberezhsky), Oleksii Retynsky composed music for it, Kateryna Babkina compiled script used texts by William Shakespeare and Heiner Mueller, and Serhii Stefan performed the operator’s job. The play will involve musicians Hanna Okhrymchuk, Tetiana Havryliuk, Viktoria Lytvynenko, Alina Matoushek, and Kostiantyn Povod. It will star Bartlomiej Sozanski as Hamlet, Viktoria Lytvynenko as Gertrude, and Tetiana Havryliuk as Ophelia.