Solutions from Ukraine: Kyiv theater releases powerful video adaptation of play on Russian-abducted children

Photo: Anastasiia Mantach / Golden Gate Theater

Ulyana Guz

The Kyiv Academic Theater "Golden Gate" recently showcased a video adaptation of the play "I'll Be Back," directed by Anna Turlo and based on Oksana Hrytsenko's work.

"Ukrainian Pravda. Life" writes about this.

What is the problem?

"I spoke to Kherson teenagers who had been in Crimean camps and were then able to come back to Ukraine. They not only shared facts with me but also vivid details about their experiences in Crimea – the sights, smells, and language they encountered, as well as jokes, stories of friendship, bullying, fear, homesickness, and their longing to be reunited with their mothers and return home," playwright Oksana Hrytsenko said.

What is the solution?

In late August, the Golden Gate Theater launched its 45th season with a play about children from southern Ukraine whom Russia forcefully deported during its full-scale war.

^{Photo: Anastasiia Mantach / Golden Gate Theater}

How does it work?

Oksana Hrytsenko's play narrates the story of three teenagers from the Kherson region who are sent to a children's camp in the occupied Crimea. While navigating the situation, they grapple with understanding the events, rejecting pro-Russian propaganda, and balancing the typical challenges of adolescence.

^{Photo: Anastasiia Mantach / Golden Gate Theater}

Director Anna Turlo familiarized herself with the play's text during her time in the Czech Republic. She then organized a reading for a local Czech audience. She described the performance as a thought-provoking discussion presented unconventionally.

"Heroes go on adventures and view things as "scary" that adults would find funny, and vice versa; in a childlike manner, they interpret truly frightening events."

Also, she staged a play, the premiere of which took place on August 23-24 in Kyiv and on October 12 in Prague.

Ivan Shokha directed the film adaptation of Turlo's play. Actual footage from an abandoned children's camp was incorporated to capture the somber essence of an abducted childhood.

^{Photo: Anastasiia Mantach / Golden Gate Theater}

The team believes that creating a video version of the performance and making it available online will help broaden the conversation about the pressing issue of repatriating Ukrainian children. This will also enable those living abroad to watch it.

The filmed performance will premiere on the theater's YouTube and Facebook pages on October 25 at 19:00.

After that, "I'll Be Back" will be available to view on the Dramox platform.

For reference:

Since the start of full-scale aggression, the Russian military forces have been taking Ukrainian children to Russia and territories under their control. Ukrainian activists created a map of camps where children are being sent to after abductions.

As reported, Russian occupiers are intensifying the forced imposition of Russian aggressive ideology on the occupied territories of Ukraine.

The national resistance also reported that Russian occupiers detained children to pressure their parents.

As of August 2024, 19,546 deported and forcibly displaced children have been identified. The study "(Non)return of children: Ukraine facing the biggest challenge since independence" is an analysis of what happens to deported children in Russia, how they are returned, and what algorithms the state should develop.

Representatives of Canada proposed creating a coalition of countries to facilitate the return of Ukrainian children deported by the aggressor country.

Japan joined the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children.

Also, the United States of America officially became a member state of the coalition, which advocates for the safe return to Ukraine of children illegally deported and displaced by the Russian Federation during the war.

It should be added that the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children already includes 37 countries, and recently, Argentina also joined it.

Furthermore, Russian authoritarian leader Vladimir Putin signed a decree on January 4 which will permit Ukrainian children to receive Russian citizenship. This measure is aimed at preventing deported Ukrainian children from remaining in the Russian Federation without legal status.

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