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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Charlotte Higgins in Ivano-Frankivsk

Shakespeare in war: bard’s ‘existential’ theatre takes hold in Ukraine

Women in elaborate, brightly coloured dresses with long flowing hair and dramatic makeup dance at the opening ceremony.
The Shakespeare festival in Ivano-Frankivsk, the second to be held in the city, has not been undertaken lightly, said the programme director. Photograph: supplied

The Ukrainian Shakespeare festival in the city of Ivano-Frankivsk did not open with a play. Another kind of performance was staged on the steps of the theatre, one that did not deal with sad stories of the death of kings but with tragedy unfolding in real life.

This was theatre in a different sense: a rally involving several hundred people demonstrating on behalf of Ukrainian prisoners of war, thousands of whom are estimated to remain in Russian captivity.

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