Taking the »green corridors«, escape routes for the civilian population, four women from Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Butsha and Kyiv make their way to Europe. Award-winning Ukrainian playwright Natalka Vorozhbyt portrays people on the run with plenty of morbid humor and brutal honesty. In the process she also works through her own experiences of fleeing at the beginning of Russia's large-scale war against Ukraine.
This production, directed by Ukrainian director Tamara Trunova, shows the complex fates of people in transit who have experienced destruction, rape and death and are now trying to build up a life in a seemingly safe Europe.
Parallel to the fates of four refugee women, the history of Ukraine unfolds through various historical overlays in Green Corridors as well. In this narrative, Russia’s colonial shadow is revealed as an incessant river of oppression and violence. This river shapes not only the destinies of individuals, but also collective identities, manifesting a cycle of trauma that is difficult to break.
The play reflects both the fates of the Ukrainian women who have fled as well as the host society’s viewpoints. These positions are represented by different characters from various areas of society - from the social assistance office to the film industry. They tangle themselves up in their efforts to help, but they don’t feel the war is any of their business and do not want it and the people seeking refuge to disturb the peace and their normal lives.
Tamara Trunova’s staged reading focuses on the realities of war, which are closer to us than we are ready to accept.
Ukrainian with German surtitles
Produced byFem.Cultural Network & EMI e.V.
Partners:This staged reading of Green Corridors, which spotlights women in the arts from Belarus and Ukraine as part of Fem*ArtWeekend under the Fem*Bridging Cultures label, is supported by the Federal Foreign Office as part of the Civil Society Cooperation Program
