On the stage of the Gdańsk Shakespeare Theater there were two sold-out performances of the play “The Tempest” based on the play by William Shakespeare, staged by director Oksana Dmitrieva and production designer Mykhailo Nikolaev. The production was presented by the National Academic Ukrainian Drama Theater named after Maria Zankovetska. The Ukrainian interpretation opened the 29th International Shakespeare Festival in Gdańsk, informs press service of the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine.
The festival in Gdańsk is one of the most prestigious theater forums in Europe dedicated to the works of Shakespeare. During ten days, theater groups from Poland, Ukraine, Spain, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Great Britain and Japan will perform on the festival stage. More than a thousand spectators witnessed the modern Ukrainian reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s classic, which combined an innovative approach and deep psychologism.
The main role of Prospero was performed by Honored Artist of Ukraine Oleg Stefan, an actor of the Kyiv Academic Theater of Drama and Comedy on the left bank of the Dnieper. Volodymyr Panteleyev, Oksana Galiv, Ostap Vakulyuk, Yaroslav Derpak, People’s Artist of Ukraine Stepan Hlova, Honored Artists of Ukraine Andriy Kozak, Dmytro Karshnevich, Vasyl Korzhuk, Andriy Voytyuk, Yuriy Radionov and Vyacheslav Zhukov also played in the play.
Shakespeare festivals remain an important platform for cross-cultural dialogue, creative experimentation and new interpretations of the classics. The participation of Ukrainian theaters in such events shows the growing interest in the Ukrainian stage and its active inclusion in the European cultural space. This production has already been presented at the Shakespeare festivals in Ivano-Frankivsk and Chisinau.
