The premiere date is January 15, 2025.
Karel Čapek’s play The White Disease (1937) sounds like a documentary chronicle of the year 2024. In the times before the Second World War, society, just like now, did not want to believe that war could break into their homes. This naïve belief, unwillingness to take responsibility for their own choices and fear of change make people vulnerable. Security and isolation in one’s world, unwillingness to engage with external circumstances make a person weak and passive. This is used to manipulate people’s lives to their advantage.
The plot of the play reveals the struggle for power and honour, in which great values are at odds. Čapek emphasises that the conflict between irreconcilable ideologies threatens life itself. His characters – the humanist doctor Galen (Dr Dytya) and the power-hungry Marshal – fail, being killed by a ruthless crowd indifferent to ideas and values.
For the production, it was important not only to rethink the text, but also to compare it with modern realities. The performance is based on the play: the key characters – Marshall, his daughter, Doctor Galen, and others – are retained, and the new image of the White Lady symbolises fate. She becomes the ‘eye of the play’, interfering in the course of events.
The form of the production is immersive. The audience becomes complicit in an action that takes place simultaneously in several spatial planes. Instead of seats, there is freedom of movement.
The stage expression is based on movement: movement theatre, dance (contemporary, modern, freestyle) and conveys the story of the plot in an arbitrary form that reveals the idea of drama.
The main idea of the play is that emotions should not overshadow the voice of reason, because it is the Human Being, his choice and responsibility for life that remain at the centre of any conflict.
Please note:
– The production does not include seats. You will be able to move freely during the performance, sit on the floor or wherever you feel comfortable.
– We recommend that you choose comfortable clothes and shoes to feel comfortable during the performance.
– During the performance, the actors will interact with the audience, they can involve you in the action of the performance, mark you with paint, but this will happen only with your consent.
– The performance will be filmed, not for public use.
Artistic management
- Director, author of the idea, choreographer - Honoured Worker of Arts of Ukraine Olha Semoshkina
- Stage designer, author of the idea - Andrii Fisher
- Costume designer - Taisiia Karas
- Music solution - Honoured Artist of Ukraine Nadiia Levchenko
- VJ-producer - Yuliia Morska
- Psychologist - Kateryna Petrova
