Ukrainian Collaborations
York International Shakespeare Festival has been a key player in creative collaborations with Ukrainian theatre-makers both in Ukraine and in the UK. This page celebrates those past collaborations and looks forward to future opportunities in the UK, Ukraine, and beyond.
2023
Molodyy Theatre of Kyiv visits York
A company of actors from the Kyiv National Academic Molodyy Theatre performs A Midsummer Night's Dream at York International Shakespeare Festival. The Festival had to obtain special diplomatic permission for male members of the company to travel outside Ukraine. While in York, the company led workshops with students and community members. Their performance was sold out, with a large number of tickets having been subsidised for Ukrainian refugees to be able to attend at no cost.
2024
Co-Created Production with National Theatre of Ivano-Frankivsk
Two actors from the National Theatre of Ivano-Frankivsk, Mariia Stopnyk and Ivan Blindar, joined us at the Festival. They collaborated with York-based actors and community members from the UK and Ukraine to co-create a piece of theatre examining the shared themes of dreams, home, love, mental health, and belonging through Shakespeare, Ukrainian poetry, and the stories of our company.
It was a moving process, where people from across the world came together and created lasting bonds. Artistic Director of the Ivano-Frankivsk National Theatre, Rostyslav Derzhypilskyi, was in attendance and gave an impassioned speech about the importance of preserving Ukrainian culture. He announced the inaugural edition of the Ivano-Frankivsk Shakespeare Festival, which took place in June to much acclaim.
2025
DSpace & York International Shakespeare Festival
The next year of the Festival will bring together DSpace - a Ukrainian drama group based in York - with trainee actors from Ivano-Frankivsk and students from York St John University to co-create a brand new production.
2024 Collaboration with York and Ukraine communities
In 2024, York community artists, theatre makers, actors and a visual artist, together with students from York St John University worked with members of the Ukrainian community – actors, musicians and some with no performance experience. Led by the Parrabbola team, and with two actors from the National Theatre in Ivano Frankivsk, Ukraine, they explored core life themes and current issues, devising a performance using Shakespeare's work as a starting point. It was moving, passionate and life affirming as the whole group came together on common ground to join their personal stories with Shakespeare elements.
"The Romeo and Juliet dawn parting scene (set in a railway station and played as between a Ukrainian soldier speaking Ukrainian and his girlfriend speaking English) was intensely moving. More than anything I have seen it brought home the realities of what the Ukrainian people are going through. Shakespeare’s play will never again feel the same to me."
Audience member
“I have been forced from my home twice. I grew up in Crimea and had to leave when the Russians annexed my home land. I moved to Kyiv, thinking I would be safe there. But I wasn’t.
Now I am in York – my daughter is at school here. I don’t think I can find the strength to move again.”
Ukrainian participant – telling her story on stage
The Ukrainian participants saw completely the immense value of this creative endeavour, which served both to integrate them into the artistic scene in York and to honour their own expertise and experience.
Working alongside our Ukrainian friends, the York International Shakespeare Festival is searching for ways to continue and extend this work to benefit both the people involved, and broader creative work in the City.
Looking for more information? The gallery below contains a selection of images and videos from our previous work with Ukrainians during the York International Shakespeare Festival.
Please visit our social media for even more information,
or get in touch with any questions.
