The Public Theatre and Kyiv-based theatre company, Theatre on Podil will make its New York debut with a limited run of WHEN THE HURLYBURLY’S DONE, a new play written and directed by Tony Award winner, Richard Nelson and translated by Yulia Sosnovska. Performances will begin in the Shiva Theatre from 16 September to 21 September. The production is performed in Ukrainian with English subtitles.
This marks the second play Richard Nelson has directed at Theater on Podil; the film of his Ukrainian-language production of Conversations in Tusculum, a play which first premiered at The Public, was screened at The Public last fall. Nelson’s Public Theater premieres also include The Apple Family plays, The Gabriels, The Michaels, and Illyri.
In 1920, 32-year-old Les Kurbas, the founder of the modern Ukrainian theatre, takes a group of young actors out of war-torn Kyiv into the countryside where they will perform plays, bartering tickets for food. One such play is Macbeth, the first Shakespeare production ever performed in Ukrainian. While Kurbas and most of the company attend a show by a local theatre company performed in their honour, six young women—four actresses, a pianist, and a dancer—stay behind with their children. Over a meal which they cook using the proceeds of that evening’s show, the young women talk, complain, joke, make fun of themselves, laugh, and rehearse dances from the show, all while in pain, heartbroken, lost, scared, and with a need to be together.
The cast includes Yulia Brusentseva, Kateryna Chikina, Mariia Demenko, Natalka Kobizka, Olena Korzeniuk, and Maria Kos. WHEN THE HURLYBURLY’S DONE features scenic and costume design by Mariia Pohrebniak, lighting design by Sergey Nevgadovsky, and sound design by Sergey Shevchenko. Vladyslav Tsekhmeistruk and Milada Samoilova will serve as stage managers.
THEATER ON PODIL is one of the most renowned and innovative theatre companies in Ukraine. It was the first theatre in Kyiv to restart production after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Its lobby serves as a bomb shelter for the community. Two of its actors have died in the war while serving in the armed forces.
WHEN THE HURLYBURLY’S DONE begins performances in The Public’s Shiva Theater on Tuesday, September 16. The production will run through Sunday, September 21. Tickets are available now and can be accessed by visiting publictheater.org, calling 212.967.7555, or in person at the Taub Box Office at The Public Theater at 425 Lafayette Street.