Maly Theatre to show the premiere of The Voyage of the Discovery of Dr Leonardo based on the novel by Mike Johansen

In April, Kyiv’s Maly Theatre will stage a new play based on the novel by avant-garde writer Mike Johansen, The Journey of the Scientist Dr Leonardo and His Future Mistress, the Beautiful Alchesta, to Slobozhanska Swaitaria. The play is directed by Artem Vusyk, an actor, director, screenwriter, co-founder of the Nafta Theatre, winner of the Les Kurbas Prize, Kyiv Online reports.

The organisers spoke about the features of the event.

“On the one hand, the appearance of such a play in the repertoire of the Maly Theatre is a very logical and consistent step, because within our repertoire policy we are always particularly attentive to: firstly, Ukrainian works, and secondly, to the first reading. In this performance, the format of cooperation with the director and creative team, who came from another city, was new for us. The director, set designer, composer, and costume designer are all from Kharkiv. Another feature is in the material itself, as Mike Johansen’s works are unusual, and the stage performance is not typical,” says Dmitry Veselsky, director and artistic director of the Maly Theatre.

The production team:

• Author – Mike Johansen
• Staging and Production – Artem Vusyk
• Set Designer – Andriy Khvorostyanov
• Composer – Stas Kononov
• Costume Designer – Sasha Shai
• Lighting Designer – Konstantin Nioradze
• Sound Designer – David Zgardan

Cast and crew:

• Leonardo Pazzi – Stas Veselsky
• Alchesta – Maria Motorna
• Grandmother, Storyteller, Donna Jose Pereira – Larysa Sheloumova
• Danko Kharytonovych Pererva, Tree Plantation – Maksym Kushchov
• Yares (Orest) Perebyinis, Rodolfo – Ihor Cheban
• Don Jose Pereira, Achilles the Turtle, Tree Plantation’s son – Bohdan Kulish

The director of the play Artem Vusyk explained the details of the work on the play.

“We did not change the text and all the meanings that Mike Johansen intended. The adventures of foreigners in Slobozhanshchyna, the difference in mentality, noble love, reflections on the power of the press and the consequences of media mistakes that cause curious situations, the originality and cruelty of rural life, and, of course, the beauty and boundless charm of the region’s nature – all of this is written in Johansen’s novel. As for the play, the form is very important here, because the play itself is an experimental and playful response to the classic text. But it is also the first attempt to bring the novel and the characters to life, who should become not just a decoration for the landscape, but the main characters.

For me, this play is about a journey in search of meaning and the impossibility of finding it. Because in our real world, meaning has been lost: it has disappeared, changed, depreciated. Instead, the play is a live installation of the absurd, the actors are travellers, the audience are witnesses and participants, the stage is a space of experimentation, so throughout the performance the audience becomes full participants in the action and joins the search for meaning,” he comments.

The play will premiere on 26-27 April 2025. Tickets for the performance are already on sale.

Where Malyi Theatre in Kyiv

Malyi Theatre is a chamber theatre in the heart of Kyiv at 33 Olesia Honchara Street. The theatre works with both world literature and contemporary and classical Ukrainian literature. The theatre presents performances based on the works of Mykola Kulish, Hryhor Tyutyunnyk, Lyudmyla Tymoshenko, and now Mike Johansen.

An exhibition about the prominent stage designer and artist Oleksandr Khvostenko-Khvostov is being held in Kyiv.