We love Aeneas because he\u2019s one of us. But does that mean we can forgive him for anything?<\/p>\n
Director Yevhen Lavrenchuk turns the familiar plot of Ivan Kotlyarevsky\u2019s \u201cEneida\u201d on its head to pose an uncomfortable question about the national myth: what if the hero we\u2019ve grown accustomed to justifying isn\u2019t heroic at all?<\/p>\n
Behind the burlesque and humor of the classic poem, the director saw a paradoxical story. In Lavrenchuk\u2019s interpretation, the *Aeneid* transforms into a universe in which each of us is a little like Aeneas and where opposites coexist: creation and destruction, guilt and justification, hero and antihero. The journey becomes a return to oneself, and the path to one\u2019s own kingdom is not only a struggle but also a process of shaping it within one\u2019s own mind: through values, beliefs, and perceptions of oneself.<\/p>\n
This \u201cAeneid\u201d is born from Lavrenchuk\u2019s original method of acting. During rehearsals, the actors engaged in training sessions and explored Kotlyarevsky\u2019s text, applying it to themselves and seeking various ways to interpret and decipher it. This gave rise to a unique way for actors to exist on stage\u2014the foundation upon which the director builds the world of *The Aeneid*.<\/p>\n
Monumental set designs by Israeli set designer Yefim Ruach, crafted from tons of metal; costumes by Ukrainian-Parisian Mira Matchina in collaboration with Odessa-based Olena Lesnikova; and original music by Ruben Tolmachev, leader of the band ManSound\u2014the most expensive production in theater history awaits the audience! But its scale provides a space for the clash of ideas, characters, and contradictions.<\/p>\n
Come and see what happens when a national myth looks you straight in the eye.<\/p>\n