When? 7:00 PM, May 13 and 14, 2025
Where? Kyiv, 25H Petra Sahaidachnoho St. (Theatre of Playwrights)
Between truth and silence.
Between those who returned — and those who couldn’t.
A balance that everyone finds — or loses — on their own.
The beginning feels like graduation. The end — like a funeral. Or maybe, a wedding.
«Balance» is a look into the future, it is about what will come in our shared tomorrow. It is about life after. About the pain hidden in silence. About laughter breaking through tears. The performance combines absurdity, dark humor, psychological depth, and documentary precision. It was created by people who are honest with themselves and the audience — to acknowledge, to live through, and to let go together.
“For me — it is a flickering. Like a kaleidoscope of memory that falls apart and gathers again. It is about burned-out souls, about the forest of people who are no longer here, yet still remain. I make this performance for those who have lost, but remember. Not an event — a person.” — Mykyta Polyakov, director.
An open space for discussion or support is planned after the show.
Tickets are available at this link.
The play «Balance» was written by veteran and playwright Alina Sarnatska as part of the playwriting educational course by the Veterans’ Theatre for participants of the Russo-Ukrainian war.
This course gives veterans the opportunity to be heard, to transform experience into literary text and, ultimately, into a theatrical performance.
Team:
- Playwright — Alina Sarnatska
- Director — Mykyta Polyakov
- Set Designer — Iryna Tsyba
- Composers — Oleksii Pogulyay Zamotailo and Mykyta Polyakov
- Lighting Designer — Velemyr Horyslavets
- Projection Designer — Denys Korostil
Poster:
- Photography — Oryna Kuzmina
- Design — Anastasiia Yanko
Mykyta Polyakov — director of the play «Balance», conductor, violinist, actor. Graduate of the Kharkiv National University of Arts named after I.P. Kotliarevskyi. Worked as a director at the Mykhailo Shchepkin National Theatre in Sumy. “Balance” is Mykyta’s first premiere in Kyiv. The idea was born during the First Plays Festival of the Veterans’ Theatre.
Alina Sarnatska — author of the play «Balance», Ukrainian servicewoman, sergeant of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, combat medic, volunteer, journalist, and playwright. She wrote the play “Balance” during the first playwriting course of the Veterans’ Theatre.
The performance was created with the support of TRO Media and the Theatre of Playwrights.
