It takes lead soprano singer Tetyana Plekhanova three hours to get to work. It's not because of the long commute, but because she has not been paid for months and has to walk to work. To feed herself, the opera diva trades her clothes for food. But that's not the worst part of it.
For Plekhanova and her colleagues, going to work is plain dangerous because they work in the Donetsk Opera and Ballet Theater, located in the rebel controlled territory, and have continued their practices and performance despite constant shelling in the city.
Those of Plekhanova’s colleagues who had relatives in other parts of Ukraine, fled Donetsk a long time ago. “Those who have no place to go, stay here,” she says.
The theater is now short of musicians, vocalists, ballet dancers and costume designers. Before the war the theater employed nearly 700 people. Less than a half have stayed.
“It’s very difficult to choose a show for staging because we lack people and the props have been destroyed,” Plekhanova gripes.
In early October, the theater’s storage was hit by a shell. Donetsk Opera Director Yevhen Denysenko is distressed over the lost property. “Props for 15 plays burned completely. Most costumes have bullet holes,” he says. “We have to make do with the remains of props that we managed to preserve.”
One of the most devastating losses for the theater has been set of expensive props for Richard Wagner’s “The Flying Dutchman” opera, which cost nearly Hr 3.5 million to stage.
But despite all, the troupe has performed every weekend, without fail. Its repertoire includes a number of classics, such as fragments from operetta “The Bat” by Johann Strauss, music fairy tale “Cinderella” by Antonio Spavadecchia, fragments of “La Traviata” by Giuseppe Verdi, “Carmen” by Georges Bizet, “Swan Lake” and “The Sleeping Beauty” ballets by Pyotr Tchaikovsky.
When the theater season began on Oct. 4, the opera house gave its first two performances for free because the management was not sure any viewers would show up for entertainment in the middle of a war. But they did. On the opening weekend the theater was packed, despite heavy shelling and bomb alerts.
“People are tired of war and the theater is probably the only place where they can forget about the horrors of war for a while,” soloist Plekhanova says.
Director Denysenko says the house is full every weekend but the theater can’t afford to stage plays for free any more. The tickets are sold at a meager price of Hr 20-30 ($1.5-2).
“This money is not enough even to cover utility bills, not to mention paying salaries to actors,” Denysenko says. “We repeatedly asked Ukraine’s culture ministry for help, but they are doing nothing.”
The Culture Ministry did not respond to the Kyiv Post request for comment on the Donetsk Theater situation.
The current ticket prices are ridiculously low, but this is all the locals can pay now, Denysenko says.
Plekhanova and her four colleagues recently received the Taras Shevchenko Award, the highest state prize for artistic achievements in Ukraine. She had to borrow money to go to Kyiv to the award ceremony.
“Our artists and I have tried to find jobs in other Ukrainian theaters, but all in vain. Theaters all over Ukraine are well-staffed. Nobody wanted us,” Plekhanova says.
The Taras Shevchenko Award comes with a Hr 520,000 ($32,000) cash prize, which could have been a substantial amount of money to help the actors. But on Nov. 5, the Ukrainian government took a decision to freeze all budgetary payments to the separatist-controlled territories. Plekhanova says she doubts she would ever see her money.
Kyiv Post staff writer Nataliya Trach can be reached at [email protected].
