Recently there was the opportunity to meet the Ukrainian theater director Oleksandr Seredin, who directed the play “Slavic Girl” at the Munich Residenztheater. It’s about the lives of Ukrainian actors and actresses in Germany. Seredin talked about how theater people from his homeland live and work here.
Emiliia Dieniezha: Mr. Seredin, let’s first look back, what was your work like in the past in Ukraine?
Oleksandr Seredin: Before the outbreak of the Russian war of aggression, I worked as a permanent director at the National Theater in Kharkiv. I worked there for four years and staged ten plays. I also worked in Kiev at the Theater on the Left Bank of the Dnipro. I wrote plays and won dramatic competitions. Being a director was my main job, I have been involved in theater all my life and never thought about abroad or Germany.
How did you end up in Munich?
When the war began, the Munich Residenztheater offered me the opportunity to take part in their “Welt/Bühne Salon” platform. Artists from all over the world, mainly playwrights, are invited to write texts on any topic. I came here in the fall last year and wrote my first play about the war. It was a little play called “Waves”, it was about women who fled to Germany from the war. Afterwards I wrote another text, “Longliver”. This is a comprehensive work that is intended to show the diverse aspects of the war to the maximum. It consists of monologues, dialogues, real and fictional stories.
And your last piece, “Slavic Girl,” which you wrote for the second anniversary of the war. What is it about?
“Slavic Girl” is a project with Ukrainian students. I found out that there were Ukrainian acting students in Munich and I was interested in working with them. I wanted to do something with Ukrainians on the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But a kind of stereotype has already formed about Ukrainian actors and directors that their plays are always in Ukrainian with subtitles. It’s just that German-speaking audiences don’t really want to see these pieces because it’s difficult to follow what’s happening on stage and read subtitles at the same time. That’s why we staged “Slavic Girl” in German. It’s about Ukrainian actresses who are restarting their careers in Germany. They try to get a theater engagement, but they are only offered refugee roles in bad plays. After a casting, a discussion arises between the women.
Why did you choose this topic?
We caught up with actresses to talk about what makes them tick. In addition to philosophical topics and the war in Ukraine, there are very personal concerns. Everyone is worried about what will happen next. These include everyday problems such as finding apartments or a job. We understood that it is important to focus not only on the war itself, but on the people who live here because of the war. Theater is important, it’s about professional prospects, about the plays and the directors. We were guided by this topic. So there’s a scene that talks about how it’s okay for some to act in trash plays, while for others it’s unacceptable. Some people don’t even think about it because their top priority is having a roof over their heads and enough money to live on. In principle, these are the same questions that concern me too. And of course we also talked about the future. What should they do? Return home? Continue studying? This probably concerns all Ukrainians who fled the war.
Ukrainian actresses from the play “Slavic Girl” at the Residenztheater
(Photo: Adrienne Meister)
What can you tell us about the women playing the main roles?
There are four Ukrainian women, all of whom fled to Munich from the war. Three of them are students at the University of Theater and Film in Kiev, where they studied acting. When the war began, the Munich August Everding Theater Academy offered them the opportunity to continue their studies as part of a separate course within the academy. That’s why these girls are now studying here; in addition to their regular subjects, they also have language lessons. However, they now have to decide whether they want to apply for a full-time course at the academy or continue their training elsewhere. The fourth actress previously worked with me in the theater. All four are very different, but they are united by their escape from war. In the piece we address the tragedy of this connection, because when French or Italian people meet abroad, they are happy. But when a Ukrainian meets another Ukrainian, there is little joy because war is usually the reason for the meeting.
What message did you want to convey to your audience?
The main message is my mission as a Ukrainian director in Munich to remember that the war is still going on. Interest is no longer as strong as before. I don’t particularly like this, so I’m trying to find new ways to discuss it. I try to write pieces so that the topic remains present and interesting. Last year there was enormous interest in my pieces; people wanted to hear our point of view. Many Ukrainian artists have now realized great projects. This is also why interest is waning. We don’t want Europe to forget this war. That is very important to me. It’s hard for me to separate myself from the war theme because I constantly ask myself whether I have the right to do something in literature, in theater, that has nothing to do with war. I haven’t made a decision about it yet.
SZ columnist Emiliia Dieniezhna.
(Photo: Bernd Schifferdecker (illustration))
Emiliia Dieniezhna, 35, fled from Kiev with her then four-year-old daughter Ewa Pullach near Munich. She works on a voluntary basis for the non-governmental organization NAKO, whose goal is to fight corruption in Ukraine. She also teaches German to Ukrainian refugee children. She writes a weekly column for the SZ about her view of events in her home country from Munich.