Shakespeare, Trauma, and Social Change: Inclusive Ukrainian Theatre Projects (2019–2023)

Abstract

This article focuses on the analysis of art-therapeutic, inclusive theatre projects in Ukraine that were based on Shakespeare’s plays and implemented from 2019 to 2023. The goal of these projects was deeply integrative: to draw public attention to people with disabilities, war veterans, and children whose parents were on the frontline. In addition, the aim of the theatre projects was to help these groups be heard, to provide them with the tools and a platform to tell their stories through archetypal, recognisable narrative patterns. The article explores the production of Twelfth Night, or What You Will based on Shakespeare’s comedy with veterans and volunteers of the Russian-Ukrainian war (‘Project W’), directed by Oleksii Hnatkovskyi, 2019; the inclusive project 12 Ophelia by the Kharkiv Arabesque Studio Theatre, 2019; and the production Monster Opera based on Shakespeare with children of the military, directed by Nigel Osborne, 2023.