Ukrainian Odyssey
3. Kha.

It’s not easy for Odysseus to be a man of the world in the time of lockdown. Time and space have brought him to Kharkiv’s independent NEFT theatre. There, thanks to the puppet theatre, our hero manages to meet the City, get killed and find his way home.

The third show of the cycle is created within the Parade-fest, a festival about the right to the city, and has a co-sounding storyline. The utopian idea of a post-apocalyptic city, or a city stuck in an alternative reality. An immersive showcase in which all of us heroes, citizens, Odysseys and Penelopes search for our own path.

Continuing his journey, Odysseus arrives in Kharkiv, the capital of Ukraine. The city is ruled by Lotus, a leader who gives the people sunshine in times of total darkness. A new mayor is elected by public elections once a week, but the mayor always stays the same.

With the arrival of Odysseus, the inhabitants of the metropolis see him as a new beginning, a new leader. Odysseus invites to create a new society. At one point he is offered a local magic drink, after which Odysseus becomes oblivious and loses himself in the megapolis. Now the entire city is filled with the outlines of his dream, a reunion with Penelope, which he longs for.

Can Odysseus escape the oblivion, see the real world and continue his journey home? Will the inhabitants of the metropolis be able to remember the past and revive the city? Can we recognize the populism and instruments of manipulation that we are falling for?

“Ukrainian Odyssey. Kha” is an immersive show which combines documentary stories of the protagonists, applied research, statistics, and puppet theatre aesthetics The project is the second series of the theatrical series “Ukrainian Odyssey” by the theatrical company DollMen, which provides 5 shows in different cities of Ukraine ( Kyiv-Lviv-Kharkiv-Odessa-Kyiv). The impulse of the series is the image of the heroic commander from Homer’s Odyssey and James Joyce’s Ulysses, on the basis of which authors reflect on war, the evolution of society and heroization, PTSD, manipulation in mass media.