Russian forces strike Arabesky Theatre in Kharkiv

On the night of July 16, Russian forces struck the Arabesky Theatre in Kharkiv, completely destroying the theatre’s property.

The drone strike hit the building, the fire destroying premises where sets, costumes, props, and equipment were stored. Everything that formed the material foundation of the theatre was damaged. After the death of the theatre’s founder, Svitlana Oleshko, in 2024, her colleagues were thinking about ways to honor her memory and wanted to put on a show or give some of the theatre’s items to a museum or theatre school. It didn’t happen.

Founded in the early 1990s by students of the Kharkiv Institute of Arts, the Arabesky Theatre became an important center of independent artistic life in the city. It was known for its experimental productions, including the revival of works by authors of the Executed Renaissance and dissidents.

Oleshko, as a director, implemented numerous projects, including “RADIOSHANSON: Eight Stories About Yura Zoifer” (2007) and “Red Elvis” (2010) based on works by Serhiy Zhadan, as well as the Polish-Belarusian-Ukrainian documentary performance “CHORNOBIL™” (2006).

Since 2008, the theatre has also produced the music band “Mertvyi Piven” (Dead Rooster), and its frontman, Misko Barbara, moved to Kharkiv and became an actor at the theatre. Together, they completed projects like “Made in U.A.,” “Chosen by the People,” and “Criminal Sonnets,” which was a literary and musical collaboration with Yuriy Andrukhovych.

One of the theatre’s key projects was “Theatre therapy as a social reintegration.” In this program, directors created plays together with prisoners from correctional facilities in Kharkiv and Lviv.

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Copy editing: Joy Tataryn