Ха́та – Zuhause

“Ха́та” means “house” or also “home” in Ukrainian as well as in Belarusian, Polish and Russian languages. Kamilė Gudmonaitė takes the risk of describing the misfortune of war and the resulting abyss between Ukrainians and Russians in a two-part theater evening at the Münchner Kammerspiele. Ukrainians and Russians do not meet on stage or during rehearsals, and the infrastructure of the theater was redesigned out of respect for Ukrainians and their desire for strict separation.

In the first part of the play, Ukrainian voices in filmed interviews meet the singing of a traditional Ukrainian choir. In the second part, voices of Russian people who have turned their backs on their country and condemn the war meet traditional Russian dances. Ukrainians and Russians do not meet on stage, but they work on the same issues. How can Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine be discussed? How can individuals relate to it?

Her personal perspective as a Lithuanian with concerns about an expansion of the war motivates the director Kamilė Gudmonaitė to create this stirring theater evening, which combines very personal narratives with large images from the respective cultural traditions. The war started by Russian terroristic state has opened an abyss, generates hatred, guilt, shame and unspeakable suffering for an unforeseeable time.

“Ха́та” is not about reconciliation, but about the impossibility of any kind of dialogue for certain periods of history and about the artistic possibility to make the abyss between both societies and between people tangible. Kamilė Gudmonaitė deals with burning questions with great sensitivity: what should we do with the pain? What is to be found in the gulf between people? How did we all get there? Where exactly do we stand? Must we try to look into the abyss, or should we rather forget it?

Kamilė Gudmonaitė (born in 1992) is one of the great young talents of Lithuanian theatre. She is also a singer in her own band. She likes to compose her theatrical productions out of situations between people in conflict: Gudmonaitė has already arranged the generational conflict between parents who grew up as part of the Soviet Union and their children into a musical choral project. In another piece, she worked with life prisoners and relatives of their victims.

Invited to the festival “Willkommen Anderswo” Bautzen.

What comes after hate?

Part 1

Photo: Maurice Korbel

Teil 2

Photo: Maurice Korbel

Part 1

Photo: Maurice Korbel

Part 2

Photo: Maurice Korbel

Part 2

Photo: Maurice Korbel

Photo: Maurice Korbel

Part 2

Photo: Maurice Korbel

Part 1

Photo: Maurice Korbel

Part 2

Photo: Maurice Korbel

Part 2

Photo: Maurice Korbel

Part 1

Photo: Maurice Korbel

Part 2

Photo: Maurice Korbel

Part 1

Photo: Maurice Korbel

Part 2

Photo: Maurice Korbel

Part 2

Photo: Maurice Korbel

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