1.12.2023. 7pm, Puppet Theater Sampo, Erottajankatu 7, Helsinki

The tragicomedy “Zona” (The Zone) is based on the play “At the Beginning and the End of
Time” by the famous modern Ukrainian playwright Pavlo Arie. The play has received the Golden Pectoral Award, the most prestigious theater award in Ukraine. 

Part fantasy, “Zona” (The Zone) shows a Ukrainian family living in isolation in the Chornobyl
exclusion zone, despite the possible consequences. Everything is managed by an old woman named Prisya, who is friends with mermaids, sings mystical folk songs and eats hallucinogenic
mushrooms. Her daughter Slava, tired of life’s problems, and her dim-witted grandson Vovchyk live with her.

This play emphasizes the importance of the role of the land for its inhabitants, love for the
motherland and devotion to it in spite of various obstacles. These traits are demonstrated by the main character Prisya, who also portrays the strength of the Ukrainian woman as a survivor of a number of catastrophes including WWII and the Chornobyl nuclear disaster.

Production by Igor Frei.

Actors: Natalia Shevchuk, Olena Skorokhod, Kostyantyn Lazepka, Denys Pertsev, Hennady
Naumov, Oksana Sepp, Svitlana Menchynska, Nataliya Boriychuk, Tetyana Poberezhna, Liudmyla GHoncharenko. Igor Frei: stage director, sound. Yevhen Honcharenko: sound
engineer. Nataliya Frei: prop, radio prompter. 
Supported by Ministry of Education and Culture in Finland