THEATRE OF VIRA VOVK: DIDACTIC PLAYS FOR ADULTS

Abstract

The article reviews and analyzes the cycle of plays by Ukrainian diaspora writer, translator and scholar Vira Vovk (Vira Selianska), namely: the plays Triptych (1982), Iconostasis of Ukrain (1991) and The triple wreath (1988). These plays have been defined as ‘didactic pictures for adults’ (by L. Onyshkevych- Zaleska) or ‘socially and patriotically oriented’ (by M. Kotsiubynska). They were written before Ukraine gained its independence and recreate a Ukrainian history that is separate from the history of the USSR. This Ukrainian history was unavailable to Ukrainians during the Soviet period. This cycle of plays is organically joined by two others from the 1990s that are conversely addressed to a children’s audience: designed for educational purposes, entertaining in form, the plays Winter Celebrations and Spring Celebrations immerse Ukrainian children and adults alike in the traditions of the Christian seasonal holidays (both from the formal church religion and folk traditions). Culturologist Roman Kogorodskyy states that the history of nations deprived of statehood is composed of “blind spots” (white spots, blank spaces), twisted historical facts and “Babylonian labyrinths of lies”. Hence, the reclaiming by a nation of historical figures, facts, and traditions that were forgotten, destroyed or silenced during colonial repression is the best type of didactics that encourages the reconstruction of national identity. The history of Ukraine shown by Vira Vovk in her ‘socially and patriotically oriented plays’ is a type of heroic epos for the post-colonial Ukrainian nation: the didactic plays loudly and poetically retell and give back to Ukrainians their own history that was taken away during the colonial rule of the Russian Empire and the USSR. Historical lessons for Ukrainians can be found not only in the previously silenced historical facts but also in the nearly forgotten folk traditions that constitute an integral part of the national mentality, identity, and memory.