Berezil Theatre

Berezil Theatre
Театр «Березіль»
The Berezil Theatre (1922–33)
Interactive map of Berezil Theatre
Address9 Sumska Street
Kharkiv
Ukraine
Coordinates50°00′02″N 36°13′52″E / 50.0006°N 36.2312°E / 50.0006; 36.2312
Capacity
  • Main Stage: 900
  • Berezil Small Stage: 115
TypeAvant-garde
Current use
Kharkiv Ukrainian Drama Theatre
Construction
Opened1922
Closed1933
Website
Theatre website
🇺🇦 | State Register of Immovable Monuments of Ukraine

The Berezil Theatre (Uk: Театр «Березіль») (1922–1933) was "the largest state-funded theatre in Soviet Ukraine."[1] Founded by Les Kurbas, who was considered the greatest theater director of the 20th century, the avant-garde theatre troupe was named for March (Uk: березень, pronounced berezen), the first month of spring in Ukrainian and a period identified with renewal, an approach Kurbas "intertwined with Impressionism, Symbolism, and the experimental."[2][3] "The overarching goal of Berezil's productions," he said, "was the synthesis of speech, movement, gesture, music, light, and decorative art into one rhythm or simple, dramatic language, based on the belief that theatre shapes rather than reflects life."[4] In 1920, he summarized a successful performance by saying: "There were those who cried for us. There were those who thought that only our performances made them conscious Ukrainians."[3]

Originally based in Kyiv, the troupe relocated to Kharkiv in 1926.[5] Also known as Artistic Organization Berezil’ (BAA),

[a]t its height, Berezil included six actors' studios (three in Kyiv, one each in Bila Tserkva, Boryspil, and Odesa), close to 400 actors and staff members, a directors' lab, a design studio, a theater museum, and ten committees, including a ‘psycho-technical’ committee that used applied psychology to develop new teaching methods for actors and directors.[4] The BAA organised the publication of the Barricades of Theatre (Uk: Barykady teatru) magazine and the Museum Commission, which collects documents on the history of Ukrainian theatre and creates a museum — known today as the Museum of Theatre, Music and Cinema of Ukraine.[3]

In 1925, Vadym Meller was awarded a gold medal by the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts (Art Deco) in Paris for his scenic design at the Berezil. In 1927, Kurbas and the Berezil began collaborating closely with Ukrainian playwright Mykola Kulish. After the production of Kulish's last play, Maklena Grasa, Kurbas was sent into exile by the Commissariat of Enlightenment.[6]

The theatre is now used by The Kharkiv Ukrainian Drama Theatre, which is also known as the Taras Shevchenko Kharkiv Academic Ukrainian Drama Theatre (Uk: Харківський академічний український драматичний театр імені Тараса Шевченка), a national theatre with two stages: the largest has 900 seats, the other, known as the "Berezil Small Stage," has 115 seats.[7][8] Its collection, known as the Berezil museum collection, is now housed in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (Building 24).[9]

Select productions

  • Haz (Gas), 1922, written by Georg Kaiser[7]
  • Macbeth, 1924, written by William Shakespeare[10]
  • Dance of numbers, 1927, directed by Les Kurbas, set design by Vadym Meller[11]
  • Narodnyi Malakhii (The People’s Malakhii), 1927, written by Mykola Kulish[7]
  • Sonata Pathétique, written by Mykola Kulish[12]
  • Maklena Grasa, 1933, written by Mykola Kulish[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Ukrainian Theater on the Soviet Stage | Origins". origins.osu.edu. 2022-07-24. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  2. ↑ "Music of Ukraine". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved February 24, 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 "Les Kurbas and his theatre "Berezil". What is the Phenomenon? :: Svidomi". svidomi.in.ua. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  4. 1 2 "Berezil". www.encyclopediaofukraine.com. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  5. ↑ Fowler, Mayhill C. (2015). "Les' Kurbas and the Berezil' Theatre: Archival Documents (1927-1988)". East/West: Journal of Ukrainian Studies. 5 (2): 191. doi:10.21226/ewjus427. S2CID 165872677 – via Academic Search Complete.
  6. ↑ "Berezil' Theater (БЕРЕЗІЛЬ) - Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism". www.rem.routledge.com. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Fowler, Mayhill C. (September 5, 2016). Berezil' Theater (БЕРЕЗІЛЬ). Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism. doi:10.4324/9781135000356-REM256-1. ISBN 9781135000356. Retrieved February 24, 2022.
  8. ↑ "Berezil Theater". Open Kurbas. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  9. ↑ "Театр ім. Т.Г. Шевченка". www.theatre-shevchenko.com.ua. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  10. ↑ Shurma, Svitlana (2020). "'I choose March': Les Kurbas, Avant-garde Berezil and Shakespeare : review of Irena R. Makaryk's Shakespeare in the Undiscovered Bourn (2004)". Theatralia. 23 (1): 163–167. doi:10.5817/TY2020-1-13. S2CID 226709136 – via Complementary Index.
  11. ↑ Smolenska, Svitlana (2019). "Avant-garde architecture and art of the 1920s-1930s in Ukraine and European modernism: interpenetration methods". Architectus. 58 (3): 12–13. doi:10.5277/arc190302 (inactive 11 July 2025).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)
  12. ↑ Fowler, Mayhill C. (2015). "Mikhail Bulgakov, Mykola Kulish, and Soviet Theater". Kritika: Explorations in Russian & Eurasian History. 16 (2): 276–277. doi:10.1353/kri.2015.0031. S2CID 142193609 – via Complementary Index.
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